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So, with the Super Bowl now officially over, the season is done. The Ravens celebrated their victory with a military-style parade yesterday in downtown Baltimore, which sounds a bit ridiculous to me. Also, it should be noted that their Lombardi Trophy, of all things, went missing for a few hours after the game. It never made the trip with the team out of the Superdome and to their hotel, if you can believe it (see the link below, at the bottom of this blog). But they have it now, as well as all the hardware that they earned from a truly spectacular season that they and their fans cab be very proud of.
The two announcers of the game, Phil Simms and Jim Nance, were mentioning just prior to halftime, how the game reminded them of another, years ago, between the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game. As you may recall, New England completely dominated the first half, and were up by the same exact margin as the Ravens were. They drove down the field just before the half, and got a crucial field goal to at least show something positive, and that helped to switch the momentum for the second half. The 49ers also, down by the same margin, got that field goal just before halftime, and so produced something positive, to help with momentum for the second half.
There were indeed some similarities between them, although with one obvious, and crucial, difference: the San Francisco 49ers never led in this game, and wound up losing. Sure, they made it interesting towards the end. But the Colts back then made it more than interesting: they outright came back and ultimately, clinched a huge, comeback victory to get over their biggest hurdle in the Patriots, who to that point had pretty much dominated the rivalry, having won the most meaningful contests between the two en route to three Super Bowl titles, and qualified for their first Super Bowl appearance during the Peyton Manning era. They eventually won that Super Bowl.
Baltimore did get the kickoff touchdown on the first play of the second half, to go up 28-6. At that point, it looked to one and all like the Ravens were on the verge of a Super Bowl blowout win.
San Francisco, to their credit, came storming back, and made what seemed at that point to be a snoozer, into a very close game. I once said that it seemed to me that the 49ers always seemed to benefit from some strange twists of fate. They always seemed to benefit from some strange circumstances, like Billups dropped interception of a Joe Montana pass in Super Bowl XXIII that likely would have won it for Cincinnati in 1988. In 1998, they had two strange calls in consecutive weeks in those playoffs, one against Green Bay, which greatly assisted their ultimate victory in the game that had the famous "Catch II", from Steve Young to Terrell Owens, a play that helped to trigger a brilliant career from the infamously selfish and arrogant wide receiver. The very next week, they once again benefitted from a very bad call in a playoff game against the Atlanta Falcons, although Atlanta still managed to scrape by and win.
Well, this season, they had a few. They had two prior to the Super Bowl, both involving the Green Bay Packers, and both affected the San Francisco 49ers indirectly, but in a very beneficial way. The first was that horrible call, the touchdown that wasn't, which "won" the game for the Seattle Seahawks over the Pack. Green Bay really should have won, which leads me to the next strange twist. The 49ers, in the second to last week of the regular season, went up to Seattle and got absolutely pummeled, 42-13. That put the Green Bay Packers into position as the second seed, although they now had to visit Minnesota in the final week. The Vikings won a hard fought battle, and earned a playoff berth by beating Green Bay, only to lose badly to those same Packers at Lambeau Field the very next weekend, making it a short playoffs for them. Now, had the Packers officially gotten the victory that they truly earned at Seattle, they would already have clinched the second seed, heading into that final weekend, and the 49ers would have had to prepare for play on Wildcard weekend, and not Green Bay. Plus, a meeting between the two teams would have been on the "Frozen Tundra", and not at Candlestick Park. Yes, the 49ers won at Green Bay on opening weekend. But the Packers were a different team in January, and I need remind no one that Green Bay is a different place in January then it is in early September, when it is still summer. Would that have changed the outcome of the contest between the two? Just saying. Yet, because of some strange, one-time circumstances that benefitted San Fran, we'll never know.
Which leads me to the next point. Another strange circumstance that seemed to benefit the 49ers greatly: the long power outage that interrupted the Super Bowl early in the third quarter. It came very shortly after the Ravens got the touchdown to take their lead to a whopping 28-6. They were so close, they could feel it, and seemed to have their boot on the throat of San Francisco. But then the very strange power outage gave the 49ers some much needed time to settle down, while simultaneously icing the Baltimore Ravens, giving them too much time to think about things, and overall, interrupted the tremendous tidal wave of momentum that they seemed to be riding towards and easy and very dominant Super Bowl win. Now, they still managed to hang on and win, but the 49ers came very close, and made it very interesting.
San Francisco is a team that is good enough that they can accomplish some great things, without any help. Yet, they keep getting the ball to bounce their way under very strange circumstances like the ones I mentioned (and perhaps, some that I did not). That's part of what annoys me about them, and why I was glad to see them lose this past Sunday.
I mentioned following the Super Bowl that I did not think this ranked as one of the truly great Super Bowls, and it is precisely because their really never were any lead changes since the Ravens took the lead with a touchdown in the first quarter. The 49ers fought hard to make it close, but it was telling that they never actually did catch up fully. It's hard to claim that a Super Bowl ranks among the greatest of all time when there were never any lead changes, and particularly when there were as many mistakes (by both teams) as this past one had. There were only two Super Bowls that I put on my top ten list that never had any real lead changes. Super Bowl XXXIV and Super Bowl XXXVI both featuring the Rams. But the Titans managed to tie the Rams in the fourth of the former, and the Rams managed to tie the Patriots in the fourth of the latter. Also, the Titans actually were in scoring position with seconds left in the game for XXXIV, while the Patriots had an incredible drive with seconds left on the clock in XXXVI, eventually kicking a field goal to clinch that victory. Otherwise, the other games on the list all had significant lead changes, particularly in the fourth quarter. Often times, they even had multiple lead changes. Also, they were not so defined by mistakes and strange circumstances, as this one was. It was a good, entertaining Super Bowl that we were blessed with this past Sunday, but not anywhere near the best, or even in the top five. Maybe not even the top ten, frankly. Sorry. Just sayin'.
If the 49ers had managed to take a lead at some point, or even tie it, maybe then it would have been different. But they never managed to, and so, I can't claim this to be the greatest, or even close, as Suggs did.
That said, let me be critical of the Ravens now. Or, particularly, of one Raven. The emotional leader of the team, Ray Lewis. He is retiring, although another legendary Baltimore defender, Ed Reed, said that he would be coming back. Still, the Ravens will have to fill the large shoes of Lewis, who got to do his dance one more time at yesterday's parade.
But in an interview by Shannon Sharpe (I believe it was aired prior to the game, although I cannot yet say for certain), when asked about the families of the victims of the two murdered boys directly associated with Ray Lewis in early 2000 (the year before the Ravens won their first Super Bowl), he claimed that they didn't understand how God worked. It was insulting, as is his continually pious proclamations. I don't know of any angel who was tied into a murder case so directly, and who seemed to be less than upfront about what happened on that fateful Super Bowl Sunday. It seems that he knows what happened on that day, and many have speculated over the possibility that he himself killed them. I don't know, because I wasn't there. But the way that Lewis has handled himself about it since has been shameful, and I, for one, am glad that he is retiring, simply so we do not have to hear much from him again. He does not deserve all the endearing media attention that he gets and, to me, has shown himself to be less than a decent human being overall. I don't care how great of a football player is was. Some things are more important than football. When I saw that interview in particular (after the game, admittedly, when it made news, because I was at work that day), it disgusted me. Yes, I still am happy that the Ravens won it, but that, despite Ray Lewis, rather than being happy for him. I never like when religious extremists claim that God is on their side. I don't like it in Presidents, and I don't like it in athletes (or anybody else, for that matter). Especially when this is used to justify the unjustifiable, as it was with a President, and as it was with Lewis, no matter what his real role was on that Super Bowl day in 2000.
Good riddance.
Super Bowl Conference Rivalry
Perhaps it has snuck up on people, but the NFC has had the edge overall in recent Super Bowls. They entered this one having won four of the last five big games, with their only loss being the Arizona Cardinals narrowly losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers four years ago. It has not been anywhere near the dominance that the NFC once displayed in Super Bowls, during the infamous "NFC Streak" of their eighties and nineties, when they won thirteen straight Super Bowls, and fifteen of sixteen overall. In those days, the NFC Champions, whoever they were, often tended to route the much weaker AFC Champions in the big game.
But the recent edge for the NFC has hardly been a display of dominance. The Giants were responsible for two of those victories, narrowly edging out the Patriots both times. The Saints also won in a very tight contest against the Colts, and the Pack also barely got past the Steelers two seasons ago. The NFC Champs this year, the 49ers, played well this time - particularly in the second half. But the Ravens win snapped three straight Super Bowl wins by the NFC.
As of right now, the NFC holds a 25-22 overall lead in the Super Bowl rivalry between the conferences.
How my own predictions fared
A mixed bag. On August 14, 2012, I previewed the upcoming NFL season. There were many things that I got wrong, although I got some things right, as well. For example, I predicted the Baltimore Ravens as the eventual AFC Champions, though I saw them losing to the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl. The 49ers would be good, I said, but they didn't figure to be the best in the NFC.
Well, I was wrong about that one, too. Also counted among the mistakes, the New Orleans Saints were hardly the elite team that they had been prior, and which I expected them to be again.
Among the most notable mistakes? The Buffalo Bills would be legitimate contenders for the playoffs, at least. They weren't. The Chargers would be good, I said. They weren't. The Raiders would enjoy a winning record. They didn't. The Colts would experience another dismal season. They didn't, and in fact, were a playoff team - the first that the eventual champions had to beat. The Steelers would be back in the playoffs. Nope, got that wrong, too. Minnesota would continue to struggle. Actually, they were a playoff team. Finally, I overlooked the Redskins completely, although they beat out my Giants to win the NFC East outright, behind RG3.
But the most glaring mistake was with the Philadelphia Eagles. I said that the "Eagles should come back from the slump last season", and boy was I wrong! It started out in promising fashion, as they beat both the Giants and the Ravens to race out to a 3-1 start. But, as Bill Parcells used to say, it's not a spring, it's a marathon. Who knew that the Eagles would lose their next eight straight, or finish out the year at a very dismal 4-12, their worst record in over a decade? This was a team that had seemingly been a model of consistency, yet the only consistency that they showed this season was in losing. Andy Reed, their long time head coach, is out, although he already got another coaching stint. For the Eagles, however, they probably have been the most tormented of teams these past two seasons. They were everybody's sexy pick in the summer of 2011, and some people even slapped the moniker of "Dream Team" to describe them, following some huge, offseason pickups. Yet, their season never really got off the ground. Then, this season, they ranked among the worst teams in the league, easily falling to last place in the NFC East. They never even were a serious contender this season, and their playoff hopes were dashed by midseason.
Some things I got right? The Detroit Lions had the letdown season that I predicted for them (unfortunately). The Jaguars were just about as dismal and irrelevant as I predicted. The Jets, unfortunately, had a losing record, also unfortunately. Seattle did emerge as a sleeper team. Perhaps most impressively, I accurately predicted the winners of six of eight divisions, and that includes all four for the AFC. I even accurately predicted the final three games of the AFC playoffs, with the Pats beating Houston and Baltimore beating Denver in the divisional round, and Baltimore exacting a strong measure of revenge on the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.
Too early for predictions for next season, although I will paint some broad brushstrokes now. I'll go out on a limb and suggest that neither participant in Super Bowl XLVII will be on the field at Metlife Stadium next February. The Ravens will struggle a bit more as defending champions, and San Francisco will fare better, but not well enough to get back to the big game. The Packers, one of m perennial favorite, will rank among the elites in the NFC, and the Cowboys or Giants will win the NFC East (not the Redskins, and most certainly not the Eagles). Denver will dominate the AFC West, and New England, again, will dominate the AFC East. The Saints should bounce back to be relevant again. The Seahawks will continue to emerge, and could even replace the 49ers as NFC West champions.
Final NFL Blog for this season
This marks the final blog about the NFL for this particular season, and most likely until August of 2013. I had my say on this Super Bowl, and although I cannot personally rank it among the greatest, one of my reviews from a few weeks ago generated a large number of readers. I think that it was because it was a review of a game that did truly rank among the greatest playoff contests ever, this one also involving the Baltimore Ravens. That was their epic, thrilling victory over the Broncos in frigid Denver. It helped to immortalize this postseason run by the Ravens, and will live on for the city of Baltimore, and for fans of the Ravens franchise. They won the Super Bowl again, bringing the Lombardi Trophy back to Maryland!
Let's see how the offseason shapes up, and what teams lose players, and what teams pick up major impact players. Should be interesting!
Article on Ravens losing the Lombardi Trophy:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1515862-baltimore-ravens-misplaced-lombardi-trophy-during-super-bowl-xlvii-celebration
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