Patriots: Former Falcons player’s revelation makes 28-3 choke all the more pathetic

HOUSTON, TX - FEBRUARY 05: Tom Brady #12 of the New England Patriots attempts to tackle Robert Alford #23 of the Atlanta Falcons after an interception in the second quarter during Super Bowl 51 at NRG Stadium on February 5, 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TX - FEBRUARY 05: Tom Brady #12 of the New England Patriots attempts to tackle Robert Alford #23 of the Atlanta Falcons after an interception in the second quarter during Super Bowl 51 at NRG Stadium on February 5, 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) /
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The Atlanta Falcons’ 28-3 choke against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI will never go away. It’s the worst collapse on the grandest stage any sports fan has ever seen.

However, Falcons fans did think it probably couldn’t get worse.

Really, how could it? The damage has been done. They’re a laughingstock. The butt-end of countless jokes.

Hell, 3/28 day is even a thing! There’s no escaping it.

But once again, Falcons fans have been blindsided. And this comes courtesy of a former Falcons player and a former Patriots player who are now teammates.

In Arizona, cornerbacks Robert Alford and Malcolm Butler are both trying to resurrect their careers … but it looks like Butler may have just turned Alford’s to ashes.

Former Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler revealed a crazy story from teammate Robert Alford.

Alford was among the Falcons’ starting cornerbacks on that team that made a run to the Super Bowl. For those Patriots fans who don’t remember as clearly, he was the guy who picked off Tom Brady right before halftime and took the interception to the house to give Atlanta a 21-0 lead with 2:21 left in the second quarter. That’s a reason to want to pop bottles prematurely, isn’t it? Alford wasn’t crazy to think that.

For a moment, it was Tom Brady who was the jeered figure made into a meme as he attempted to trip Alford up on his way to the end zone … while looking really bad doing it. But the tables turned over the final 17 minutes of the game with the Patriots scoring 31 unanswered points.

And it was Alford who got an up-close look at Julian Edelman’s insane circus catch that led to the game-tying touchdown. The Falcons cornerback was the one who tipped it into the air!

Sadly, you can’t blame Alford for feeling the way he did after what indeed felt like a game-clinching interception. Before the Patriots roared back to put the nail in the Falcons’ coffin, the next biggest Super Bowl comeback only featured a 10-point deficit. At the time, 21 points felt like a death sentence.

As for Butler … maybe this wasn’t the greatest anecdote to tell the media? Some might say it’s all fun and games, but now Alford is trending all over social media and it’s not exactly being viewed favorably. And now Falcons fans have more of a reason to be upset since it seems like the locker room was already fast forwarding over the next 30 minutes.

Perhaps Belichick didn’t teach Butler enough of a lesson on how to be a better teammate after benching him for Super Bowl LII…