Lammey: Notes and quotes from Super Bowl 51 in Houston

We may have just witnessed the greatest Super Bowl ever played. It featured not only the first overtime in Super Bowl history but also the largest comeback

The New England Patriots rallied from a record 25-point deficit midway through the second half to pull off a comeback 34-28 victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

Here are notes and quotes from Super Bowl 51.

Falcons head coach Dan Quinn

The first person I sought out after the Super Bowl was Falcons head coach Dan Quinn. Known as a super positive coach, I wanted to gauge his emotions after such a heartbreaking loss.

To no surprise, Quinn was as strong and positive as one could expect after such a defeat.

“It’s hard tonight for the lessons. What I can tell you is you can’t truly be relentless until it’s right there, and you’ve got to take it away or you didn’t get it,” Quinn said. “We are a tough group. A loss like tonight, although it’s difficult, I would like to think that this group, we’re putting our stamp, and we’re just getting started to be what we can be.”

Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan

He could have been Super Bowl MVP had his team found a way to win, but Matt Ryan did not deflect any comments after the game. In fact, he answered some tough questions, and he was gracious with his comments.

Immediately after the game (and during the game), many questioned the play calling of Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan.

Ryan said after the game that he did not agree with the criticism.

“I thought Kyle did a good job for us tonight, and we had some opportunities to make plays,” Ryan said. “We just missed on a couple of things and just made a few mistakes and, ultimately, when you’re playing a really good football team like New England, those mistakes ended up costing us.”

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick

The Patriots — and head coach Bill Belichick — had been warm and friendly all week leading up to the game. This is a different persona than normal from the veteran head coach during the regular season.

At the NFL Scouting Combine every year Belichick is usually quite curt when at the podium.

After the big win, Belichick continued with his happier mood. At halftime, facing a big deficit, the Patriots head coach had a somber tone.

According to linebacker Dont’a Hightower, Belichick’s message was simple.

“Do your job, finish. We knew what they had. We drew up what they were doing. We had to come out and execute, and we did just that.” Hightower said.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady

If he’s not the greatest quarterback of all time, who is? It’s not just this game, but it’s a reflection of his entire career.

The sixth-round pick-turned-all time great had many motivating factors this season. He was suspended for the first four games of the season due to “DeflateGate.” His mother’s illness has prevented her from attending any game up to the Super Bowl this year. And Brady may want to stick it to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for his suspension and other actions over the last few years.

Brady got his revenge, and it must have been sweet. However, he didn’t really get to share a moment with his mother … at least not yet.

“You know, it’s kind of madness after the game, so I didn’t get too much quality time. But we’ll get it this week, and I was happy everybody was here,” Brady said. “I had my wife, my kids, my parents, my sisters, my brothers-in-law, and one of my sisters-in-law. A lot of friends, and it was a full contingent of support.”