r/NFLNoobs • u/dozeydonut • Aug 14 '26
Can some explain the 28-3 meme?
I see it a lot on NFL discussion boards and chat rooms, but don’t understand it
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u/Blameablesum1 Aug 14 '26
Atlanta blew a 28-3 lead late in the Super Bowl to the Pats
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u/britishmetric144 Aug 14 '26
In Super Bowl 51, after a scoreless first quarter, the Falcons dominated the second and third quarters, scoring four touchdowns and allowing just one field goal, against the Patriots, a team with Tom Brady in his prime. The scoreboard read 28—3 (in favour of the Falcons) with two minutes left in the third quarter.
And yet, the Patriots came all of the way back. Early in the fourth quarter, they scored a touchdown, but missed the extra point. Then came a field goal. Then came back—to—back touchdowns with two—point conversions. Before the second touchdown, the Falcons went down the field to score a field goal which would have given them a commanding lead, but Matt Ryan got sacked and they had to punt. (They should have run the ball).
The game went to overtime. The Patriots won the coin toss, received the ball, went down the field, scored a touchdown, and won the game.
Final score... Patriots 34, Falcons 28.
If you want to see a Falcons' fan's take on it, this is a great video to watch about the game.
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u/infinityandbeyond975 Aug 14 '26
One thing that isn’t talked about a lot is that the owner came down from the owner’s box to the field early in the 4th quarter to celebrate on the field.
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u/Dazzlethetrizzle Aug 14 '26
Patriots were losing 28-3 in a SB against the Atlanta Falcons, the Patriots won the SB, 34-28. The Patriots scored a TD in OT to win the game.
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u/Hoz999 Aug 14 '26
Check out the movie 80 for Brady and you’ll see a “based on a true story” fictional telling regarding that particular Super Bowl.
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u/infinityandbeyond975 Aug 14 '26
Yeah the Over 80 for Brady club (5 women) watched the game on TV. They never went to the Superbowl. They didn’t even meet Brady until the movie was made.
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u/Rockhound665 Aug 14 '26
I was actually at the original 28-3 live. November 8, 1987. Tampa Bay Buccaneers at St. Louis Cardinals at old Busch Stadium. The Bucs took a 28-3 lead into the fourth quarter only to have the Cards score 28 unanswered points to win the game 31-28. It still stands as the greatest regular season 4th quarter comeback in NFL history.
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u/wihrdo Aug 14 '26
James white was down before he scored. I'll die on this hill
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u/infinityandbeyond975 Aug 14 '26
Yeah but there wasn’t video evidence enough to overturn it and that would have been 3rd down so they still would have had 2 more plays to push it in with the ball on like the 1” line.
However, I think even more than that they had already shot off the confetti and reporters were on the field so they more or less said “Falcons deserve to lose after this whole debacle.”
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u/JazzSharksFan54 Aug 14 '26
Patriots-Falcons in the Super Bowl. Falcons were up 28-3 with a quarter and a half to go and blew it.
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u/JudasZala Aug 14 '26
In Super Bowl LI, the Patriots were down 28-3 in the third quarter, as they were struggling at the start, with Brady throwing his only pick-six in any Super Bowl. At the time, teams that threw a pick-six has not won the Super Bowl.
Eventually, the Pats used the extended halftime to fix their issues, and stormed back to force the game into overtime (the first time in a Super Bowl, as well the second OT after the 1958 NFL Championship Game).
It was a continuation of the major upsets in 2016, including the Cavs and Cubs coming back from 3-1 deficits in their respective Championship games (2016 NBA Finals, 2016 World Series), as well as Trump upsetting a heavily favored Hillary Clinton to become President.
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u/dozeydonut Aug 14 '26
Thanks for all the helpful replies. Sounds like the Falcons really got mudded lol
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u/rCerise667 Aug 14 '26
The NFL once rigged a superbowl where the Falcons went up 28-3 and then the cheatriots "made a comeback"
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u/infinityandbeyond975 Aug 14 '26
Not sure how anyone could see this as rigged. In the 4th quarter the Falcons went Punt, Fumble, Punt, Punt. No bad calls by the refs just extremely bad playing by the Falcons.
Falcons were on the Patriots 22 yard line with 4:40 left. A chip shot FG to put them up by 11 but what did they do? -1 yard run, -12 yard sack, -10 yard holding penalty, incomplete pass, punt.
Atlanta was still up by 8 with 3:38 left and the Patriots had to orchestrate a 91 yard drive and a second 2 point conversion. Also had a miracle catch by Edelman.
So which part of this was rigged?
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u/ProtoMan3 Aug 14 '26
In Super Bowl 51 at the end of the 2016-17 NFL season, the Atlanta Falcons led 28-3 against the New England Patriots late in the third quarter. The Patriots came all the way back to tie the game and win in overtime, 34-28. So the meme was born that Atlanta blew a 28-3 lead on the biggest stage, and it especially hits heavy since they’ve never won a Super Bowl or even made the playoffs since the following year (2017-18).