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No Super Bowl rally as Patriots tame Falcons
THE New England Patriots didn’t need a comeback in their Super Bowl rematch with the Atlanta Falcons.
With the fog rolling in at Gillette Stadium on Sunday night, the Patriots were clearly in control in a 23-7 triumph.
The Pats authored the greatest Super Bowl comeback ever in February, when they rallied from 3-28 down in the third quarter to beat the Falcons 34-28.
No such heroics were required as they cruised to a 23-0 lead before the Falcons finally found the end zone in the final five minutes of their National Football League game in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
After a scoreless first quarter, quarterback Tom Brady connected with Brandin Cooks on an 11-yard scoring pass.
Stephen Gostkowski followed with the first of his three field goals before Brady capped the first half with a two-yard touchdown pass to James White that put New England up 17-0 at the break.
It was White’s first TD since he scored the game-winning overtime TD in the Super Bowl.
Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, perhaps feeling the pressure to atone for the team’s championship choke, connected on 22 of 33 passes for 233 yards, his best efforts coming after the game was out of reach.
He piloted a strong drive to open the second half but kicker Matt Bryant missed a 36-yard field goal attempt.
Ryan finally put Atlanta on the scoreboard with 4:09 to play, with a one-yard scoring toss to Julio Jones.
But the Falcons dropped their third straight game to fall to 3-3 while the Patriots improved to 5-2 and maintained their lead in the AFC East division.
Meanwhile, the Green Bay Packers got a taste of how hard life can be without quarterback Aaron Rodgers in a 17-26 loss to the New Orleans Saints.
Saints quarterback Drew Brees threw his 500th career TD to lead New Orleans to a fourth straight victory.
The day started early at London’s Twickenham Stadium, where the Los Angeles Rams delivered a 33-0 beatdown of the Arizona Cardinals, who lost star quarterback Carson Palmer with a broken arm.
The Los Angeles Chargers and Jacksonville Jaguars also posted shutout victories. The Chargers blanked Denver 21-0 — the first time since 1992 that the Broncos have been held scoreless. The Jaguars dominated the Colts 27-0 in Indianapolis.
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