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Super Bowl XLVII (1 Viewer)

From ESPN - would Tebow have been able to lead SF to the Super Bowl?

  • Yes

    Votes: 6 9.1%
  • No

    Votes: 60 90.9%

  • Total voters
    66

Dr. Awesome

Footballguy
Time to fire up an official thread to host all the chatter.

Jim and John Harbaugh coaching against one another.

Two unlikeable all time greats at the end of their career in Randy Moss and Ray Lewis.

SF is favored but Baltimore has been underestimated a lot. They weren't expected to beat Denver. They pulled out a nail biter. They weren't expected to beat New England. They stomped them.

Most people don't think too highly of Flacco but he's carried a 114 passer rating this postseason, while passing for 8 touchdowns against 0 interceptions. He's going against a second year player and rookie starter in Kaepernick, who has a 105.9 rating this postseason. While he's only passed for 3 touchdowns against 1 interception, he's thrown in another 202 yards and 2 touchdowns rushing.

Lots of great story lines, even if they are overplayed:

It’s the official start of Super Bowl week. Below are the top dozen story lines you’ll be sick of hearing. These aren’t necessarily bad stories. In fact, they all deserve to be written and told. But not 10,000 times.

12. Patrick Willis

Over/under for number of combined times he and Ray Lewis are asked about each other: 1,000. If it turns out to be 1,000 times, 999 of them will be for stories about some sort of torch passing. And of those 999, fewer than 50 will adequately acknowledge that the lesser-known NaVorro Bowman might actually be San Francisco’s best linebacker.

11. Randy Moss

You may have forgotten that he’s San Francisco’s No. 2 receiver. He’s older, wiser, still just as reclusive but, thankfully, forced to talk publicly this week. Too bad he knows he’s older and wiser….it’d be more fun if he’d inexplicably spouted off like in the old days.

10. The player who tries to make Media Day about himself by running his mouth

Money’s on Terrell Suggs.

9. Niners offensive line

Surely one or two – or 500 – reporters will want to take the “unique” angle of spotlighting the guys who are never spotlighted. They’ll go in-depth on the “nameless” Niners front five, probably calling them the best O-line since the Cowboys of the early 90s. This, of course, is an exaggeration, but since Troy Aikman said it a time or two, and since these Niners linemen are really big and it’s the Super Bowl, we’ll run with it.

8. The Running Backs

Frank Gore and Ray Rice. Both really good players. Both really nice guys. Both willing to do anything to help their teams win. Now let’s spend 25 paragraphs or a 5-minute TV spot to tell you all about that.

7. Alex Smith

Hopefully he’ll do folks a favor and break down, admit his despair and gripe about how mistreated he’s been. The sports media will try to help him get there by asking how it feels to see his team reach the big stage with some young guy who stole his job while he was concussed. Whatever Smith says, hopefully it’s not too gracious.

6. The underdog story, propagated by someone playing the overused, completely ridiculous “nobody is giving us a chance so we’ll just keep proving doubters wrong” card

Brought to you this year by Ray Lewis.

5. Joe Flacco

Flashy he is not. But charmingly cantankerous? Sometimes. Flacco doesn’t always refrain from sarcasm when answering stupid questions. And he has little doubt in his talent as a quarterback. He’s also up for a new contract after this season, which more than a few reporters will point out.

4. Harbaugh Parents

It must be fun to have two sons coaching in the Super Bowl!!! Oh, and also miserable. You know, because of the nerves and all. No, they’re not rooting for one son over the other (polite chuckle). They love both boys no matter what. And they’re proudest of all by what kind of husbands and fathers they are. Oh, and did you know that the father, Jack, also coached!?

3. Colin Kaepernick

You’ve got the phenom angle (which needs to be covered now because history tells us that quarterbacks who prosper immediately after taking over in midseason often come back to Earth once the rest of the league spends an off-season studying their film). You have the human interest angle (Kaepernick was adopted; he wrote a cute letter to himself in fourth grade about one day playing for the 49ers; he seems to have a congenial personality). You also have the analytical angle (is his read-option style revolutionizing pro football? Yes! Of course it is. He’s the future. Because this is the Super Bowl!).

2. Ray Lewis’s last game

Think he might play this one up a bit? Lewis has been great for the N.F.L. Truly. He’s one of the best to ever put on shoulder pads. His leadership is legit. And, lately, he has seemingly traded some of his athleticism for more emotional fire. Lewis has somehow increased his intensity from “way too high” to “way, way too high.” It’s not uncommon for him to pound his chest, conjure tears of passion, talk to the heavens, motivate teammates with face-to-face talks that are literally face-to-face and then break into dance all in the span of two minutes. And he doesn’t mind if you catch it on camera. Lewis has always been this way. But lately, it’s gone to such extremes that he now seems like a Saturday Night Live character doing an impression of Ray Lewis.

1. Harbaugh Brothers

If you’re curious about how Jim’s and John’s personalities compare, or about the dynamics of their childhood or their current day-to-day relationship, you’ll get to hear all about it. If you don’t care one bit about their personalities, childhood or relationship, you’ll still get to hear all about it.
http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/28/the-dozen-overdone-super-bowl-story-lines/Of course if you're a fan of ESPN, the real question is apparently "Would Tebow have been able to lead SF to the Super Bowl?"

 
A few thoughts on the post: 1. Sure the Lewis/Willis comparisons will be ad nauseum. Just ask Mike Singletary what he thought of Willis before that draft. 2. If Bowman didn't play next to Willis, he wouldn't be the Willis without Bowman prior to Bowman being drafted. 3. Alex Smith has over 60 million reasons to live without the 49ers, since the 49ers have givein him 60 million reasons to live.

 
For some reason the last match up on thanksgiving felt a lot worse than the score. But that was also with a limited sf offense in its first year, and of course no kap. Harbaugh, today, is trying to sell the commitment to overplaying kap on the keeper by talking about how much we plan to run the qb. SF has a lot of options to defend. Ravens havent faced a mobile qb in the playoffs since Luck and they have very limited film on kap. This one is gonna be interesting

 
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For some reason the last match up on thanksgiving felt a lot worse than the score. But that was also with a limited sf offense in its first year, and of course no kap. Harbaugh, today, is trying to sell the commitment to overplaying kap on the keeper by talking about how much we plan to run the qb. SF has a lot of options to defend. Ravens havent faced a mobile qb in the playoffs since Luck and they have very limited film on kap. This one is gonna be interesting
I throw last year's match-up completely out. It was a charade to make a team come across the country on a short week to play that game on Thanksgiving. That the 49ers competed in those circumstances so physically for so long before finally wearing down toward the end of the game said a lot more to me about their toughness than the final score.I think this will be an extremely physical game with the Ravens trying to bully the 49ers, and the 49ers answering the challenge to show they're just as tough as the Baltimore team and its physical reputation. I will say that the Ravens have been through the wars, playing their twice (or thrice) annual bloodbaths with Pittsburgh, and I'm not sure San Francisco has been quite as battle-tested. The flip side is that Baltimore is stout, but very lacking in team speed. If Kaepernick gets on the edge, the Ravens don't have anyone who can catch him. I think they will try to keep him contained at all costs and force SF to beat them by sledgehammering Gore into Ngata and Ray Lewis. I look for Ray to have astronomical tackle totals, unfortunately with most of them coming 5+ yards past the line of scrimmage. The Ravens' red zone D has been excellent, so they'll be going with the bend but don't break approach.My other question is whether or not the Ravens can use these 2 weeks to "get film" on Kaepernick and begin to figure him out a little bit. He might just be so good that figuring him out doesn't really help much. But I do note that both St. Louis and Seattle had a lot of success vs. SF in their second match-ups this year - although neither faced Kaepernick in the first game - which makes me think familiarity is at least some help.
 
For some reason the last match up on thanksgiving felt a lot worse than the score. But that was also with a limited sf offense in its first year, and of course no kap. Harbaugh, today, is trying to sell the commitment to overplaying kap on the keeper by talking about how much we plan to run the qb. SF has a lot of options to defend. Ravens havent faced a mobile qb in the playoffs since Luck and they have very limited film on kap. This one is gonna be interesting
I throw last year's match-up completely out. It was a charade to make a team come across the country on a short week to play that game on Thanksgiving. That the 49ers competed in those circumstances so physically for so long before finally wearing down toward the end of the game said a lot more to me about their toughness than the final score.I think this will be an extremely physical game with the Ravens trying to bully the 49ers, and the 49ers answering the challenge to show they're just as tough as the Baltimore team and its physical reputation.

I will say that the Ravens have been through the wars, playing their twice (or thrice) annual bloodbaths with Pittsburgh, and I'm not sure San Francisco has been quite as battle-tested. The flip side is that Baltimore is stout, but very lacking in team speed. If Kaepernick gets on the edge, the Ravens don't have anyone who can catch him. I think they will try to keep him contained at all costs and force SF to beat them by sledgehammering Gore into Ngata and Ray Lewis. I look for Ray to have astronomical tackle totals, unfortunately with most of them coming 5+ yards past the line of scrimmage. The Ravens' red zone D has been excellent, so they'll be going with the bend but don't break approach.

My other question is whether or not the Ravens can use these 2 weeks to "get film" on Kaepernick and begin to figure him out a little bit. He might just be so good that figuring him out doesn't really help much. But I do note that both St. Louis and Seattle had a lot of success vs. SF in their second match-ups this year - although neither faced Kaepernick in the first game - which makes me think familiarity is at least some help.
This is one of the things I feel give SF an advantage. It's one thing to watch him on film, but it's completely different to see things for yourself. They mentioned during the GB game that Woodson and Mathews were taking horrible angles pursuing Kaep b/c they mis-judged his speed.
 
3. Alex Smith has over 60 million reasons to live without the 49ers, since the 49ers have givein him 60 million reasons to live.
Completely agree. Rumor has it he wants his outright release so he can pick his next team. I wish him well moving forward but SF would be crazy to grant that wish.
 
3. Alex Smith has over 60 million reasons to live without the 49ers, since the 49ers have givein him 60 million reasons to live.
Completely agree. Rumor has it he wants his outright release so he can pick his next team. I wish him well moving forward but SF would be crazy to grant that wish.
Exactly. He's better than any QB in the draft and will be a hot commodity. I'm expecting SF to allow him some say in his destination as long as the team is out of the division (sorry AZ) and pays a fair price (2nd rounder?).I really like Baltimore, which makes rooting against them hard. They are not unlikable like Denver or New England. However, watching dirty Ray Lewis getting the Tebow-treatment has been painful. Looking forward to a hard hitting game. Matchups:Pollard vs Kap. Pollard can't cover, none of the Raven LBs can keep up, and Reed is needed in coverage. Therefore I think Pollard is kept at the LOS to spy on Kap. Dude brings the wood and I'm concerned about him.Ed Reed vs Kap. Reed is the kind of savvy old vet who will bait Kap into an INT. I just hope he doesnt take it to the house.Iupati vs Ray. I think Big Mike flattens Ray and we get to watch 14 camera angles on the replay.PWilly vs Pitta. Pitta concerns me but I think Willis can handle him with some help. Looked to me like Willis had good coverage on Gonzo last week, even when Gonzo caught the ball (see the TD).Ngata vs Iupati. Too big oosies, glad I'm not playing hooker.LMJ vs Raven LB: I dont't see alot of team speed on the RAven D, and I can see LMJ making a big play or two.Flacco = Smith/Bolden. This scares me, with Yanda back the Raven OL has played excellent, and once JSmith got hurt, the SF pass rush disappeared. I think Flacco is given all day to pick apart the secondary. I'm actually more concerned about Flacco than Rice on the ground. Most teams can't run on SF.I think its a 10 point win.
 
ESPN Magazine's Kevin Van Valkenburg had a pretty good article about Ed Reed yesterday. Today, he posted a longer excerpt from what his former teammate, CB Dominique Foxworth, said about Reed's ability to dissect the game.

I found it fascinating: here it is.

Here's one blurb:

He’ll watch film all week long, a couple hundred plays, and dozens of formations. But he can understand the way teams will subtly change things up. They’ll do different formations for different plays, but the formations are potentially similar. So for example, maybe they’ll run a deep pass with quarterback in shotgun with two backs in the backfield and three wide receivers. So later in the year, they’ll line up in a similar position, but they'll put a tight end in for one of the backs and put the quarterback under center, but the wide receiver split is what’s unique.

While that formation looks entirely different, Ed can still recognize immediately that it’s similar. They can still have the same max protection that they would have from two backs in the backfield, they’re trying to make it look like they don’t. The quarterback is under center so you don’t think they’re going to do the same deep pass, but the split is the same, the down and distance is very similar to the last time they ran this play, and the field position is similar.

Those type of mental leaps are things that it would require someone like me to sit down and think about it. After they run the play, you’ll sit down and think about it and say “Oh damn!” This is exactly what they did before, they just moved this running back out and moved a tight end up, but everything else is exactly the same. I think Ed makes those type of correlations in game really quickly.
And here's the part that applies most to Sunday's game:
What I’d hate if I was a quarterback if "This guy is not where he’s supposed to be, where I know he’s supposed to be." People wonder how quarterbacks can’t stay away from him. If you know he’s going to get picks, why don’t you avoid throwing where he is? Well, it’s because he’s where he’s not supposed to be. He knows they know he’s supposed to be a certain place, so he’s like the heck with it, I’m going somewhere else. I’m going where they don’t think I’m going to be. That’s the only way he could get as many interceptions as he does because quarterbacks are terrified of him. They don’t want to throw it anywhere near him. So he goes to them.

I think he goes over the quarterbacks head sometimes. I think it’s him and the coordinators sometimes. That's the chess match. I think if it’s Peyton or Brady they have a lot of autonomy in their thinking, but a lot of the quarterbacks around the league are robots. That’s why Ed eats them alive because he knows exactly what they’re going to do. The times when Ed is freelancing hurts when you’re playing against kind of a veteran quarterback. The young guys kind of go by the book, and Ed knows the book. More accurately: Everyone knows the book, but not everybody can apply it as quickly as he can.
Ed is probably my favorite player of all time, but I've been so frustrated in recent years to see him clearly abandon his responsibility to go for INTs, only to end up hanging his CBs out to dry. This piece helped me understand more why he does that.It also makes me wonder if he'll be able to bait Kaepernick into throwing a key INT.

 
Interesting stuff, The Man. Thanks for sharing. It's been announced Jerome Boger is going to be the referee for this Super Bowl. I've never heard of him. That's a good thing, right? :unsure:

 
'5Rings said:
Flacco = Smith/Bolden. This scares me, with Yanda back the Raven OL has played excellent, and once JSmith got hurt, the SF pass rush disappeared. I think Flacco is given all day to pick apart the secondary. I'm actually more concerned about Flacco than Rice on the ground. Most teams can't run on SF.
This is what scares me as well. I don't know if it's true, but Flacco strikes me as a guy who will throw deep regularly. SF's defense can't hold up to that. I'm one of the few picking the over for this game.
 
Bump.The more I hear about the Ravens playing a disciplined 2 deep zone and not worrying about Kap running, the more I worry about us even scoring. Also, the more I hear about Joe Flacco and his rocket proppled arm, the more I think we can't stop the Ravens.31-7.

 
Bump.The more I hear about the Ravens playing a disciplined 2 deep zone and not worrying about Kap running, the more I worry about us even scoring. Also, the more I hear about Joe Flacco and his rocket proppled arm, the more I think we can't stop the Ravens.31-7.
:banned: :banned:
 
ESPN is reporting Ray Lewis Will NOT perform his signature entrance dance.... I foot go 49ers with this news....I can't believe that was a scrolling news item

 
Bump.The more I hear about the Ravens playing a disciplined 2 deep zone and not worrying about Kap running, the more I worry about us even scoring. Also, the more I hear about Joe Flacco and his rocket proppled arm, the more I think we can't stop the Ravens.31-7.
:lmao:Work it, brother. Work it.
 

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