For the Atlanta Falcons, the 28-3 lead will always haunt the team and one play will be stuck in their memories — the second-and-10 Matt Ryan was sacked on that pushed the team out of field goal range.
At that point, the New England Patriots were on a furious comeback, but the Falcons were within striking range to keep their distance. All they had to do was hold on, leading 28-20 with four minutes remaining, but the sack pushed Atlanta out of field goal range.
Here's more from SEC Country:
"Then the next play, we called [an option route to Mohamed] Sanu, we got right back in field-goal range, but we had a holding call on the play, so it knocked us out some more, then an incompletion on the next one. It's not just that. I go through every single play in the game, but when it comes down to it, the big one was the sack that we had on second-and-10."
We'll see how Shanahan copes with the brutal loss as he moves on from his offensive coordinator position with the Falcons and takes over as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.