I can kinda understand the lack of run plays. I'm assuming that New England stacked the box in the second half to take away the run and force Atlanta to throw the ball. (I did not see much of the second half, so I can only assume here) So, if the defense is selling out to stop the run, the reasonable choice to go to the air, especially when that's what your team has been doing very well all year. But for the life of me, I can't figure out why they were snapping the ball so early instead of milking the clock as much as possible. I guess they were just trying to wear down the defense and break a big play here and there to finally break the Pats' spirits.