Super Bowl XLVII Afterword: 49ers vs Ravens

Jim Harbaugh may have had a legitimate gripe over a missed
holding call late in the 4th quarter, but it fell on deaf ears.
Photo credit to Times-Standard.

Saturday, I gave the offensive edge in this game to San Francisco, I labeled the coaching edge as ‘even,’ and I gave Baltimore the edge in both defense and special teams. A lot of people who commented on that write-up must have lost some serious coin yesterday.

They said the 49ers had the best three linebackers in the NFL, but I didn’t see them pressuring Flacco or containing Dennis Pitta or keeping Ray Rice from breaking out on screens. One even said Donte Whitner and Dashon Goldson is the best safety tandem in the league. Funny how they looked like Denver on Jacoby Jones’s long touchdown reception late in the second quarter.

Via Madden, I predicted the 49ers to win. I had been leaning to San Francisco for most of the week and then toward Baltimore as I finished preparing to write my preview, so I have no idea who I would have picked without using Madden.

The first half of the game was pretty lame. By that, I just mean that we haven’t had a blowout Super Bowl in quite a while and I’m hoping we’ll never have one again. The past several years have been great, so when the Ravens went up 21-3, and then led 28-6 after a second-half kickoff return touchdown, I would have been ready to turn the TV off if I were an average fan.

As it was, the power outage in the Superdome a couple minutes later was the most exciting thing that had happened up to that point.

The power outage seemed to allow San Francisco to regroup, because during a 4:10 period shortly after the outage, the 49ers scored 17 points. But the Ravens can’t blame the stadium malfunction for letting San Francisco back in the game. The first play once the game resumed was a failed 3^rd & 13 attempt, which forced the 49ers to punt. The Ravens didn’t have to let the power outage affect the game.

San Francisco came all the way back, but failed on a two-point conversion try that would have tied the game. If they had made it, they never would have had to try for the touchdown on their final possession, a field goal could have tied the game and sent it to overtime.

Instead, a failed 4^th & goal effectively ended the game. Baltimore won it’s second Lombardi Trophy while handing San Francisco their first loss on the league’s biggest stage.

I am still not ready to jump on the Joe Flacco “elite” bandwagon – I’ll explain on The All-Sports Crew on Wednesday – but he had a phenomenal postseason. Despite only leading two field-goal drives in the second half, he added three touchdowns and no turnovers to his tally, bringing his postseason total to 11 touchdowns and no interceptions and earning Super Bowl MVP in the process. Not bad for four games considering his only threw 22 touchdowns in 16 regular season games.

I give a lot of credit to John Harbaugh. I’ve felt for a long time that Jim is the better head coach, but we saw some things on special teams that we never would have seen in a Super Bowl without John trying them. They failed by just two yards on a fake field goal in the first half but they ran a kick back and the way they took the safety late in the game was genius. Defense is the one thing that could keep the Ravens from getting back here soon.

The 49ers, meanwhile, will definitely be back. They have a terrific team and they aren’t likely to lose too many key players. What they may lose, they can get back through the draft, especially since they ought to get a decent pick for Alex Smith.

Thanks for reading my blog all season. I’ve enjoyed maintaining it and I will make some changes to make it even better in 2013. To stay updated on my blog as new posts are published throughout the offseason, ‘like’ my blog’s Facebook page and follow me on Twitter, @cpuffnfl.

Divisional Round Afterword: Broncos vs Ravens

Rahim Moore watching painfully as Joe Flacco's pass sails just over his
finger tips and into Jacoby Jones's waiting arms.
Photo credit to Gridiron Rats.

I know the Broncos had one of the easiest second-half schedules this season, but I am at a loss as to how their defense was ranked #3 in the NFL against the pass.

Forgive me if you find fault with me for still being hesitant to give full credit to Joe Flacco. No doubt he played a pretty good game. But when you complete barely over 50% of your passes, and still average nearly 10 yards/attempt and toss 3 TD passes, that’s an indication that your receivers, and the opposing defense, are bailing you out.

And with that, I turn my attention to those fantastic Ravens receivers. Anquan Boldin had six receptions in the game and extended several drives, but was not a scoring factor like he was against Indianapolis. Torrey Smith, the Maryland graduate, had three catches for 98 yards and a pair of touchdowns, including one fantastic hanging catch. I don’t know another way to describe it besides that he hung in the air for what felt like forever while the ball was vacuumed into his hands.

The play of the game, of course, came with just over 30 seconds left, with the Ravens trailing by 7, when Joe Flacco just threw the ball as far as he could. Rahim Moore was caught way out of position and couldn’t get back, even as Jacoby Jones waited for the ball to get to him.

Surprisingly, the Broncos, who had three timeouts, did not try to drive the field for a field goal to win in regulation, and the Ravens ended up winning with a field goal early in a second overtime period.

Certainly, some blame has to fall on Peyton Manning. His first interception was absolutely not his fault. Not only was the pass tipped, but also, after watching the replay from several different angles, I could see that there should have been defensive pass interference called on the play. There wasn’t, Baltimore scored a touchdown, and you have to live with that. Peyton was stripped of the ball later in the game, and in overtime he made a very poor decision, tried to force something, and was picked off again.

But did Baltimore really deserve to win that game? You can say what you want about the Ravens making plays when they mattered, and you would be right. But what the heck was that play calling about? About 15 times in that game I watched Ray Rice gain one yard on a first down run and another yard or two on a second down run.

So why do I think Baltimore deserved to win? Because Denver didn’t deserve to win. How do you force your opponent into that many 3^rd & 7-or-longer situations and still allow them to convert? How does a team force that many difficult situations and still give up 35 points in regulation? I can’t answer that question, but I know that the answer will be the same answer to the first question I posed in this paragraph.

It was a disappointing end to the season for Denver, but Peyton Manning put things in their proper perspective after the game. “When you’re not playing, you miss out on all the highs, but you also miss these disappointments. But I would rather be in the arena to be excited or be disappointed than not have a chance at all. That’s football. That’s why everybody plays it. You have to be able to take the good with the bad.”

As for Baltimore, they advance to the AFC Championship game for a second consecutive year, and will play in New England, just as they did last year. New England won that game, or, rather, Baltimore lost that game. This year, in Ray Lewis’s final go, they hope to turn the tables and advance to Super Bowl XLVII.

The AFC Championship will kick off Sunday at 6:30 p.m. on CBS.