15 hours ago
Years later, Patriots legend still has empathy for Falcons after Super Bowl LI loss
The Super Bowl LI matchup between the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons will forever live on as one of the best Super Bowls in history.
The Patriots looked down and out, as Atlanta established a 21-3 lead at halftime. From there, the rest was history as the Patriots stormed back late with 25 unanswered points to tie the game and ultimately win in overtime.
Patriots fans and players will spend a lifetime celebrating that victory. The same obviously can't be said for Falcons players and fans after suffering one of the biggest collapses in sports history.
During an appearance on the "Dudes on Dudes" podcast, former Patriots linebacker Rob Ninkovich admitted he still has empathy for the Falcons after that loss.
'Matt Ryan, anytime he does anything, they ask him about that. It's like, at a point, I would just be like shut the (expletive) up," said Ninkovich, when speaking with his former teammates, Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman. "...I wish they would've won a Super Bowl for those guys, right? Now, I'm happy that we were able to make that happen and win that football game. But I kind of sometimes have a little bit of empathy for those guys that didn't win a Super Bowl.'
The Falcons had one of the greatest runs in franchise history with quarterback Matt Ryan winning Most Valuable Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year. Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan won the Assistant Coach of the Year award as well. The Falcons went 11-5 and won the NFC South that year.
Nevertheless, that season will always haunt them because of the Super Bowl loss.
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