Super Bowl XLVII: Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl History

Super Bowl Sunday Countdown: 2 Days

Photo credit to USA Today.

The Ravens’ Super Bowl history is much shorter than San Francisco’s. Baltimore saw Super Bowl appearances twice, with one victory, before the Ravens even existed. The Baltimore Colts appeared twice in the first five years of the Super Bowl era, losing to the Jets and beating the Cowboys in one of the ugliest Super Bowl’s ever played.

The Ravens didn’t exist until 1995. The Browns moved from Cleveland to Baltimore in 1995 and chose not to keep their history. The current Cleveland Browns have their former team’s history as their own. Even then, however, Cleveland has never appeared in the Super Bowl.

Baltimore’s lone Super Bowl was a victory. The 2000 Super Bowl was a matchup between the Ravens and the Giants, with Trent Dilfer leading the Ravens and Kerry Collins quarterbacking for New York.

Super Bowl XXXV was not a pretty game. The Ravens converted just three of 16 third down attempts and New York converted two of their 14 tries. The Ravens did not turn the ball over and that was the only reason they had any offensive success. New York, however, lost a fumble and threw four interceptions.

Ray Lewis was the MVP of Super Bowl XXXV and will make his final appearance in Super Bowl XLVII. He said before the playoffs began that he will retire after this season.

Tomorrow I will preview Super Bowl XLVII and my official prediction will come on Sunday by noon. Stay updated on new blog posts as they are published by ‘liking’ my blog’s Facebook page and by following me on Twitter, @cpuffnfl.

Super Bowl XLVII: Media Day

Super Bowl Sunday Countdown: 3 Days

Ray Lewis will play his final NFL game on Sunday. A win would give him
a second Super Bowl ring and send him out on top.
Photo credit to NFL.com.

Tuesday was Media Day at the Superdome. For the second year, the NFL allowed fans to come in, for a fee, to watch the action quietly from a section of the stands.

On Media Day, every player and coach is made available for about an hour to answer questions from the media. There are so many players and coaches involved in this game, so here are just a few of the highlights.

Randy Moss

I had a good time listening to Randy Moss talk. I respectfully disagree with his statement that he is the greatest receiver of all time, but I thoroughly enjoyed his response to a Manti Te’o related question: “ If I did ever have an imaginary girlfriend, I never told anybody about it.”

Ray Lewis

Of course, the allegation that he used deer antler spray to aid his recovery from a triceps injury this season came out on Tuesday during media day. He sidestepped questions about it, saying it was a two-year-old story being rehashed. I wonder why nobody has written anything about that? Interestingly enough, asked a similar question to one asked of Randy Moss, Lewis said he “may have been catfished once or twice.”

Joe Flacco

On Monday, a story I read on NFL.com said Flacco’s father called the Baltimore quarterback “dull.” Asked if he is dull, Flacco said, “I don’t know if I would say I’m dull, but I’m probably close to it.”

Jim Harbaugh

Of course plenty of questions were asked about the Harbaugh brothers. In fact, one of the 49ers offensive linemen, Joe Staley, was asked a serious of questions concerning the brothers, including which is more handsome and dresses better. Jim took a Shakespearean approach to answering one question about the matchup. The quote ended with, “For he who sheds his blood with me today shall be my brother.” I immediately recognized it as a quote from Shakespeare – though I did have to check on which work it was from, it was Henry V – but it was pretty cool to have someone answer a Media Day question in that manner.

Chris Culliver

I’ll end with this bit. Culliver was asked whether he would accept an openly gay football player in the 49ers locker room. I respect his courage to speak his mind when his opinion is not at all politically correct, but that respect is significantly lessened by the way he in which he spoke his opinion, saying, “We don’t have any gay guys on the team. They gotta get up outta here if they do. Can’t be with that sweet stuff.”

The 49ers quickly released a statement saying that Culliver’s words do not express the ideals of the franchise and Culliver later apologized, saying, “The derogatory comments I made yesterday were a reflection of my thoughts in my head, but they are not how I feel. It has taken me seeing them in print to realize that they are hurtful and ugly. … I apologize to those who I have hurt and offended and I pledge to learn and grow from this experience.”

Tomorrow I will publish two posts, one about the 49ers’ history in the Super Bowl and one about the Ravens’. Saturday I will preview Super Bowl XLVII and my official prediction will by published by noon on Sunday.

To stay updated on new posts as they are published, ‘like’ my blog’s Facebook page and follow me on Twitter, @cpuffnfl.

Super Bowl XLVII: Baltimore Ravens

Super Bowl Sunday Countdown: 4 Days

In Ray Lewis's final game, the Ravens look to win their second Lombardi Trophy
and hand the 49ers their first Super Bowl loss. Photo credit to NFL Network.

It would be too easy to just copy what I wrote yesterday about the 49ers and apply it to the Ravens. It would be easy to say that this was a two-year, a three-year, a five-year process that Baltimore’s franchise has worked through to this point. After all, they went to the AFC Championship last season and they are the only team in the NFL that has made the postseason each of the past five years.

But it is for that very reason that I say it has not been a five years process. Something had to have happened to get over the hump, to take this team to that next level that has eluded them since John Harbaugh and Joe Flacco came to Baltimore.

The Ravens, in my mind, are Ray Lewis’s team without a doubt. The most faithful Ravens fans who think they know their team inside and out while say that it wasn’t just Ray who sparked this postseason run. Remember that Bernard Pollard also returned from injury in that wild-card game against the Colts.

But I still point to the teams they played during the Regular Season. Ray Lewis played in Baltimore’s first six games, in which they went 5-1. They should have gone 6-0 – yes, I’m still bitter against the replacement refs for that Week 2 game, even though I didn’t really have much interested invested in it.

The first week that Lewis did not play, the Ravens got pummeled by the Texans, 43-13. They had a bye week and then won four straight, but the only semi-impressive win was their 55-20 victory over Oakland, which was a statement made by their offense. It wasn’t an impressive display by their defense considering nobody else scored 20 against them during that winning streak.

Then they lost four of their last five. Two, and maybe three, of those games were matchups they should have won. Not having Ray Lewis made it very difficult for Baltimore to do what they needed on defense. Not only is Ray Lewis an emotional leader, he is still one of the best middle linebackers in the NFL on a physical level.

Baltimore has given up fewer than two touchdowns in five of Ray Lewis’s nine games played this season. Without Ray, they’ve achieved that feat three times in ten games, and in one of those games they still gave up five field goals.

I look forward to finding out what the Ravens look like without Ray Lewis next season. My outlook isn’t as bright as many Ravens fans’ outlooks. But one thing is for sure, with Ray Lewis in at middle linebacker, this team has a great shot at winning the Super Bowl on Sunday.

It certainly doesn’t hurt that Joe Flacco has found his mojo this postseason. Eight touchdown passes and no interceptions over three games is always a formula for success.

Tomorrow I will recap some of the things that caught my attention during Media Day – not the news of Ray Lewis possibly using Deer Antler Spray; I’ll wait for more info to come out before I address that. Stay tuned all week, as I’ll have a new post every day and my official prediction on Sunday by noon. For links to blog posts as they’re published, ‘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.

Divisional Round Preview: Broncos vs Ravens

Game 1:

Saturday, January 12, 2013

4:30pm – CBS

Baltimore Ravens @ Denver Broncos

Von Miller (58) and Ed Reed (20) will be key to their teams' defensive
game plans. Miller will have to slow down Ray Rice while Reed will try
to confuse Manning in coverage. Photo credit to ESPN.

Peyton Manning is in uncharted territory in many ways. This is his first postseason playing in anything but white and blue. It is also the first time he played all 60 minutes of all 17 games during the season and still got a first round bye. In addition, he has a solid defense, and a run game, for once.

So it should not come as much surprise that I am picking his Broncos to win at home against the Baltimore Ravens. But let’s get more specific about why they will win this game.

I have yet to see four solid quarters in a single game from Joe Flacco in the second half of this season. He made some strides last week by playing very well in the second half, and his receivers made up for a mediocre first half. That, however, will not be enough against the Broncos.

Denver’s defense ranks in the top 3 in the NFL against both the run and the pass, so don’t expect Anquan Boldin or anyone else to be able to save Joe Flacco if his passes aren’t on point. With Elvis Dumervil and Von Miller coming at him, I don’t expect Flacco to have a fun day in Denver.

Ray Rice is what will keep Baltimore in this one. Denver has a tendency to over-pursue at times, and Rice has the athleticism and awareness to take advantage of that. Still, there is only so much you can do if the run game is the only thing you can establish.

Baltimore’s defense tends to give Peyton Manning fits. He has not touched 300 passing yards in any of his last seven meetings with Ray Lewis and Ed Reed. Despite that, he has not lost in any of those seven games. I think Manning will prove to be the most valuable player in this game, but not based on stats. It will be his ability to read Baltimore’s defensive coverages and effectively use Knowshon Moreno and Ronnie Hillman that will prove his worth to Denver’s offense.

Usually in a matchup between Manning and this defense, I would pick a low final score, but Denver’s defense is much better than anything Indianapolis ever had while he was there. I think they will create some scoring opportunities Manning normally wouldn’t have.

Puff’s Pick:

Baltimore Ravens – 13

Denver Broncos – 27

MVP: Peyton Manning

Wild-Card Afterword: Ravens vs Colts

Anquan Boldin had 5 receptions for 145 yards and this
touchdown in Baltimore's Wild-Card matchup with Indy.
Photo credit to USA Today.

The Colts got out to a terrible start and never recovered. They had multiple opportunities to steal this game from the Ravens, and they never took them.

Joe Flacco didn’t look very good in the first half. He wasn’t protected well, he made poor decisions and often even poorer passes. But his receivers came to play, Anquan Boldin more than anyone else.

A pair of very impressive receptions by Boldin in the first half went a long way to settle down his quarterback. Flacco looked like a completely different player in the second half, putting great touch on balls thrown down the field and trusting his receivers to keep making plays. Boy, did they.

The game had a closer feel than the 24-9 final score would suggest, but Baltimore’s offense played like they were never threatened.

On the other side of the ball, Ray Lewis was a bigger factor than I expected. I knew he would provide a huge emotional boost, but to have 13 tackles in his first game since Week 6? He was everywhere on the field. That wouldn’t have surprised me much, but even before his injury he didn’t appear as involved as he was Sunday.

What impressed me most was the overall play by Baltimore’s defense. Indianapolis ran roughly 23 plays in the first quarter. Baltimore was in the single-digits. Even though Baltimore kept Indy from scoring, that is a lot more time spent on the field than they would like to have spent. Remember that the Colts have come up with explosive plays throughout the season, so to play so tired but keep Indy out of the end zone all game impressed me very much.

An emotional season for the Colts ends in Chuck Pagano’s old home, and the coach shared an emotional moment with a Baltimore defensive player as time expired, which was very touching.

Baltimore will play in Denver next week, a tough task for anyone. It will be a much bigger challenge to take on Peyton Manning and his receiving corps, as well as to face a much more talented defense, but Baltimore’s performance today certainly did not hurt their outlook for that game. It should be a good one, and I will preview it Thursday.

Wild-Card Preview: Ravens vs Colts

Game 3:

Sunday, January 6, 2013

1:00pm – CBS

Indianapolis Colts @ Baltimore Ravens

Rookie WR T.Y. Hilton has been one of the most explosive
players of 2012, and I don't see Baltimore containing him.
Photo credit to Bleacher Report.

The Ravens have been a tale of two seasons. They opened up the campaign with a blowout victory over the Bengals before losing to the Eagles at the mercy of the replacement officials. Clearly Baltimore should have won that game.

They bounced back, though, and edged the Patriots to start a 4-game win streak that ended in a blowout loss to Houston right before their bye.

Baltimore won their first four games coming off their week of rest, but they seem pretty insignificant now. They beat the Browns, the Raiders, the Steelers (barely) with Ben Roethlisberger out, and the Chargers.

Now the Ravens have lost four of their last 5. Yes, their losses have been to good teams – Batch didn’t turn the ball over eight times, so I’ll give Baltimore credit for that loss, even though they never had to face Big Ben this year – but guess who they’re playing on Sunday? A good team, that’s who.

Indianapolis struggled early, losing to the Bears – not exactly an awful loss to have, the Bears were solid early in the season – as well as the Jaguars and the Jets. But their only losses since have been to New England and Houston. They have won nine of their last eleven, so not only are they a good team, they’re a hot team, and that usually goes a long way in the postseason, just ask the Packers, the Steelers, and the Giants twice.

The Colts’ defense was terrible early in the season, but somehow they scraped a winning formula together and the defense has done what it needed to when Andrew Luck most needed the help.

In case you haven’t noticed, Luck is not a particularly great quarterback, or at least he hasn’t been this year. What he has been is clutch. He has a very poor completion percentage because he really only plays well in the clutch. Of course, some people would argue that him being clutch is exactly what does make him a great quarterback.

But Baltimore’s defense is shot right now and I don’t trust them to slow down Vick Ballard or their likely #2 guy, Mewelde Moore in the run game. Yes, Ray Lewis will be back, and he will deliver a boost. I just don’t think it will be enough.

They also will have a lot of trouble limiting the explosiveness of T.Y. Hilton, who I think will be the difference-maker on offense for Indianapolis. I think the game will have a close feeling to the end, but the Colts will put the dagger in late, making the score look more lopsided than the game ends up being.

Puff’s Pick:

Indianapolis Colts – 20

Baltimore Ravens – 7

MVP: T.Y. Hilton

10 Things You Need to Know: NFL Regular Season Week 7

By holding off the Raiders, the Falcons are the
last team in 2012 who can challenge the '72 Dolphins.

‘Like’ The All-Sports Crew on Facebook to keep up with updates! The All-Sports Crew will air on WMUC Sports, live, tonight from 7-8.

10.            Monday Night Miracle 2.0

For the second time in his career, Peyton Manning led his team on a miracle comeback on ESPN’s Monday Night Football. The first was with Indianapolis against Jon Gruden-led Tampa Bay, where he came back from a three score deficit with about five minutes left in the fourth quarter to win the game.

This time, Peyton began the charge, but it was ultimately a team effort. Trailing 24-0 at halftime, Manning led the Broncos on touchdown drives on each of their first three 2^nd half possessions. The defense helped, though, forcing five turnovers on six 2^nd half possessions for the Chargers, two of which were taken back for touchdowns. Denver won the second half, 35-0.

9.            Trouble in Baltimore

Haloti Ngata will recover fairly soon, his injury doesn’t appear to be too significant. Terrell Suggs is practicing this week. But that good news comes with bad news even further to the other end of the spectrum. Lardarius Webb and Ray Lewis are both out, likely for the season. Lewis is going to work hard and is holding out hope that his torn triceps will recover in time for a playoff push to the Super Bowl, but I think losing Webb hurts even more. The Ravens are not yet in any danger of missing the playoffs, but once there, they may not be able to do much.

8.            Sick of Jets/Patriots

Are you? I am! Rex Ryan needs to sleep with Bill Belichick already and get that love affair out of the way. I’m sure once Bill calls him ‘Fatty’ a few times he’ll stop praising him so much.

Speaking of Belichick, I’m also tired of him praising a player on every team he goes up against. ‘Tim Tebow is a great asset to that team.’ I’m as big a Tebow lover as the next guy, but seriously? Could Tebow be a valuable asset to the Jets? Sure, I think he could, if they used him. But they don’t. So focus on stopping Mark Sanchez, and if you praise him, well then good luck coaching an NFL team from a psychiatric ward.

7.            Playoff Picture

The Browns are only two games out of a playoff spot. Okay, I’ll stop there. If that is currently possible, then it most certainly is too early to continue this if the season ended today talk. Until a team is mathematically out and we have fewer teams fighting for those twelve spots, let’s focus on trying to figure out who is actually good!

Dave Dameshek said it better, and faster, than I possible could. So click here. The part that applies to this part of my post starts at 2:07.

6.            Fantasy Disappointments

There were plenty of fantasy disappointments this week, so I’ll just list a few that stood out to me.

• Dwayne Bowe, Antonio Brown and Jeremy Kerley. One week after you posted a respectable, though underwhelming 32 points for me, you all combined for just 11 points. Brandon Myers, starting in Jimmy Graham’s place, almost outscored all three of you! Shame!
• Not sure if this should be here or in the Fantasy Surprises list, but Philip Rivers scored 7 points. Not just 7 points. 7 points! How? How do you throw four picks and fumble the ball twice and still score 7 points?
• The five-game streak is over in Minnesota. Their defense hasn’t scored less than 10 fantasy points all season in my league. This week? A big fat goose egg.
• Likewise, Miles Austin didn’t seem to benefit from the bye week. After scoring double digits in all of the Cowboys’ first four games, he scored only 4 on Sunday.

5.            Fantasy Surprises

• Last year, this would have been par for the course – well, not actually, but it happened enough that I wouldn’t have been shocked. Aaron Rodgers scored 48 points in my league on Sunday night. Looking back at his other recent performances, he’s actually racked up a nice three-game stretch that covered up a terrible first three games. Somehow, we forgot he had turned it around.
• Robert Griffin III scored 37 in my fantasy league. It always helps when you break out a big run for a touchdown. If RGIII can avoid the sophomore slump Cam Newton is having, he’ll be go down in the Fantasy Football Hall of Fame! There isn’t one? There should be.
• Nelson has been shaken from his slumber. After a couple decent weeks to start the season and then some very disheartening performances to follow it up, Nelson scored three times against the Texans, reminding us all of the season he had last year. We’ll see if he can keep it up.
• Shonn Greene, why?! I picked you for my NFL.com league and you did nothing. Nothing!! I dropped you and you do this? After not scoring a touchdown, not scoring more than five points since Week 1, he rushed for three touchdowns and scored 34 fantasy points for the waiver wire.

4.            Games to Watch

Like last week, I’ll be more specific on why these are the biggest games to watch in my predictions post tomorrow.

• Seattle Seahawks at San Francisco 49ers (Thursday, 8:20 p.m.)
• Arizona Cardinals at Minnesota Vikings (Sunday, 1:00 p.m.)
• Washington Redskins at New York Giants (Sunday, 1:00 p.m.)
• Baltimore Ravens at Houston Texans (Sunday, 1:00 p.m.)
• New York Jets at New England Patriots (Sunday, 4:25 p.m.)

3.            Power Rankings

For the sake of space, I will list just the top 6 and the bottom 6 here. You can see the rest on NFL.com.

1. Atlanta Falcons	27. Tennessee Titans
2. Houston Texans	28. New Orleans Saints
3. New York Giants	29. Cleveland Browns
4. Baltimore Ravens	30. Jacksonville Jaguars
5. Chicago Bears	31. Oakland Raiders
6. San Francisco 49ers	32. Kansas City Chiefs

It’s clear, at least to me, that the power rankings are not the best piece to use for picking games. Just that fact that the Texans only dropped one place after they got demolished at home by the Packers makes no sense to me. But that’s why I don’t make the rankings, I guess.

The Power Poll is a better representation of where the teams stack up, in my opinion. Check that out here.

2.            New York Giants

The Giants didn’t shock me, but they did surprise me, as they did a lot of people with their huge win in San Francisco on Sunday. It was the third time in two seasons that they Giants have beaten a good 49ers team in that venue. If the Giants can have a good day as a favorite on Sunday against Washington, they’ll get my vote of confidence as the best team in the NFL.

1.            Atlanta Falcons

In the mean time, the Giants are not yet the best team in the NFC. The Falcons have won three straight games that could have as easily dropped them to 3-3. Instead they sit at 6-0. I would like this team a lot more if it was 3-3, though. Like the Giants, the Falcons play better as underdogs. Atlanta always shows up and has great regular season results. Then they play as favorites in the playoffs and have their heads handed them on a platter. The Giants haven’t performed as well and have snuck into the playoffs for both of their Super Bowl runs. I see a pattern here, and it seems to be much more widespread in this league than just with these two teams. How has this society become so complacent?