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By Sunday, everyone just wanted to play football. The fun, the families, the conversation were all in the past. The present was 60 minutes of football and how to best execute a plan to win Super Bowl XLVII.
By the time 71,024 piled into the Superdome, it was a pro-Ravens crowd with purple lining large swaths of the stadium. Ray Lewis took the field with the “No Weapon” speech and his traditional “What time is it?” pre-game war chants.
Before the game, more than 7,000 Baltimore Ravens fans met at Toulouse and The River in New Orleans and marched 17 blocks up Poydras Street in honor of 17 years of Ray Lewis’ career. The police moved to block the streets as a purple mob scene moved its way toward the Superdome, departing at 2:52 CST. That was 2 for the second Ravens championship and the 52 speaks for itself.
The Ravens kicked off to the 49ers to start the game amidst the usual flurry of flashbulbs and deafening noise. Their defense immediately chased them off the field with a three and out. Flacco got the ball and went on the attack. Six plays and 51 yards later, he hit Anquan Boldin for a 13-yard touchdown pass, and it looked like the Ravens offense picked up where it left off two weeks earlier in New England. Boldin had become a key target for Flacco in the red zone late in the season because he had such physicality and in small spaces, he won battles.
On defense, it was obvious that the 49ers were going to go after Ray Lewis and the middle of the defense. There would be no shortage of crossing routes from twentysomethings like Michael Crabtree and Vernon Davis coming across the middle, attacking the the 37-year Lewis and his co-horts. It didn’t take defensive coordinator Dean Pees long to get Bernard Pollard more involved in a physical brand of coverage and intimidation on the inside to assist the legend. Kaepernick moved the Niners to the 8 on eight plays, and the Ravens defense needed to find its usual stout play in the red zone. Paul Kruger got through the line on 3rd down and sacked Kaepernick at the 18 forcing a David Akers field goal, making it a 7-3 Ravens lead.
The Ravens moved the ball on the next series, but wound up punting it away and once again Kaepernick looked to go across the middle to Davis for a 29-yard gain. He was using the read option offense to perfection until Courtney Upshaw poked the ball from running back LaMichael James and Arthur Jones fell on it at the 25.
Flacco and the offense went back to work, with Bernard Pierce pushing the 49ers defense back. Flacco hit rare target Ed Dickson, who made a terrific 23-yard catch. He then made another, aided by a 49ers facemask penalty on Donte Whitner, and the Ravens were threatening again. Two plays later, Dennis Pitta caught a 3-yard TD pass giving the Ravens a 14-3 advantage.
From there it continued to quickly unravel for San Francisco. Kaepernick targeted Randy Moss, but instead threw an interception into the waiting arms of Ed Reed, and a massive brawl ensued on the pileup of the tackle. Fiery cornerback Cary Williams flailed at an official, connecting with contact that was clearly captured on television, but never called. Instead, Corey Graham and 49ers tackle Joe Staley were called for unnecessary roughness, but the Ravens dodged a bullet because Williams easily could’ve – and should’ve – been ejected. It was Reed’s ninth postseason interception, tying him for the most all-time in NFL history.
