The 2013 Super Bowl Thread!

[Vince, Pt. II]

Also, let me put this out there so I don't just sound like the sour grapes 49er fan who's whining because his team lost the Super Bowl:

The Ravens played a fantastic game, took advantage of the 49ers mistakes early and made one more play than San Francisco did. Kudos to them for a well fought, hard earned Super Bowl win.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by Marmel

Baltimore averaged about 30 a game in the playoffs this year and were top 10 in scoring regular season. Stop throwing out ridiculous predictions. They may or may not make another Superbowl, mainly because it is incredibly hard to do so, but Flacco is not going to keep them from getting there.

Seriously? They were top ten in scoring because of their defense. They were a mediocre offense all year, which is why they fired their O Coordinator. The playoffs were littered with defensive/special teams TD's. Flacco "led" the Ravens to 6 total points in the second half of this game, with the game winning points coming with the help of a PI call that the Niners didn't get the benefit of on their drive.

If he's a great QB, he'll show it next year. We'll see if he ranks among the top 10 QB's when he has to throw the ball more. I'm sorry, he WILL be the reason they won't get back, because instead of being paid like a normal part of the team, he'll take the cap hit of one of the top 5 QB's in the game (which he isn't)

[CraigSca]

The only thing that could have stopped the 49ers on that last drive was themselves and that's exactly what happened. You can scream all you want about the 4th down play, but Harbaugh should have never let it get to that point. The 49ers were driving like hot knives through butter the entire second half until that last 1st and goal...

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Also, let me put this out there so I don't just sound like the sour grapes 49er fan who's whining because his team lost the Super Bowl:

The Ravens played a fantastic game, took advantage of the 49ers mistakes early and made one more play than San Francisco did. Kudos to them for a well fought, hard earned Super Bowl win.

Jim got a little conservative when you were going in for that possible go ahead score. Didnt have confidence in the defense.

Again I must ask, why did the defense get so poor once Colin took over as the QB. If Colin had the defense Smith was playing with this game would have been a dominating 49ers win.

[Lathum]

OK Troy, then who do they replace him with?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by TroyF

he'll take the cap hit of one of the top 5 QB's in the game (which he isn't)

He's pretty damned close right now.

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by Lathum

OK Troy, then who do they replace him with?

Clearly, Tim Tebow.

[kingfc22]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

Jim got a little conservative when you were going in for that possible go ahead score. Didnt have confidence in the defense.

...

This final set of downs will haunt Jim and Greg Roman for a while. I was screaming for them to let Kaep utilize his legs and still can't believe they didn't run a single play from the pistol there.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

Jim got a little conservative when you were going in for that possible go ahead score. Didnt have confidence in the defense.

Again I must ask, why did the defense get so poor once Colin took over as the QB. If Colin had the defense Smith was playing with this game would have been a dominating 49ers win.

Justin Smith got hurt. He seriously makes the entire rest of the defensive line WAY better. It has little to nothing to do with Kaepernick. Also, look at the schedule. While Alex Smith was the QB, the 49ers played far worse offenses. Since Kaepernick has taken over, they've had to play New Orleans, Seattle (after they figured out they have an offense), New England, Green Bay, Atlanta and Baltimore. In the 8 games Smith QB'ed, the only good offensive team the 49ers played was Green Bay. Maybe throw in Detroit and New York.

[Carman Bulldog]

Disappointing that officials played such a big factor in the game between two good teams, especially with the controversy leading into the game about the ref's being hand picked and the in-season grades being fixed to support this.

Carey Williams Official shove
That OPI right before the Jones TD
Running into the kicker
2 point conversion offsides
Flacco out of bounds late hit
Holding in the End Zone on pass (and safety)

I think the kicker one and the offsides were close and there are probably some others that I'm missing.. The four others were absolutely brutal non-calls. There is a fine line as an official between having an influence on a game by calling too much and likewise, by not calling enough. In this instance, they played a part on the outcome by not calling enough penalties on some blatant plays.

Despite this, it still thankfully ended up being a great game, but it will unfortunately always have a certain taint about it in my mind, much like Steelers-Seahawks still does to this day.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Also, let me put this out there so I don't just sound like the sour grapes 49er fan who's whining because his team lost the Super Bowl:

The Ravens played a fantastic game, took advantage of the 49ers mistakes early and made one more play than San Francisco did. Kudos to them for a well fought, hard earned Super Bowl win.

Agree with the second part, but the PI was obvious and I think any fan, Niners or not, has every right to be pissed off about the end result of the game.

When a team wins a game, their fans look at any criticism of the game or their team as sour grapes. I'm not one of them. Oklahoma State ended the Jayhawks winning streak at home on Saturday and showed me many reasons why they have no chance in hell to repeat the result in the Big 12 tourney. As I'm a fan of OSU, it isn't considered sour grapes. A fan of the Jayhawks saying it would be considered a whiner? Why?

So long as he doesn't say Jayhawks rule, Cowboys suck and has a reason for the opinion, I think he's good. I take sports as fun and good debates, not calling someone a whiner or idiot because I disagree with them though.

[Lathum]

Without looking it up Flacco has been to what, playoffs 5 straight years, 3 afc title games, won a title and a Super Bowl MVP? Totally not a guy you should resign.

[Marmel]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Without looking it up Flacco has been to what, playoffs 5 straight years, 3 afc title games, won a title and a Super Bowl MVP? Totally not a guy you should resign.

It was the defense.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Lathum "defending" Joe Flacco is perfect. He and Eli Manning are just about the same exact person. Great (but not elite) QBs who get more credit than they deserve because the team around them is great.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Lathum "defending" Joe Flacco is perfect. He and Eli Manning are just about the same exact person. Great (but not elite) QBs who get more credit than they deserve because the team around them is great.

Yet the guys I'm defending keep winning superbowls and Super Bowl MVPs.

[MizzouRah]

Flacco is a damn good QB. Anyone should be able to see that.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Yet the guys I'm defending keep winning superbowls and Super Bowl MVPs.

We've had this argument before, and we both know where it ends.

Also, Flacco didn't deserve the MVP tonight, Jacoby Jones got robbed.

I'll be honest, I didn't see any of the Baltimore playoff games but this one. Does Flacco always get bailed out by his receivers? He made several good throws tonight, but the long TD to Jones was an absolutely awful underthrow and Boldin bailed him out several times as well.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by TroyF

Flacco "led" the Ravens to 6 total points in the second half of this game

Not everybody has Pete Carroll as their coach. This was a team up 28-6. Not a lot of teams are aiming for 50 when they are up by more than 3 scores already.

Originally Posted by Lathum

Without looking it up Flacco has been to what, playoffs 5 straight years, 3 afc title games, won a title and a Super Bowl MVP? Totally not a guy you should resign.

More playoff road victories than anybody. Considering he is 28, just adding 2-3 more makes that rather difficult to break.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Boldin bailed him out several times as well.

Boldin is huge for them. Flacco throws him a ton of jump balls and such where he is just more physical than the DBs.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

The genuis part is it doesn't matter. THe Ravens could have simply tackled the defenders. Penalty = safety, which is what they are going for anyway.

Yep, no reason not to hold as much as you can there. If the coaches didn't tell the blockers to hold they should have.

[AENeuman]

9ers defense failure to stop 3rd downs I think was the killer. 3-7, 3-10 and the killer 3-1 audible pass. Good coaching and even better flaco reads won the day.

[kingfc22]

Originally Posted by AENeuman

9ers defense failure to stop 3rd downs I think was the killer. 3-7, 3-10 and the killer 3-1 audible pass. Good coaching and even better flaco reads won the day.

Yep. They just never were able to get off the field.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Lathum "defending" Joe Flacco is perfect. He and Eli Manning are just about the same exact person. Great (but not elite) QBs who get more credit than they deserve because the team around them is great.

I wouldn't even call them great.

They're somewhat above average.

[mckerney]

There is one thing I'm curious about. Let's say on that last play of the game that the Ravens punter panics while the 49ers defenders are coming after him and he starts to run forward. He's tackled and it's ruled a safety with :01 left on the clock, though replay clearly shows that the ball made it outside the end zone and he should be down at the one yard line. John Harbaugh, however, throws his challenge flag before the booth initiates a replay.

Now, can the play be overturned? By rule would the call of not a safety be considered beneficial to Batimore because it would take points away from the other team, or would it be considered beneficial to the 49ers because they would have a better chance to win even though they have 2 fewer points.

[Jon]

All reviews would be initiated by the booth at this point if the game.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by Izulde

I wouldn't even call them great.

They're somewhat above average.

Speaking of great, it was quite a game from the "greatest" wide receiver ever.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Jon

All reviews would be initiated by the booth at this point if the game.

Right, and if a coach throws a challenge flag it's a 15 yard penalty. And along with that the booth can't overturn the call if doing so would benefit the team that committed the penalty. So by rule would overturning a safety against them be considered to the benefit of the Ravens?

[chadritt]

I missed something, what was so horribly offensive about the godaddy commercial? It WAS just kissing right? It was loud at the party I was at so I couldnt hear everything but none of us could understand why we saw people freaking out on facebook.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by Izulde

I wouldn't even call them great.

They're somewhat above average.

My gut says "good." The Super Bowl Rings knock that up somewhat, despite what statistics and the eye test tell me.

[Suicane75]

Originally Posted by chadritt

I missed something, what was so horribly offensive about the godaddy commercial? It WAS just kissing right? It was loud at the party I was at so I couldnt hear everything but none of us could understand why we saw people freaking out on facebook.

Yeah, it was just kissing. The sounds were kind of skeevy yes, but mainly it was just gross visually.

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

We've had this argument before, and we both know where it ends.

Also, Flacco didn't deserve the MVP tonight, Jacoby Jones got robbed.

I'll be honest, I didn't see any of the Baltimore playoff games but this one. Does Flacco always get bailed out by his receivers? He made several good throws tonight, but the long TD to Jones was an absolutely awful underthrow and Boldin bailed him out several times as well.

This game was basically a replica of the afc championship except the 49ers got a power outage to get some momentum. I give flacco credit. He was excellent throughout the playoffs and he was excellent in the afc championship last year. All qbs look better with better receivers, obviously.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Izulde

I wouldn't even call them great.

They're somewhat above average.

Before anyone jumps at me keep in mind I didn't bring up Eli, and I'll only say this and be done.

To look at what Eli and Flacco have accomplished in their careers, both regular season and especially in the post season and to call them "somewhat above average" is absurd.

[Sun Tzu]

If Greg Roman hadn't decided to suddenly turn into Jim Hostler in the last two minutes of the game, the 49ers would be the ones celebrating right now.

I'm going to see those four absolutely laughable play-calls in my head for the next month. Over, and over, and over.

[CraigSca]

Originally Posted by chadritt

I missed something, what was so horribly offensive about the godaddy commercial? It WAS just kissing right? It was loud at the party I was at so I couldnt hear everything but none of us could understand why we saw people freaking out on facebook.

For me it was the sounds - sounded like there was a microphone in each person's esophagus.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Sun Tzu

If Greg Roman hadn't decided to suddenly turn into Jim Hostler in the last two minutes of the game, the 49ers would be the ones celebrating right now.

I'm going to see those four absolutely laughable play-calls in my head for the next month. Over, and over, and over.

Horrible.

And they either need to get Kaepernick the play calls in quicker in order for him to have more time to read the defense and change coverage, or figure out a system that speeds it up. Running the play clock down hurt them at numerous times this year. Yesterday, it wasn't just the wasted time outs (which killed), but you can't let the defense get a running start on their blitzes because they can time the snap as it's about to hit 0.

[Matthean]

Let's not forget Kaep has started for less than a season. Given time he should get better. I didn't even watch the whole game and yet saw him not throw the ball twice to guys who where clearly open on deeper routes. One was a virtual lock for a TD as the WR had beaten the DB and the other likely would have been.

[Sun Tzu]

Nice guy, that Ray Lewis.

[Logan]

Out of all the football guys/snarky commentators I follow on Twitter, a buddy of mine was the first to make the "Ray Lewis killed the power" joke on my feed.

[Fidatelo]

I had this come up on my Twitter feed last night:

@teg741 - "Ray Lewis says he didn't kill the lights but was there when it happened..."

[RedKingGold]

So, a couple of thoughts from a fellow 49ers fan (many of which have already been mentioned in one form or another):

#1. Although it was a horribly called game, I can't get too upset about the non-calls against the 49ers because bad officiating likely affected both teams. I would bet that, if I reviewed the game, I would find multiple plays where the 49ers got away with penalties on key plays.

#2. I have a much bigger problem with the 49ers playcalling after the two minute warning. What happened to Bo Schembechler? Pitting man-against-man and just out muscling the Ravens? In the drive leading up to the two minute warning, the Raven's defense was tired and the 49ers basically did what they wanted to. It was a completely different run defense without Ngata, their best run stopper. You have to call some kind of run on 2nd and 3rd down, if only to cause the Ravens to consider burning a timeout or two. Those playcalling decisions are going to keep Harbaugh and Roman up at night for months.

#3. On the "Is Flacco elite" issue: I think the big problem I have with Flacco, and Eli Manning for that matter, is that they cannot carry that success into regular season performance. What separates Brady, Montana and other guys is that they did it in both the regular season and post-season. Flacco had 20 TD's and 12 INT's this past season, not exactly MVP numbers. If you look at the whole season from start to finish, arguably, Matt Ryan had a better total campaign than Flacco. If Manning and Flacco want to break into the Brady/Manning/Brees class, then they really have to show me something over a longer period of time during the regular season than just the post-season.

#4. That being said, you have to break the bank to sign Flacco this off-season. Flacco is a very good QB and would start for probably all but 1/3 of the league. If Mike Vick can get 2 100+ million contracts, then Flacco has certainly done enough to get one of his own.

#5. Anquan Boldin should have received Game MVP. With all due respect to Jacoby Jones, he had two big plays, one on busted coverage and the other with poor ST play. Boldin, on the other hand, just made spectacular catches throughout the game in key 3rd down situations. If you take away Boldin's numbers, Flacco's game is pretty pedestrian in retrospect.

#6. The 49ers biggest weakness got exposed in the 2nd half of the Patriots game, and it finally cost them in the Super Bowl: they have corners who can tackle, but not cover. Chris Culliver has to be the goat of this Super Bowl, for several reasons.

Bottom line, today is a tough day, but the future is very bright. I am more confident about the 49ers going forward because they have their QB. Once you have the QB and coach nailed down, as Belichek and Brady can attest to, you should have a nice competitive window.

The off-season needs seem few: we need at least one cover corner (side note: Darrelle Revis would probably have a bigger impact on the 49ers than any other team), some DL depth and a new kicker.

From a development perspective, the team needs to speed up Kaepernick's play calling because that is probably his biggest weakness. His pre-game reads take too long, resulting in far too many delay of game penalties late in the season and in the playoffs. It also cost the 49ers their second time out. They also need to develop A.J. Jenkins into a strong slot receiver and get Manningham healthy.

If they do those things, I can see the 49ers right back here in New York in 2014.

[Coffee Warlord]

They're going to sweep it under the rug, but I really wish they review the tape and suspend Cary Williams for several games for shoving the ref.

[spleen1015]

This was a great game to watch.

I can't believe that the 49ers didn't run at least 1 designed run play for Kaepernick during that last series.

[Sun Tzu]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

I can't believe that the 49ers didn't run at least 1 designed run play for Kaepernick during that last series.

This is exactly what the entire 49ers fanbase was wondering after 3 straight bonehead plays. Kaep has never (I repeat...NEVER) completed a fade pass in his career. Zero. Zilch. Not one.

Why they would choose to run a fade route on 4th and goal with the Super Bowl on the line is just beyond me.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Sun Tzu

This is exactly what the entire 49ers fanbase was wondering after 3 straight bonehead plays. Kaep has never (I repeat...NEVER) completed a fade pass in his career. Zero. Zilch. Not one.

Why they would choose to run a fade route on 4th and goal with the Super Bowl on the line is just beyond me.

I haven't watched the full replay (besides the countless shots we saw of the OPI/holding) to see what the rest of the receivers were doing but I think that was just the hot read with the blitz coming from Kaepernick's left. Which is why I was hammering them for running the play clock down there...all that penetration came from the Ravens timing the snap.

[Logan]

Despite my Rutgers connection, I had no idea Ray Rice's daughter is named Rayven. That's pretty awesome.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by Logan

Despite my Rutgers connection, I had no idea Ray Rice's daughter is named Rayven. That's pretty awesome.

No...That's so Rayven!

[Logan]

Damn it.

[Jughead Spock]

Originally Posted by RedKingGold

The off-season needs seem few: we need at least one cover corner (side note: Darrelle Revis would probably have a bigger impact on the 49ers than any other team), some DL depth and a new kicker.

Alex Smith would be a good fit for NYJ. Make it happen.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by RedKingGold

So, a couple of thoughts from a fellow 49ers fan (many of which have already been mentioned in one form or another):

#1. Although it was a horribly called game, I can't get too upset about the non-calls against the 49ers because bad officiating likely affected both teams. I would bet that, if I reviewed the game, I would find multiple plays where the 49ers got away with penalties on key plays.

#2. I have a much bigger problem with the 49ers playcalling after the two minute warning. What happened to Bo Schembechler? Pitting man-against-man and just out muscling the Ravens? In the drive leading up to the two minute warning, the Raven's defense was tired and the 49ers basically did what they wanted to. It was a completely different run defense without Ngata, their best run stopper. You have to call some kind of run on 2nd and 3rd down, if only to cause the Ravens to consider burning a timeout or two. Those playcalling decisions are going to keep Harbaugh and Roman up at night for months.

#3. On the "Is Flacco elite" issue: I think the big problem I have with Flacco, and Eli Manning for that matter, is that they cannot carry that success into regular season performance. What separates Brady, Montana and other guys is that they did it in both the regular season and post-season. Flacco had 20 TD's and 12 INT's this past season, not exactly MVP numbers. If you look at the whole season from start to finish, arguably, Matt Ryan had a better total campaign than Flacco. If Manning and Flacco want to break into the Brady/Manning/Brees class, then they really have to show me something over a longer period of time during the regular season than just the post-season.

#4. That being said, you have to break the bank to sign Flacco this off-season. Flacco is a very good QB and would start for probably all but 1/3 of the league. If Mike Vick can get 2 100+ million contracts, then Flacco has certainly done enough to get one of his own.

#5. Anquan Boldin should have received Game MVP. With all due respect to Jacoby Jones, he had two big plays, one on busted coverage and the other with poor ST play. Boldin, on the other hand, just made spectacular catches throughout the game in key 3rd down situations. If you take away Boldin's numbers, Flacco's game is pretty pedestrian in retrospect.

#6. The 49ers biggest weakness got exposed in the 2nd half of the Patriots game, and it finally cost them in the Super Bowl: they have corners who can tackle, but not cover. Chris Culliver has to be the goat of this Super Bowl, for several reasons.

Bottom line, today is a tough day, but the future is very bright. I am more confident about the 49ers going forward because they have their QB. Once you have the QB and coach nailed down, as Belichek and Brady can attest to, you should have a nice competitive window.

The off-season needs seem few: we need at least one cover corner (side note: Darrelle Revis would probably have a bigger impact on the 49ers than any other team), some DL depth and a new kicker.

From a development perspective, the team needs to speed up Kaepernick's play calling because that is probably his biggest weakness. His pre-game reads take too long, resulting in far too many delay of game penalties late in the season and in the playoffs. It also cost the 49ers their second time out. They also need to develop A.J. Jenkins into a strong slot receiver and get Manningham healthy.

If they do those things, I can see the 49ers right back here in New York in 2014.

This is a really great non bias assesment.

I was watching last night with Saldana who is a huge Niners fan and was saying to him I think they will be back, they are so young and Harbaugh is such a talented head coach.

Niners and Seahawks are going to have some epic battles the next few years, should be fun.

[RedKingGold]

Love Bill Barnwell, he does a pretty good job nailing it:

Bill Barnwell puts the Ravens win in perspective - Grantland