Super Bowl LI History

In 2017, American football fans witnessed what many sports commentators are already calling the greatest Super Bowl ever in Super Bowl LI. Super Bowl LI can be logically argued why it was the greatest Super Bowl to date. In fifty Super Bowls, Super Bowl LI was the first to go to overtime. In addition, the Patriots statistically executed the greatest comeback of all time in Super Bowl history by twenty-five points, scoring nineteen of those points in the fourth quarter. The more intriguing records set in Super Bowl LI were the offensive statistics by both teams. The Patriots offense led by Tom Brady is an exemplary of the evolution of the twenty-first century offense. Three offensive records broken in Super Bowl LI according to NFL.com were:

The AFL and NFL were separate with the NFL having fifteen teams and the AFL having nine, both leagues played fourteen games in the regular season. The Packers finished in first place in the regular season, mostly through the strength of their defense. The Packers defense allowed a league best 163 points with the Rams posting second best, 212 points allowed. They scored 335 points with a point differential of 172 (second best). Although the Packers were not the absolute best offensive team in the NFL, they were one of the most efficient, ran by the league MVP quarterback, Bart Starr. The Packers were the eighth team in the league in offensive yards (4275), sixth in passing (2602) and eighth in rushing (1673). They were at the bottom of the league in rushing yards per attempt (3.5); However, they were efficient in net yards gained per pass attempt (7.5) and pass completion percentage (60.7), both league bests. The Chiefs finished in first place two games ahead of the second place team. They finished the year in the AFL with 448 points for and 276 points allowed, with a 172 point differential, a league high with the Bills finishing second (103). The Chiefs finished sixth out of nine in total offensive yards (2840). They were sixth in passing (2840) but first in rushing (2274). They were exceptional in efficiency. They had a league high 5.2 rushing yards per attempt,

The new hot team of the NFL was the Baltimore Colts, finishing the year 13-1. The Colts were an exceptional team posting second in PF (402) and first in PA (144), for a league best PD of 258. They were fourth in total yards (4681), third in passing (2872), and eight in rushing (1809). They were efficient in Cmp% (54.6) for fourth best in the league. They were second in the league in NY/A (7.4). They were extremely balanced team that would score and prevent the other team from scoring. They would go on to face Joe Namath’s New York Jets. The Jets finished behind the two previous AFL Super Bowl contenders (Raiders and Chiefs). The Jets finished 11-3 with a second best PF (419) and fourth best PA (280). They finished third in yards (5047), third in passing (3439), and eighth in rushing (1608), bottom of the league. The Jets were an efficient passing team with a seonc best NY/A of 7.6. Like the prevouse two Super Bowls, the NFL team was the favorite (Colts by 18). The total yard count by both teams were very close (337-324). However, the greatest take-away from this very close game (7-16) was the meltdown by the Colts, turning the ball over 5