Super Bowl Recap

Because "Total brain dump of anything I remember from the final game of the 2012 NFL season" just didn't seem catchy enough:

The 49ers were not ready for the start of this game at all. Sloppy penalties (an illegal formation penalty on the first play?) and sloppy play. Jim Harbaugh is on the short list for best coach in the league (it pains me to say it, but it's true) but he did not have his team prepared for this one.


You know what I really enjoyed in this game? Not watching football for 34 minutes because half of the Superdome lost power. Whoever was responsible, no one looks good. From CBS scrambling to get information, to the NFL (a $9 billion league) not having enough backups in place for their pinnacle game, to the Superdome and New Orleans for not being adequately prepared, it was egg on everyone's faces. But of course, even though it was a giant screw-up, it worked out perfectly for the NFL: the game turned from laugher to nail-biter, but the team that was rolling before the power outage hung on to win, keeping the blackout from being even more of a story.

And don't tell me the blackout didn't affect the Ravens. Is the concept of momentum overused and usually the result of lazy analysis? Sure. But to say the 34-minute break didn't affect the Ravens is foolish. It's not just that their results fell off a cliff after play resumed, but that their sharpness did. It also gave the 49ers more time to analyze where they had gone wrong, and at that point of the game, they needed all that time they could get.


I think we're in a 3 or 4 year drought for Super Bowl commercials. Maybe being a Dad has made me extra-curmudgeonly, but I feel like the commercials used to be consistently good and creative. Not so much anymore. Maybe 1 per quarter was good (M&M singing Meatloaf, Audi Prom Night, Joe Montana stain) but that's it. The beer companies have really dropped the ball in recent years.

Chris Culliver...not your best week, bro. Can I call you bro? Or will you get all hot and bothered about it?

I'm not sure you can say enough good things about Anquan Boldin. That man is a beast, and he's a damn good receiver.

Did Beyonce sing one word of the choruses to any of her songs last night? Couldn't they have put a model up on stage with a soundtrack behind her and achieved the same thing? Why are people falling all over themselves to sing her praises? Especially since the first halftime show may have contributed to the second one. You know, the one filled with Shannon Sharpe.

Did Houston just use Jacoby Jones poorly? Did he grow up and concentrate on his wide receiver craft when he got to Baltimore? I mean, this guy couldn't hack it as the #2 receiver opposite Andre Johnson for years, and all of a sudden he's probably runner up to Flacco for Super Bowl MVP.

The good news on the officiating front? They aren't the main storyline like they were in Super Bowl XL (yes, I'm still somewhat bitter). The bad news? It's because they were clearly scared to make any sort of call that wasn't black and white. Baltimore's Cary Williams shoved an official during a scrum and not only was NOT thrown out of the game, he wasn't even penalized!

Vernon Davis had a good game (6 catches, 104 yards on 8 targets). But Baltimore's linebackers could not cover him, it seems like his numbers should have been even higher.

It's official, Ray Rice has a fumbling problem in the playoffs.

How did San Francisco not see the fake-the-punt-and-take-a-safety coming? Baltimore even called a timeout to set up the play! Again Jim got outfoxed by brother John.

Another brilliant piece of coaching by the Ravens (I'm assuming), there was a LOT of holding on that intentional safety play. Normally holding in your own end zone is horrible, as the result is a safety. But if you're planning on taking the safety anyway, all it does is prolong the amount of time you can waste before anyone can tackle you/shove you out of bounds. Baltimore wasted at least 4 extra seconds between all the holding and San Francisco's lack of readiness.

Joe Flacco had one of the best postseasons ever for a quarterback. Yes, that Joe Flacco. No, really. I know, I'm just as confused as you are.

This game, and San Francisco's last few games of the season really highlight just how important Justin Smith is to their defense. Since he tore/strained/whatever his triceps, he was a shell of himself and the 49ers defense went from almost invincible to pedestrian. Without a pass rush, that secondary looked terrible. As did Baltimore's, to be fair.

Was that defensive pass interference? It could have been called, yes. But it's not a call you can expect to get at the end of a regular season game, let alone a playoff game. The Ravens blitzed Colin Kaepernick and forced him to throw up a prayer. The officials will be loathe to bail out a prayer like that in that situation. Could that call have gone either way? Yes. Is it the worst no call in the history of sports? Heck no.