First Impressions: Super Bowl XLVII Matchup

Jim (49ers) & John (Ravens) will lead their teams against each other for the
second time in their careers, this time with a Lombardi Trophy on the line.
Photo credit to ESPN First Take (Facebook).

Over the next three days, I will look back at the 2012 postseason, one round at a time, as a general recap to put a close on yet another fantastic season. Today, however, I want to take the time to give my first thoughts on the upcoming Super Bowl.

The Ravens and 49ers have played four times since Baltimore got their new franchise. San Francisco won the first meeting but Baltimore has won all three since, including last season on Thanksgiving in the first matchup between the Harbaugh brothers.

Despite a pretty low score, just a 16-6 victory, Baltimore pretty clearly was the better team on both sides of the ball.

What has changed since 2011?

The 49ers are pretty similar on defense. They’re still pretty young overall, which means the extra year of experience will pay off a fair amount. On offense, the obvious change is the switch at quarterback from Alex Smith to Colin Kaepernick. His rapport with Michael Crabtree and Randy Moss, another acquisition since last season, will make the 49ers look very different against the Ravens than they did in 2011.

On the Baltimore side, Joe Flacco has been hot all postseason. 8 TDs and no interceptions speak for itself. The other quarterbacks who have had similar numbers in a given postseason have all not only won the Super Bowl but been named MVP in it. Torrey Smith is becoming a deep threat, which is important considering the Ravens only attempted one deep pass in last year’s matchup. Smith is quickly inserting himself with guys like Calvin Johnson and A.J. Green as the league’s top possession receivers.

Baltimore’s defense is pretty similar to last year’s group, and everyone has remained healthy throughout the postseason, so there will be no easy pickings for Kaepernick.

Will I have a rooting interest?

I have to. I always do for the Super Bowl. Even if I really don’t care, I always pick a team to root for, for two reasons. First, it makes the game more fun for me. During the regular season I don’t mind just watching a game for the fun of it. Even during the playoffs I can do that. But I want to get excited during the Super Bowl, not just sit there as an emotionless observer.

My other reason for having a rooting interest is for my Madden prediction game, which I’ll explain in my Super Bowl XLVII preview the morning of the game.

So which team will I be rooting for? This is one of the few Super Bowls I can remember where I really don’t care which team wins; I don’t like either but I also don’t dislike either. However, because I’m from Maryland and will have to deal with poor attitudes from Ravens fans if they lose, I will be rooting for Baltimore.

Just a note for the heck of it, keep in mind that if Baltimore wins, Pittsburgh will retain sole possession of the record for most Super Bowl victories. San Francisco would tie them with a win.

The Harbowl

From what I’ve been able to gather, John and Jim Harbaugh never faced each other as coaches before last Thanksgiving.

John started out coaching running backs and linebackers at Western Michigan in the mid-80s and then, after a couple stops elsewhere, took a job as special teams coordinator at the University of Cincinnati, holding that position for eight years. His first NFL experience was in the same position with the Philadelphia Eagles, a job he kept from 1998 until 2007 when he became the defensive secondary coach with the Eagles. He made the jump right from that position to Ravens head coach.

Jim started his coaching career earlier than you would expect. During his final eight seasons as a quarterback in the NFL, beginning when he moved from Chicago to Indianapolis, he was an unpaid assistant coach under his dad, Jack Harbaugh, at Western Kentucky University. When his playing career ended, he became the quarterbacks coach with the Oakland Raiders for two seasons before taking a head coaching position with the University of San Diego. He held that job for three years and his position as head coach at Stanford for four. 2011 was his first season as the head coach with San Francisco.

Though it felt like a lot of hype was placed on their Thanksgiving matchup last season, it was nothing compared to the hype of what could have been during the postseason. Both John and Jim led their teams to their conference championship games, only to fall to the Patriots and Giants respectively, both due to poor late-game execution.

This year, they led their teams back to the AFC and NFC Championship games, and this time they both won. A lot will be made of their matchup over the next two weeks. I wanted to get mine out of the way. So congratulations to the two brothers, and to their parents, Jack and Jackie, on a fantastic season that will end in New Orleans.

I can’t even begin to imagine what it will be like for their family in the days following the game. There is nothing to base it on. The Manning brothers have never made this matchup happen, and I can’t think of many other brothers who have had the opportunity (Tiki and Ronde Barber both play(ed) in the NFC).

AFC Championship Preview: Patriots vs Ravens

Sunday, January 20, 2013

6:30pm – CBS

Baltimore Ravens @ New England Patriots

In a rematch of last year's AFC Championship, the Patriots make their
franchise's ninth appearance while the Ravens make their fourth.
The Patriots won last year, 23-20.

Ravens fans are clearly confident in their defense, and they have good reason to be. As far as I’m concerned, Baltimore’s defense matches up with New England’s offense just as well as it did earlier this season and in last year’s AFC Championship.

Joe Flacco, for as much as I give him a lot of grief, always shows up against New England. Despite a 1-2 record against them in his career, he has a Passer Rating of 103.0 in those games. The only team he’s faced multiple times and has a better rating against is the Miami Dolphins.

In those three starts against New England, Flacco has 931, 7 touchdown passes and just 2 interceptions. I’ll buy him putting up another big game this weekend, especially with how well Anquan Boldin and Torrey Smith have been playing lately.

Tom Brady, on the other hand, has 5 touchdown passes and 3 interceptions in five career starts against Baltimore. In addition, the conference championship round is by far his worst of the postseason. He may be 5-1 in these games, but he’s thrown 6 touchdowns and 7 interceptions on his way to just a 78.4 passer rating in the AFC Championship.

The more I think about this pick, the less nervous I am about it. I fully understand why New England is such a big favorite in this game, and I won’t be shocked if they win. But I think Baltimore has all the tools to go into New England and beat the Patriots, just like they beat them in Baltimore earlier this season.

Puff’s Pick:

Baltimore Ravens – 20

New England Patriots – 17

MVP: Torrey Smith


Follow me on Twitter @cpuffnfl and on my Puff on the NFL Facebook Page.

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.

Sunday Football Afterword: Week 3 Late Games

Torrey Smith hauled in two touchdown receptions
in an emotional game.

So if the 49ers loss against the Vikings moved them out of first in the NFC West, who took over their spot? Surprise, surprise, it’s the Cardinals! Kevin Kolb faced his old team and played a fantastic game as Arizona hosted Philadelphia. Michael Vick was 17/37; Kolb was 17/24. Vick had 217 passing yards, 28 rushing yards and no touchdowns. Kolb had 222 passing yards, 16 rushing yards and two touchdowns. The Eagles better miss him! But it wasn’t only Kevin Kolb who led Arizona to a big win and their first 3-0 start since the 70s; Arizona’s defense has been rock solid, and they came up huge yesterday.

The play that defined the game for me was the final play of the first half. With a few seconds left and the ball on the 1-yard line, Vick dropped back to try one more throw before settling for a field goal. Instead he was hit hard, fumbled the ball, and James Sanders returned for a score to put the Cardinals up 24-0 at halftime. Philly managed to hold the Cardinals down in the second half but only put up 6 points themselves in the 27-6 road loss.

Matt Ryan continues to shine as the Falcons beat the Chargers in similar fashion, 27-3. Ryan was 30/40 for 275 yards, 3 touchdown passes, and just his first interception of the season. A week after being arrested for a DUI after playing the Broncos, Michael Turner was back and carried the ball 14 times for 80 yards and a score.

Philip Rivers meanwhile continues to struggle early in the season. He threw for under 200 yards and after picking off Peyton Manning three times last week the Falcons defense picked Rivers off twice in San Diego.

Peyton Manning wanted to come back from that rough performance against Atlanta as the Broncos hosted the Texans, but for the second straight week, a big fourth quarter come back bid fell short. Houston led 31-11 heading into the final quarter. Manning finished the day with 330 passing yards and 2 touchdown passes, both coming in the final 15 minutes. But Matt Schaub’s 4 touchdown passes were too much for Denver to overcome in the 31-25 Houston victory.

Big Ben Roethlisberger had 384 passing yards four touchdown passes and no picks. That was the best statistical game for any quarterback so far this week, yet it wasn’t enough as the Raiders earned their first victory, 34-31. Carson Palmer played good, not great, but Darren McFadden is a beast. He carried the ball just 18 times but gained 113 yards and scored a touchdown. It took a 13-0 fourth quarter effort, but the Raiders earned their first win of the season.

The Sunday Night game was interesting. There were a lot of penalties, but the game moved at a quick enough pace that it didn’t lose my interest like many games over the past two weeks have.

Of course, the story of the night was Ravens receiver, and Maryland grad, Torrey Smith, who played despite his younger brother Tevin being killed in a motorcycle accident early in the day. Smith had 6 catches for 127 yards and two scores.

Flacco played well, as did Ray Rice. Baltimore’s defense, as always, was strong. But the Patriots did not look very good on offense. Brady had a decent second half as New England finally got Wes Welker involved in their game plan, but Brady has not looked like Brady this year when he’s throwing to just about anyone else.

With little time remaining, the Ravens were in range for a 27-yard field goal try. Last year Billy Cundiff missed a 32-yard field goal that gave New England the AFC Championship and a Super Bowl bid. This year, rookie Justin Tucker was the man to try and give Baltimore the win. His kicked sailed high over the uprights, but the official beneath said it went directly over, which constitutes a successful field goal attempt. The kick gave the Ravens a 31-30 victory and a 2-1 record.

New England drops to 1-2 with the loss. Their streak of consecutive games played without being below .500 ends at 145, a streak that spanned nine seasons. In 2003 they lost their season opener, 31-0 against the Chiefs. After that they won two straight games, lost to the Redskins, then did not lose again as they went on to win the Super Bowl against the Carolina Panthers.

Tonight the Packers take on the Seattle Seahawks. Expect the 12^th Man to go all out as Seattle tries to keep pace with the 49ers and not lose too much ground to the Cardinals. It will be a tough task against the Packers, but if there is nothing else the first three weeks have taught us, it’s that the NFL loves upsets and there is never a ‘gimme win.’

If you haven't already, be sure to check out my Afterword on the earlier Sunday games.