Williams: No longer a peachy relationship—Georgia and Tom Brady

The New England Patriots defeated the Atlanta Falcons to become Super Bowl 51 champions in a historic comeback that ended 34-28 this past Sunday. Although I’m a Detroit Lions fan, I’ve come to identify more with Atlanta than I have ever identified with a city in my life. I just want to hug everyone in Atlanta and buy them chicken and waffles.

Believe me when I say I know what it feels like to be disappointed, having voted for Hillary Clinton in the last election. Yet I don’t think I can truly appreciate the pain of Falcons fans in what they thought was going to be a victory—throughout the entire game.

What Tom Brady and his Patriots did to Atlanta felt like watching Donald Trump slap all the members of Migos, then signing an executive order to replace every Waffle House and Wingstop in Georgia with an Applebee’s.

Atlanta had everything going for them up until the second half of the game. Even before the game had started, Atlanta had momentum.

Gucci Mane got out of prison, gets his first single on the Rae Sremmurd song “Black Beatles” for number one spot, only to be knocked off by another Atlanta native, Migos.

The Migos didn’t only have the No. 1 song but also the No. 1 one selling album in America on Super Bowl night. Georgia was boiling and the Falcons were expected to seal that excitement.

Everything was looking great for the Peach State’s natives.

The Atlanta mayor already ordered bars to stay open until 2:30 a.m. instead of the usual 12 a.m. Ludacris was in attendance, all signs pointed to the Falcons winning 120 to nil and the new national anthem would become “March Madness.”

If you only watched the first half, you can just pretend that the above prediction is what actually happened. Why not? Ever since the Bowling Green Massacre, reality hasn’t mattered.

The first half was incredible for Atlanta fans. Matt Ryan and the Falcons decimated the Patriots defense, putting up a huge 25-point lead at the half.

Towards the end of the half, Brady was playing like Brock Osweiler, and it seemed as if the Falcons were easily taking this game. How could it possibly go wrong?

The first indication that the Falcons might lose this game was when Lady Gaga didn’t bring out OutKast at halftime. There is absolutely no way the Patriots would have scored if instead of “Telephone” we saw Andre 3000 and Big Boi rise out of the ground to perform “Two Dope Boyz in a Cadillac.”

The second indication of a Falcon loss came when Bow Wow, who has been a consistent source of L’s since 2006, declared his support for the Atlanta Falcons in a tweet. The Falcons did not score after that tweet was posted.

Coming out of half-time, it seemed like Bill Belichick sat Brady down in his evil lair and said, “I’m the greatest coach of all time, and you’re the greatest quarterback of all time; why don’t we just win instead of losing?” Then they made a sacrifice to Sauron, saluted the picture of Darth Vader and headed back onto the field.

The second half for the Falcons felt like a Donald Trump tweet: disorganized, lots of mistakes, barely made any sense and someone will likely apologize for it. Also similar to Trump, a lot of decisions made by the Falcons were very questionable.

Why would you pass the ball on third and one in the fourth quarter? Just run down the clock with a short run. Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman had been incredible all night; 1-yard is nothing.

Instead, Matt Ryan is sacked on the pass attempt and fumbles the ball. Why challenge a catch deep in the fourth and waste your last timeout? Why wouldn’t you throw the ball to Julio Jones more? Lastly, and in what is probably the Falcons’ greatest mistake, why would you face Brady in a Super Bowl?

Brady played like an absolute monster in the last quarter and cemented his spot as the greatest quarterback of all-time. He also cemented his spot as one of the most hated people in the state of Georgia.

The worst part of the comeback isn’t the victory but the fact that Brady let Atlanta taste victory for a half.

People were celebrating the Falcon win at halftime of the game, crying, clapping and preparing their Jordan crying face photo-shopped on Brady images for Twitter. All for nothing.

He took a city that has nothing, let them experience greatness for one half and then took it away with ease. Even William T. Sherman, the man who burned Atlanta to the ground during the Civil War, would look at Brady and think, “Isn’t that a little rough on Atlanta, Tom?”

Sam Williams is a first-year student majoring in communication and is the IC’s sports editor.