The Baltimore Ravens beat the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII by a score of 34-31 in New Orleans on Sunday night. The Ravens almost set a record for blowing the biggest lead in Super Bowl history at 22 points. On the opening kickoff of the second half, Jacoby Jones set his own Super Bowl record with a 108 yard kickoff return for a touchdown. That return gave the Ravens a 28-6 lead. A huge lead, but with almost two full quarters to play.
Then the lights went out, literally. The Superdome had a power outage of 34 minutes. For some, this became the focus of the rest of the game, CBS play by play announcer Jim Nantz. He was constantly showing the score and other stats since the power outage. Yes, the 49ers did score 17 straight points, but did you really think they would be stuck at 6 points for the rest of the game? A fumble, and a nice punt return, plus poor tackling by the Ravens was much more the reason for the comeback than the power outage. Nantz mentioned the power outage so many times, I wanted to reach through my television and strangle him, just so I wouldn’t hear it again.
The 49ers reduced the 22 point deficit down to 5, by the end of the third quarter at 28-23. The Ravens added a field goal in the 4th quarter, to make it a 31-23 game. The 49ers responded with a 5 play, 76 yard drive, ending with a 15 yard run by 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Surprisingly, this was the longest quarterback touchdown run in Super Bowl history. The previous record was held by former 49er Joe Montana. So now the 49ers were just a 2 point conversion away from tying the game. But the conversion attempt failed, and the score stayed at 31-29. The Ravens added another field goal, to make the score 34-29, setting up the dramatic finish.
The 49ers had plenty of time to win the game with a final touchdown drive. They went right down the field, including a 4th down and 1, where Raven quarterback Joe Flacco audibled to a pass to Antuan Boldin, which he fought off the defender for and caught the pass for a first down. The 49ers drove down to the 7 yard line, where they had first and goal with 2 minutes remaining. The next 3 plays gained just 5 yards, so it was 4th and goal at the 2 with the game on the line. Kaepernick threw a pass to the right far corner of the endzone. The pass sailed over the head of 49er wide receiver Michael Crabtree, and the Ravens would take over on downs.
49er head coach Jim Harbaugh was screaming for a holding penalty by Raven defensive back Jimmy Smith. There was some contact on the play, but I don’t believe a penalty should have been called. Smith grabbed Crabtree’s jersey, but Crabtree also pushed off of the helmet of Smith. The refs were letting them play, and were consistent throughout the game. Sometimes the refs want to be the story, but this crew did an excellent job of officiating in my opinion, calling the game in a consistent manner.
Congratulations to the Baltimore Ravens, the Super Bowl XLVII Champions. Joe Flacco was awarded the MVP, with his 3 touchdown passes. A great end to the career of future Hall of Famer, Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, winning his second Super Bowl. Now unfortunately begins the long 6 month wait until preseason begins again for football fans. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be ok. I promise.
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