Martellus Bennett and Dwight Freeney had quite the awkward moment during the third quarter of Super Bowl 51 when their helmets collided.
Martellus Bennett and Dwight Freeney of the Patriots and Falcons, respectively, are two veteran players that have received a spotlight in Super Bowl 51. Bennett is New England’s starting tight end after Rob Gronkowski went down during the regular season, and Freeney is looking for his second Super Bowl win after getting one with the Colts 10 years ago.
During the third quarter, these two players would collide and literally butt heads in this game. They came so close together that the masks of their helmets connected and actually caused their helmets to get stuck together.
Whoops. #SB51 #Patriots #RiseUp pic.twitter.com/Zr8ig7YRO0
— NFL (@NFL) February 6, 2017
Well, that’s kind of awkward, right? They weren’t able to get their helmets apart, which stalled the game for about 30 seconds. The referees had to reset the play clock after this got sorted out.
Bennett has been somewhat productive so far, putting up four catches for 37 yards before this happened. Freeney has mostly been quite on the opposite side of the ball for the Falcons.
Besides them, Super Bowl 51 has been all about the Falcons through three quarters. Their offense has excelled with Matt Ryan and Devonta Freeman being all over the New England defense, which hasn’t found much of an answer in stopping them. Receivers Julio Jones and Taylor Gabriel have stepped up as well.
Defensively, this has been about the Falcons too. Robert Alford picked off Tom Brady in the second quarter and scored to put them up, 21-0. It had looked like the Patriots were about to score, but this rare mistake from Brady did them in and swayed the momentum.
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Now we’ll see if the Falcons can hold onto a 28-9 lead in the fourth quarter. Who will step up?