The New England Patriots' comeback from a 28-3 deficit near the end of the third quarter to win Super Bowl LI in overtime was made possible by a combination of factors. Among them: incredible resilience by the New England Patriots as a team, inexplicable mismanagement of the fourth quarter by the Atlanta Falcons and several exceptional individual efforts among members of the Patriots.
Those included the efforts of wide receiver Danny Amendola, who shed new light on just how much individual effort was required for him to make it through the Patriots' fifth Super Bowl triumph. Speaking on Julian Edelman's "Games with Names" podcast, Amendola shared that he needed four IVs to keep going in Super Bowl LI, a game in which the Patriots' wide receivers had to frequently run sets that could pick up big yardage due to the amount of points they trailed by.
"It was just a long night for us. We were running," Amendola said. "I probably lost 10 pounds that game of just water weight, just sweating. I remember I got four IVs total, the whole game -- two before and then two at halftime."
One of the saving graces for Amendola and the Patriots was the length of the Super Bowl halftime show, as it allowed them to regain more energy than possible during a standard halftime, energy which became critical late in the game as New England fought their way back to force overtime and win 34-28.
Amendola ended up becoming one of the game's heroes, as he caught eight passes in total -- the two most important being a touchdown to close the deficit to eight points, and a do-or-die two-point conversion at the end of regulation.
Super Bowl LI marked the second of Amendola's two Super Bowl triumphs as a member of the Patriots, earning him a place on the franchise's All-2010s Team.
