Super Bowl XLVII Recap

The Baltimore Ravens won Super Bowl XLVII with a 34-31 defeat of the San Francisco 49ers at the Superdome in New Orleans. It is the second Super Bowl title for the Ravens, and the loss drops the 49ers to 5-1 in Super Bowls. The game featured the Ravens jumping out to a big 28-6 lead early in the third quarter, a power outage that disrupted play for 35 minutes, and a wild comeback in which the Niners drew within four points late the game. San Francisco had four plays from the five yard line to try and tie the game, but the Ravens defense came up big to keep the Niners out of the endzone and secure the victory. It wasn’t the greatest Super Bowl of all time, but it was an exciting game that came down to the last few minutes. That is basically all you can ask for in a Super Bowl. The Ravens finished off a remarkable run in the playoffs, and you have to tip your cap to them as they are certainly a deserving champion.

Here are my quick thoughts and observations on the storylines and moments of the Super Bowl XLVII…

I.               Joe Flacco’s Time: Flacco entered the game on a hot streak, and he continued that play on Sunday. Flacco was named the game’s MVP, and he threw for 287 yards and 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. He was pinpoint all night long, and his big third down throw to Anquan Boldin was the key play in the fourth quarter. This game proved that you can now add Flacco to the elite list of Quarterbacks in the NFL. He joins Brady, Peyton, Eli, Big Ben, Brees, and Rodgers as the class group of NFL QBs. He is now 9-4 in the playoffs and has a Super Bowl MVP. Flacco’s time has arrived, and it will be interesting if he can get another one in the near future.

II.             Niners Start Slow: San Francisco came into the game as the favorites, but they played very poorly for most of the first half. The tone was set on the first play of the game when Colin Kaepernick completed a big pass to Vernon Davis, but the play was called back due to an illegal formation. LaMichael James had a key fumble when the Niners were down 7-3 and driving in Baltimore territory. Also, Kaepernick threw an interception down 14-3 in the second quarter. They also burned timeouts late in the half as well. It was not a good half for the defense either. The Ravens completely gashed the Niners secondary. How the hell do you let Jacoby Jones beat you deep for a 56 yard touchdown late in the half? That play made it 21-3 late in the second quarter. As bad as the Niners played, they were able to move the ball pretty effectively in the first half. They did have that fumble deep in Raven territory, and they had to settle for two field goals. It gave them some hope going into halftime.

III.  Niners Finish Fast: The second half started with Jacoby Jones taking the kickoff 108 yards for a touchdown and a 28-6 Baltimore lead. At that point, I thought the Niners were done, but they rallied. With the help of the power outage, the 49ers came back with a furious rally in the second half. It felt like the game turned in about two minutes. After Kaepernick hit Michael Crabtree for a 31 yard touchdown to make it 28-13. The Niners defense forced a 3 and out, and Ted Ginn’s punt return gave SF great field position. Frank Gore rumbled in for a 6 yard touchdown run and all of a sudden it was 28-20. A Ray Rice fumble on the next possession gave the Niners more life, and they converted it with a 34 yard field goal to make it 28-23 and now we had a ballgame. I can’t remember a Super Bowl that turned so quickly like this game.

IV. The Niners Last Four Plays: After a wild 4^th quarter in which the Ravens got a field goal to make it 31-23, Kaepernick answered with a sizzling 15 yard touchdown run to make it 31-29. The two point conversion failed thanks to an Ed Reed blitz, and the Ravens and Flacco were able to move the ball effectively down the field-the Flacco to Boldin third down play was huge- to get a field goal and make it 34-29. Here come the Niners basically moving the ball at will on the Ravens defense. Gore broke a run down to five yard line with only a few minutes left. Your season comes down to four plays from the five and this is what the Niners came up with: LaMichael James up the middle for no gain, sprint out pass to the right for an incompletion, a quick 2 yard pass to Crabtree that fell incomplete in the flat, and an overthrown fade in the endzone to Crabtree. Jim Harbaugh gets credit for being a great NFL Head Coach, but he deserves some blame for this sequence. Plus, they had to burn their second timeout on third down. Why not just take the delay of game and back you up five yards. Those five yards won't mean much because you have to go endzone anyway. This was one of the worst play sequences in a big spot that I have seen in a long time. You can kill John Fox and Peyton Manning for those sequence of plays late in the Divisional Playoff game against the Ravens, but you can't give Harbaugh a free pass for this group of plays. Kapernick should have had at least one chance to run on a designed play, Frank Gore should have at least one carry down there, or get the ball to Randy Moss in the back of the endzone at least once. Terrible job by the Niners in that spot, but also give the Ravens credit for their goal line stand. Plus, I have no problem with the non-call on the last play to Crabtree. Yes, Jimmy Smith did grab Crabtree, but you can't throw a flag in that spot.

V. The Power Outage: The game will be remembered for the power outage early in the third quarter. It lasted for 34 minutes, and it completely killed the flow of the game. I know people feel that the Niners got a break from the outage and the momentum shifted, but I think the Niners would have come back anyway. In any event, the power outage will be one of things remembered from this game.

VI. Ravens Super Bowl Run: The Ravens won the Super Bowl as a 4 seed, and they are the third team in a row to win the title after playing in the wild card round. They were able to knock off Peyton Manning and Tom Brady on the road, and in both games they were big underdogs. They also were able to knock off the Niners as an underdog in the Super Bowl. They beat arguably the three best teams in the league to win the Super Bowl. This was a remarkable run for this team. They have been in the postseason for five straight years, they have won nine postseason games in that span, and now they have the Super Bowl in their hands. 

VII. A Glimpse into the Future: This game was a microcosm of the NFL at this point. It was a high scoring game that featured spread out formations with receivers open all over the field.  Defenses don't have to be lights out, and all you need is your defense to get stops in the red zone. Any lead is not safe and teams can come back from any score. This is the way the NFL will be played for years to come.

VIII. CBS Broadcast: I am a big fan of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms, and they did a good job once again on Sunday. I thought they were spot on, and Nantz called the intentional safety before Simms even contemplated it. I thought it was cool that you could hear the crowd through the broadcast. Last year, NBC's telecast of Super Bowl XLVI seemed to drown out the crowd noise, and it seemed so quiet in the stadium during the Giants-Patriots game. This year you could hear the crowd from start to finish, and it sounded great on television. Nice work by CBS on this year's telecast.

IX. Super Bowl Adjustments: One thing that I would change with the semantics of the Super Bowl would be this: Go back to individual player introductions before the game. Ever since the Patriots were introduced as a team in Super Bowl XXXVI, the NFL has introduced the teams instead of the players before the game starts. The NFL needs to go back to the individual player intros. I am not a Ray Lewis fan, but it would have been awesome to see Lewis introduced last and let him do his dance on the game's biggest stage. This needs to change for next year.

X. America's Game: Now that the Ravens won the Super Bowl, they will be featured on NFL Network's "America's Game." My guess for the three personalities to be featured will be John Harbaugh, Joe Flacco, and of course Ray Lewis.

XI. NBC Thursday Night Opener: The Ravens also get to host the NFL season opening game on Thursday night September 5th. There are some really interesting choices available for this game. Here are most likeliest teams that could be heading to Baltimore to start the season: New England, Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Houston, and Minnesota. If I had to pick one team I would go with Pittsburgh, but there could be a problem with that. The Steelers might have to be on the road for weeks two and three because the Pirates are home those weekends, and it can be a logistical nightmare to have the Steelers and Pirates playing at home on the same Sunday. If that is the case, then there is no way that the Steelers will open with three straight road games. Obviously, there could be some ways to get around that, but if the Steelers are out of the mix, then I think the NFL and NBC will go with New England at Baltimore for the NBC Opening Night game. 

XII. Final Thoughts: The 2012 NFL season is now complete, and the 2013 offseason begins today. After watching this Super Bowl, it makes me want the Broncos to be in the Super Bowl so bad next year. I want it so bad that I could taste it. It was a fun ride with the Broncos this year, and maybe next year I am writing a recap of a Broncos Super Bowl championship. I'll be back writing later in the month with the Free Agency preview, a Broncos offseason primer, and a look back on my predictions for the 2012 season. Congrats to the Ravens, and the 2013 season can't get here soon enough. 

Super Bowl XLVII Preview

The Super Bowl is almost here and this year’s game between the Ravens and the Niners haven’t had the juice that we have seen in past matchups. Why does this game not have the “sexy” appeal of the prior games? It is easy to answer that question: Quarterbacks. The Super Bowl always benefits to have a big time team, coach and most importantly a big name quarterback. This game does not feature Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, or Aaron Rodgers. It doesn’t even feature a lightning rod quarterback a step below those elite players like a Tony Romo or Jay Culter. It features Joe Flacco. A solid QB, who is not in that elite class yet, but a player that no one really cares about. We don’t have one of the terrific young QBs like Robert Griffin III or Andrew Luck. Instead, this game features Colin Kaepernick, a spectacular young QB, but a player that a lot of casual fans didn’t hear about until two months ago. The Super Bowl needs star power just like the NBA needs Lebron, Kobe, and Durant in the finals. We want to see the stars going against each other, and in the NFL it revolves around the quarterback position. We want Peyton vs. El or Rodgers vs. Brady, or Big Ben vs. Brees. We don’t have that this year, and the game suffers as a result. It still is the Super Bowl, and it still is a happening, but it just doesn’t have the same appeal as we have had in the prior Super Bowls.

Now, there are some intriguing storylines for this year’s game. Here are my four big storylines that will add to this game and create the legacies for each going forward:

1)    The Harbaugh Brothers: Make no mistake this is the coolest aspect of this game. Both brothers have made the playoffs each season that they are a coach. John has made the Ravens a perennial playoff contender every season. Jim has transformed the 49ers from a crummy, non-playoff team to a Super Bowl contender overnight. It will be fascinating to see how these two react to each other after the game, and their family relationship will be a great storyline to watch play out.

2)    The Ray Lewis swansong: Ray Lewis is retiring at the end of the game, and his run in the playoffs has been a really interesting aspect to the entire playoffs this year. Ray Lewis is a Hall of Famer, and he has already won a Super Bowl, so his legacy is cemented, but it would add to his “mythical” status if he went out with a Super Bowl victory in his last ever game.

Joe Flacco’s moment: When Flacco entered the league, he was basically asked to manage the offense and not screw it up for his defense. You can see how he has taken control of the offense each year since his rookie season, and by the end of last year, Flacco became one of the top young QBs who was only missing a Super Bowl ring to make him one of the game’s elite level players. This year he was up and down at points, but he was solid enough to get his team back into the playoffs. In the playoffs, he has been outstanding. He outplayed Peyton Manning and Tom Brady in consecutive weeks, and 1)    now stands on the brink of his first Super Bowl. Maybe it is his time and he will get his first Super Bowl and start his new legacy as an elite level quarterback.

2)    Kaepernick’s time: Colin Kaepernick burst onto the scene this year and he hasn’t stopped playing well since. There is a good reason to think that Kaepernick is the real reason why the 49ers made the Super Bowl this year. If Alex Smith is the starter, then maybe the Niners are at home watching the Super Bowl. Is this now Kaepernick’s time? Maybe this is the beginning of his run as one of the top young QBs in the NFL. Maybe he will be battling Luck, RG III, and Russell Wilson for Super Bowls the next 10 years. We might be looking at the future of the NFL this Sunday.

Here are some other “minor” storylines that I will be watching this Sunday…….

1)    Nantz’s Call: Jim Nantz and Phil Simms are at the controls for this year’s Super Bowl on CBS, and once again they will do a great job. My favorite storyline involving the broadcast is wondering what “cheesy” catchphrase Nantz will use as the game ends. He is the king of the “corny” phrase whenever he does a big event like the NCAA Final Four, the Masters, or the NFL. I can’t wait to see what Nantz breaks out for this game. My two that I would go with if I were Nantz would be “The Niners strike gold in New Orleans!” or “Crabcakes and Super Bowls, that’s what Maryland does!” Nantz shouldn’t disappoint on Sunday.

2)    The fanbases: If you are a Baltimore fan, you can’t imagine a scenario where you all-time franchise player retires after losing his last game in Super Bowl XLVII. It would be so disappointing to see Ray Lewis and this run end in defeat in the Super Bowl right? If you are a Niner fan, it has been so long since the 49ers have been on top of the mountain. You dealt with a long era of futility(2003-2010) and now you have made it back. You are the franchise that doesn’t lose Super Bowls, there is no way you can lose this game right? The fans of both teams will definitely be in my mind as I watch this game play out.

3)    The Bitter Bowl: To say that I am still bitter about the Broncos not making this Super Bowl is an understatement. I really envisioned the Broncos taking the field in the Superdome on Sunday, and it will be hard to watch this game and not think about that. I will be watching with a very empty feeling, and if there is grief and sadness for one of these teams, then I guess a part of me will be happy. That is why I am rooting for the 49ers. I’m just still too bitter to want to see the Ravens win.

With the storylines out of the way, here are the chances for each team as we breakdown Super Bowl XLVII………..

Last Week’s Record: 2-0

Playoff Record: 7-3

(DESIGNATED HOME TEAM IN CAPS)

A CASE FOR THE NINERS: The Niners might have the most talented roster in the NFL. Pound-for-pound their team can go up against anyone else in the league. It will be very difficult for the Ravens to figure out how to stop Kaepernick, Frank Gore, and that run game. The Ravens can’t use their Thanksgiving 2011 win over the 49ers as a reference because Alex Smith was at the controls in that game, and this is a completely different offense. Defensively, the 49ers have struggled in these playoffs. Aaron Rodgers had some success against them, and Matt Ryan basically picked them apart in the NFC Championship. You would think that the 49ers defense would step up and play their best game of the year in this spot. They have too good of a defense to lay an egg three weeks in a row. Plus, if you really break down the matchup between the coaches, I would take Jim Harbaugh and his staff over John Harbaugh and his staff any day of the week.

A CASE FOR THE RAVENS: Fate and destiny seem to be on their side. First, the season was dedicated to their late, former owner Art Modell. Next, Ray Lewis announced his retirement before the playoffs, and finally, the miracle win in Denver all point to the fact that the Ravens are riding a magic carpet all the way to a Super Bowl win. Offensively, I think the Ravens can push the ball deep on the Niners secondary. The Niners defense has been exploited in the playoffs, and the Ravens might be the perfect team to take advantage of that. Also, the Ravens offensive line has held up very well in these playoffs. They shut down Elvis Dumervil and Von Miller, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if they shut down Aldon Smith. The Ravens defense is older and slower, but they have played great in the playoffs, and you will get everything in this game from Lewis, Terrell Suggs, Ed Reed, and Haloti Ngata. They will play inspired on that side of the ball to say the least. Can’t you see Kapernick struggling and just playing like a quarterback that has only started a handful of games this year?

PREDICTION:

Baltimore (+3) over SAN FRANCISCO: This should and will be a close and entertaining game, but I just think it is the Ravens time. Sometimes it just looks like it is the year for a certain team, and the Ravens have that look the past month. I just envision Ray Lewis dancing his way into retirement with the Lombardi Trophy under his arm.

Final Score: Ravens-27 Niners-17