We are T-minus 48 hours until my favorite day of the year! The day that each team in the NFL is playing for all season, the day that 5 months of gritty performance, and hard work all comes to a culmination as we find out who the Champion of the NFL is! This day is so ingrained in my life, that I can tell you exactly what I was doing or who I was with from every Super Bowl since I was 5. The last time the 49ers were in the Super Bowl was 18 years ago. I still remember watching it in my family room, and wanting the Chargers to win until I saw how awesome Steve Young was. I recorded the game and watched it later. I remember Deion Sanders intercepting the final pass of the game as well. This game began to shape me as a football fan. In 2000, it was the second year of my annual Super Bowl party to watch the Ravens and Giants. I remember really wanting the Giants to win that game too (I see a theme here). We went bowling before the game, and came back to watch it with my buddies Adam and Kyle. The Ravens completely dominated that game, with the Giants only score on a kickoff return. I’m excited to see where this years’ game falls in NFL history.
Super Bowl Shuffle:
It seems like coaches in the NFL are much more apt to be reactive than proactive. If they make the wrong decision early, it’s their neck on the line (hence why you never see 2 point conversions in the first half). But if they’re already out of the playoff hunt, there’s no harm in firing coordinators or trying out different QB’s. Well the Harbaugh Brothers are the exception, as they did their own Super Bowl Shuffle this season. John Harbaugh was bold in firing offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, while they were leading the division. Jim also did the same, switching up his starting QB which is a gutsy move. It payed off big time, as Kaepernick is one of the rising stars in the NFL. They had very similar records, but I highly doubt that Smith’s dink and dunk offense could have came back from a 17-0 deficit last Sunday.
Super Bowl Stat:
The 49ers are 5-0 all time in Super Bowls. Even more impressively, Montana and Young have NEVER thrown and interception in a Super Bowl. They have a combined 17 TD’s and 0 INT’s. No pressure Colin.
Super Bowl Stat #2:
Ray Lewis’ first career sack was against Jim Harbaugh
Stolen Stat #3:
This is the first Super Bowl matchup where both teams are undefeated in Super Bowls (not counting 0-0 teams who have never been)
49ers Stat:
The 49ers are 7-2 under Kaepernick, were 6-2-1 under Smith
Flacco Stat:
Joe Flacco got a lot of “Flack-o” when he came out at the beginning of the season saying he was Elite. (a-la Eli Manning last year). Look at the path he took to the playoffs! He defeated Peyton Manning and Tom Brady both on the road!
Championship Stat:
In the playoffs this year, the Falcons blew a 20 point lead and won, then blew a 17 point lead and lost. Both happened at home.
Quote of the Week:
ConnorBarwin98 of the Houston Texans: “Ray Lewis is going to make Tebow look like an atheist the next two weeks.”
49ers Super Bowl story:
Check out this awesome Story of Steve Young puking all over his agent’s shoes shortly after his Super Bowl win 18 years ago! http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/peter_king/01/30/super-bowl-week/1.html
Proof the NFL babies it’s superstars:
Everybody knows that Jerry Rice was able to get away with Offensive Pass Interference all the time at the end of his career, and rules about tackling a QB around the legs were almost single-handedly enacted when Brady got hurt the ’08 season. Well this next story really irks me. In the Championship games, Tom Brady pulled an Ndamukong Suh and tried to kick Ed Reed in the nuts. And this was blatant! The media made a fuss about it, and Brady felt compelled to apologize to Reed. His fine? $10K. Frank Gore got fined $10,500 that week as well. But what horrible unsportsmanlike conduct could warrant a fine higher than Brady trying to end the Reed family tree? His socks were too low. YES, ladies and gentlemen, his SOCKS were too low! C’mon NFL, are you serious? The US Labor Department should investigate the NFL for Favoritism in the Workplace.
Nevermores Return:
Props to my loyal readers who remember the good ol’ days when I had a nickname for just about every team. Last year, I referred to the Ravens as the Nevermores for winning games they had no business winning, and losing games they should have won easily. Apparently that trend didn’t change too much this year. The Ravens beat Tom Brady twice, Peyton Manning on the road, and Eli Manning. Then their losses include to an NFC worst Philadelphia Eagles, a Kirk Cousins led Redskins, and Charlie Batch’s Steelers (keep in mind, they barely beat a Byron Leftwich Steelers team too).
Drumroll Please…
What Everybody’s been Waiting For!
Predictions! This is the first year in a long time that I can’t definitively say I have a preference on who wins. I am normally cheering hardcore for at least one team, but this year I am just really hoping for an exciting game.
Dominance makes me lean towards the 49ers:
Sure they went down 17-0 early, but in my opinion, the 49ers dominated the Falcons on Sunday. It shouldn’t have even have been that close, Akers missed a kick and Crabtree fumbled on the 1 yard line. They should have had 10 more points! After Kaepernick’s dominance against the Packers, the Falcons were committed to only stopping the QB. As a result, he handed it to Gore almost every play, and he gashed the Falcons up the middle. The 49ers have an amazing defense (although they haven’t shown up in the postseason) and offensive weapons galore.
History Lends itself to the Ravens:
It seems like the goal of every player is to go out on top. Winning a Super Bowl and retiring right after. History and the Football Gods have favored this objective quite a few times in recent history. Think John Elway, Jerome Bettis, Michael Strahan (although he ultimately came back for one more year). It’s the ultimate way to leave the game, and not pull a Marino or Favre and stay one year too long. When Ray Lewis announced his retirement before the playoffs, the Ravens immediately got better. On offense, remember last year when Eli Manning came out and said he should be considered an Elite QB? Everybody laughed, and what happened? He won his 2nd Super Bowl (more than his brother) and is now in the Hall of Fame talks! Flacco did the EXACT same thing this year. He said he is Elite and should be paid like Peyton. Everybody laughed, and he took the team to the Super Bowl. Will he pull an Eli and live up to his own hype?
Outcome:
Both teams have a strong D, good Run game, and a QB with big play ability. This will be a very close matchup. My prediction is the first OT game in Super Bowl history. Ravens get the ball and don’t score, 49ers respond with a stalled drive and Akers missing a kick. Finally, a mistake/big play will win the game! So the winning score will be 34-28. Now the tough part, who will win? I am so up in the air about this it’s not even funny, but my gut tells me the 49ers will take it. In my typical FMQB ESP mind, I just picture Flacco airing out 70 yard bombs to take the victory, and Kaepernick not able to pull off another Packer run, but I’m going to stick with my intuition. 49ERS WIN!
FMQB vs. FFMQB update:
Many of you may be wondering who’s cooking dinner for who. Well my initial struggles in picks were validated when my NFC pick made it to the Super Bowl, resulting in a tie. UGH! We then decided to have the Super Bowl be the outcome. Until we both picked the 49ers, double UGH! So we now have scores picked. She has a low scoring 3 point difference, and I have a high scoring 1 point difference. Should be interesting!
FMQB 