You’ve seen the clip a thousand times. Julian Edelman, draped in three white jerseys, somehow digging a deflected ball out of the air just millimeters before it kisses the turf. It’s the definitive image of Super Bowl LI. But honestly? If you look at the raw data, the edelman super bowl catch wasn't even the most statistically important play of that drive.
That sounds like blasphemy to a Patriots fan. I know.
But hear me out. We remember it because it looked impossible. It looked like the universe finally deciding to pay New England back for the David Tyree "Helmet Catch" or the Mario Manningham sideline grab. It was pure, unadulterated chaos captured in 4K.
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The physics of a fluke
Let’s talk about that specific moment in the fourth quarter. The Patriots were trailing 28–20. They had the ball at their own 36-yard line with about 2:28 left on the clock. Tom Brady fires a bullet over the middle. Robert Alford, the Falcons cornerback who had already picked Brady off for a touchdown earlier, makes a play on the ball. He gets his hands on it.
Usually, that’s a game-ending interception. Or at the very least, an incompletion that stops the clock.
Instead, the ball pops up. It hits Alford’s shoe. It hits Keanu Neal’s arm. It hovers in this weird pocket of air created by three diving Falcons. Edelman later told Jimmy Fallon it was "70 percent luck, 30 percent skill." He’s probably being generous to the skill part.
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The ball was literally trapped against Alford’s leg for a split second. Edelman had to double-clutch it. His red gloves—which made the replay so much easier for the refs to see—snatched the pigskin while it was arguably an inch off the ground.
Why the "miracle" is actually a misunderstanding
People talk about this catch like it was a third-down-and-forever conversion. It wasn't. It was first-and-10.
If that ball hits the ground, it’s 2nd-and-10 at the New England 36. Given the way Brady was slicing through Atlanta’s gassed defense at that point, they likely move the chains anyway. The real miracle wasn't that he caught it—it was that it wasn't intercepted.
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If Alford or Ricardo Allen comes down with that ball, the "28–3" meme never exists. Kyle Shanahan is a Super Bowl-winning coach in Atlanta. The Brady-Belichick era ends with a whimper instead of a roar.
What the mic’d up audio reveals
If you haven't listened to the NFL Films audio of this play, you're missing the best part. Edelman gets up screaming, "I caught it! I caught it!"
The Falcons players are looking at the ref like he's lost his mind. Brian Poole is shouting, "On the ground!" back at Edelman. Even Bill Belichick, the man who has seen everything in football, looked skeptical on the sideline. When they finally reviewed it and the jumbo-screen showed the ball never touched the grass, the energy in NRG Stadium shifted. It wasn't just a 23-yard gain. It was a psychological gut punch.
Atlanta was broken.
The James White factor
While everyone focuses on the edelman super bowl catch, we often ignore the guy who actually finished the job. James White had 14 catches in that game. Fourteen. That’s a Super Bowl record. He scored three touchdowns, including the walk-off in overtime.
Without White’s relentless efficiency, Edelman’s catch is just a cool highlight in a losing effort. Edelman himself said it: "It was only good because we won."
Key takeaways from the "Catch"
- The Luck Quotient: The ball deflected off three different defenders before Edelman touched it.
- The Review: It took several minutes for officials to confirm the ball stayed off the turf, primarily using the angle that showed it resting on Alford’s shin.
- The Context: The Patriots still had to go 41 more yards after the catch to score the touchdown and then convert a two-point attempt just to tie.
Next time you’re debating the greatest catches ever, remember that this one wasn't about a wide receiver outjumping a corner. It was about a 5'11" former college quarterback having the insane reflexes to track a "dying bird" of a football through a forest of legs and arms.
If you want to really appreciate the nuance of that comeback, go back and watch the three plays after the catch. Look at how the Falcons' pass rush completely vanished. Look at how the Patriots used the momentum of that "miracle" to play at a tempo Atlanta couldn't match.
The catch was the spark, but the conditioning was the fuel. Those "stupid hills" Belichick made them run in Foxborough? They mattered more than the red gloves when the game went to overtime.
Go back and watch the full drive on YouTube to see how the Patriots manipulated the Falcons' zone coverage immediately following the catch. It’s a masterclass in situational football that goes far beyond one lucky bounce.