HOUSTON—But the Patriots overcame a 25-point deficit to take the game to overtime. They then won it, 34-28, on the very first series after James White dived in from two yards out. The 31 unanswered points in the thrilling comeback cements the Patriots’ legacy as the greatest NFL franchise this century.It was New England’s ninth Super Bowl appearance in team history, and the seventh in the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady era. And if not for Eli Manning and the New York Giants , Bill and Tom would be 7-0 in the championship game. We’re guessing they’ll settle for 5-2, especially given the “THAT DID NOT JUST HAPPEN” way they went about winning this one.We won’t lie: We were convinced this game was over at halftime; the Falcons led 21-0 late in the second quarter, 28-9 to start the final quarter, and 28-20 at the two-minute warning. You might notice that with each update the Patriots crept closer while the Falcons went from confident to hopeful to apprehensive to dejected as Brady marched New England down the field again and again and again and again, until the they had even out-Patriots’d the Patriots.Not only did the Pats overcome the largest deficit in Super Bowl history, they played in the first overtime game in Super Bowl history, and oh, by the way, Brady set a Super Bowl record for passing yards. (And before you say, yeah, but he had the benefit of overtime, we’ll kindly point out that he managed the feat before the end of regulation.