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Here are the Patriots’ key offensive plays from Super Bowl LI

Here’s our look at the Patriots’ key offensive plays from Super Bowl LI. (Our look at the Patriots’ key defensive plays will be posted Thursday.)

Defending the Patriots

The Falcons often “declared” their intentions, as Bill Belichick put it, based on how they aligned their defensive backs.

On this play, with cornerback Robert Alford lined up across from fullback James Develin, Tom Brady knew the Falcons were in zone coverage.

A major part of the Falcons’ game plan was dropping a linebacker into the middle of the field to take away the crossing routes to Julian Edelman and other receivers.

Whenever Edelman tried to go over the middle, he had a linebacker right in his face.

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But in the second half, Brady started attacking the sidelines, like on this beautiful 14-yard pass to Danny Amendola in overtime.

And the deep comeback routes on the sideline to Chris Hogan (pictured here) and Malcolm Mitchell became a major part of the offense, too.

Block party

Edelman had an inconsistent day catching the ball, but he was tremendous in run blocking, here helping spring LeGarrette Blount for 9 yards.

On James White’s game-tying touchdown, Edelman cracked the linebacker to give White enough space to get across the goal line.

And on White’s game-winning touchdown, Edelman again laid a huge crack block to give White the edge.

White also did a great job of getting the ball across the goal line after taking initial contact at the 2 yard line.

Hide and seek

Brady did not see Robert Alford lurking behind the linebacker, and Alford showed great instincts and anticipation to jump the slant route to Amendola and return it for a touchdown.

Close, but no cigar

Vic Beasley was this close to intercepting Brady’s pass to Martellus Bennett in overtime.

Offensive snap counts
Falcons (99) Total (1,363) Percentage
C David Andrews 99 1,359 99.71%
G Joe Thuney 99 1,358 99.63%
T Marcus Cannon 99 1,276 93.62%
OT Nate Solder 99 1,274 93.47%
G Shaq Mason 99 1,262 92.59%
QB Tom Brady 99 1,061 77.84%
WR Chris Hogan 97 1,030 75.57%
WR Julian Edelman 90 1,094 80.26%
TE Martellus Bennett 86 1,070 78.50%
RB James White 71 539 39.55%
WR Malcolm Mitchell 52 639 46.88%
WR Danny Amendola 45 354 25.97%
RB LeGarrette Blount 17 603 44.24%
RB Dion Lewis 12 225 16.51%
FB James Develin 10 419 30.74%
TE Matt Lengel 10 105 7.70%
T Cameron Fleming 4 299 21.94%
WR Matt Slater 1 57 4.18%
TE Rob Gronkowski 0 354 25.97%
QB Jacoby Brissett 0 158 11.59%
QB Jimmy Garoppolo 0 143 10.49%
WR Michael Floyd 0 111 8.14%
G Ted Karras 0 110 8.07%
TE AJ Derby 0 35 2.57%
TE Clay Harbor 0 25 1.83%
RB DJ Foster 0 16 1.17%
RB Brandon Bolden 0 13 0.95%