By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Before the miraculous comeback, before the insane catch by Julian Edelman, before James White and Tom Brady erased a 25-point deficit, the Patriots were playing a game reminiscent to an Eagles game from the 2017 season. Against a team the Eagles actually beat in their 7-9 campaign.
But in the second half, things changed. The Patriots looked the way they traditionally do and made the largest Super Bowl comeback ever to win their fifth title in Brady and Bill Belichick’s illustrious career together.
Both teams, the Patriots and Falcons alike, showed similar traits to the Eagles, and while those traits and qualities in one game don’t make a season for either of those teams, they defined the Eagles season.
Here’s a look at six.
Drops – A quarterback of Tom Brady’s legendary caliber can make any receiver look better, but for receivers who have been fixtures of the New England offense like Edelman and Danny Amendola to struggle to reel in catches was certainly unexpected and it heavily contributed to the Patriots first-half woes.
The big difference for the Patriots is that, unlike the Eagles, adjustments and a short memory helped them get into a rhythm in the second half to orchestrate a miraculous comeback.
Pass Rush – Atlanta’s biggest flaw in the game was not bringing more pressure in the second half. There was nothing wrong with a four-man rush, it worked tremendously in the first half, but to lose that edge greatly hurt the Falcons as Brady had loads of time to throw and his receivers were able to find open space. Sound familiar?
Running Game – The Patriots running game in the first half was not impressive. And even for the big game that James White had, he did quite a bit of that on short passes from Brady, not in the running game. The Patriots scored the tying and winning touchdowns on run plays, so we can't be too hard on that, but the overall lack of space to run and the plays themselves were baffling.
Playcalling – Both teams were guilty of this one. For three quarters, no one really knew what the Patriots were trying to do. Through 45 minutes, they had just one touchdown and had watched drives stall as they approached the end zone.
Here's what didn't make sense though. You're down by realistically three scores and it's the middle of the third quarter and you're still running the ball? All’s well that ends well, and it certainly did for New England, but until a fumble recovery helped turn the tide for them, they were taking too long to get up field and running some interesting plays to get there. That said, the fourth quarter playcalling was brilliant, and the testament of great coaching.
Now to Atlanta, who for some reason, were still throwing the ball in the fourth quarter. It's one thing to not score to put a dagger in things while the four-time champs make their comeback bid, but to keep giving them time is always ill-advised against Brady.
A True No. 1 Receiver – The catch that Julio Jones made on the sidelines that looked like it would ice the game for Atlanta, no Eagles receiver is making that catch. And that's really not the Eagles biggest problem at the receiver position.
Teams don't need receivers who are relied on to make the heroic catches — the greatest ones live for those moments anyway — but any contending team needs a top receiver capable of it and who can open up the rest of the field for his fellow receivers. Just as the Patriots receivers resembled the Eagles with drops in crucial spots early in the game, the Eagles lack of a true No. 1 receiver remained as glaring as ever as Jones worked his magic while giving Matt Ryan plenty of targets in the game.
Penalties – We would be talking about the Falcons first ever Super Bowl if not for penalties, most notably the holding call on 2nd and 23 that immediately followed a sack and pushed the Falcons out of field-goal range.
The Eagles were plagued all season by the drive killing penalty and by games where their massive amount of penalties was egregious compared to the opponent. The Falcons committed nine penalties for 65 yards. The Patriots had just four for 23 yards.
