28-3. Who is Responsible?
June 06, 2025
In February, 2017, the Atlanta Falcons played the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI. The Falcons had amassed a 28-3 lead in the second half when
Super Bowl LI -- played in February of 2017 in Houston, Texas -- could be remembered for many things. Tom Brady won his fifth as a quaterback, surpassing a record shared by Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw. Lada Gaga put on a widely remembered halftime show. Nintendo used an advertisement to introduce the world to the Nintendo Switch.
But what everyone that I know can tell you off hand is that the Falcons had a 28-3 lead in the second half. They then let the Patriots score 31 unanswered points, losing the game 28-34.
The rest of the world might not realize the intensity of the rivalry between the New Orleans Saints and the Atlanta Falcons, but it burns as brighly as any in professional sports. Since this day, Saints fans use 28-3 as a jab. When "28" and "3" appear together in the wild, they are spotted as quickly as teenage boys spot 420 or 69.
When the Superbowl was played in New Orleans in 2025, this sign was hung on a building near the Superdome. (Neither the Saints nor the Falcons were involved with the game.)
Signage inside the Superdome, 2022
That's probably too much background information. Thanks for sticking with the story so far.
On May 27, 2025, the Atlanta Falcons Xitter account posted this image from their offseason workouts:
Here's my question: How on Earth did this happen?
Of all of the players, they find a picture of Jessie Bates and Mike Ford, who happen to wear numbers 3 and 28.
I'm imagining a youthful marketing intern, unaware of the team's history, posting the most coincidentally unlucky tandom of teammates in history.
But on the other hand, the number of combiation of teammates -- even teammates in the same position group -- must be really high. This has to have been a mole in the organization, right? Was anyone identified? Was someone fired?
I need to know what happened here.
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