A Sports Filled Weekend It Was

We witnessed greatness, and it was great.

Tom Brady pulled off the seemingly impossible, leading the New England Patriots back from a 25-point deficit to a 34-28 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday night in Houston in Super Bowl LI.

We witnessed records. This was the first overtime game in Super Bowl history. No starting quarterback but Brady has won five Super Bowls or four Super Bowl MVP awards. Brady completed 43 of 62 pass attempts for 466 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, setting Super Bowl single-game records in pass attempts, completions and passing yards and is only the second player in Super Bowl history to pass for more than 400 yards in a game.

We witnessed the sweetest scene, when the commissioner who suspended Tom Brady for four games as a result of Deflategate, had to hand the Lombardi Trophy to Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who took not only the hardware but a couple of shots at Roger Goodell after the commissioner exited the stage.

If there a debate about the greatest quarterback of all time, let it go. It’s Brady. If there were an argument about the greatest coach, it is Bill Belichick with his five Super Bowl titles. Down 28-3, they never quit and neither did the rest of the team as it wore out the Falcons.

Side (and snide) note: Regular readers of this blog saw my pick on Friday: Patriots 31, Falcons 27. I certainly didn’t see the game unfolding the way it did, but I got the winner and the winner covered the spread. I do not, however, get a trophy.

MORE NFL: Seven new members were elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Saluting kicker Morten Andersen, running backs Terrell Davis and LaDanian Tomlinson, safety Kenny Easley, defensive end Jason Taylor, quarterback Kurt Warner and Dallas Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Eight teams in the Top 25 lost to lower-ranked or unranked teams, including No. 2 Baylor, No. 3 Kansas, No. 5 Arizona, No. 7 West Virginia, No. 8 Kentucky, No. 9 Virginia, No. 17 Maryland and No. 22 Creighton. No. 1 Gonzaga remains the only unbeaten team. The new poll, which will be released on Monday, will surely reflect this whacky weekend.

GOLF: Hideki Matsuyama won the Waste Management Phoenix Open for the second straight year in the same fashion, outlasting Webb Simpson in four playoff holes. Matsuyama won with a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-4 17th hole, the same hole where he closed out Rickie Fowler a year ago. A record 204,906 turned out for the competition on Saturday and the event drew a record 655,434 in total.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman