10 Observations From Super Bowl XLVII

1)      Jim Harbaugh is right about the holding call.

I’m not a huge fan of the “let ‘em play” attitude at the end of games.  You shouldn’t have carte blanche as a defender just because there isn’t a lot of time left and a call could “decide the game.”  Penalties should be the same throughout the entire game.  If you don’t want the game decided on a penalty, don’t commit one.  Crabtree was held.  Having said that…

2)      Stop pointing at the refs, Niners fans.

Let’s get this out of the way: in case anyone doesn’t realize, all of the plays in a football game count.  Even the ones waaaaaay back in the 2^nd quarter.  I’ll even go on to say that even the ones in the first quarter count too.  The Niners blew coverages, were anemic in the red zone all game, lost the turnover battle, lost 9-2 on third down conversions, and let up a Super Bowl record kick return. Yes that last play was a blown call, but they did plenty to lose that game way before that.

3)      Once again, turnovers played a huge role

We said it a couple of weeks ago, but the Ravens don’t lose in the playoffs when they win the turnover battle.  Early miscues by the 49ers helped put them in that hole that proved insurmountable.  Cagey, veteran defenses find ways late in games to hang on, and you don’t want to be playing catch up.

4)      Flacco earned that trophy and his big contract.  But he is not, repeat, NOT elite.

Please see my article on Eli Manning.  Flacco is very good and had a phenomenal run in the playoffs.  He deserves the MVP and the accolades he is getting right now.  But all year, and throughout his entire career, he has been a high-middle-of-the-road QB.  I promise you, we will all remember this again next year when balls start sailing over Torrey Smith’s head and his mid-range accuracy disappears in large stretches.  He’s clearly good enough to win a Super Bowl.  But he’ll never carry your team there from game one. Again, sometimes people benefit from the mistakes of others to go on long runs.

5)      Vernon Davis should have had about 20 targets

The 49ers knew that Davis should be a primary target, and he was racking up yardage early on.  There isn’t a linebacker on that Ravens roster who can hang with Davis.  But the stud tight end only wound up with 8 targets, catching 6 for 104 yards.  He had a fingertip miss on a pass late, but he should have had more chances.  Three straight to Crabtree on the last drive?  How about one of the 7 missed third down conversions? Get your best players the ball.

6)      Ray Lewis retired right on time

Ray Lewis looked old.  Really old.  He got deked out of his cleats at least 5 times by Kaepernick and Frank Gore.  His tackle numbers are a little inflated, and he showed why this game.  That said, you cannot underestimate how he galvanized this team by announcing his retirement.  His value off the field is immeasurable and greatly eclipses his invisibility on it.

7)      Did the blackout really mean anything?

I’m not a huge believer in momentum. I believe in a team’s rhythm and the crowd getting involved helping a team, but not momentum per se.  I don’t believe that good things continue to happen for a team simply because they happened in the past.  For every time we play the momentum card, it’s a 50/50 proposition as to whether we’ll be right.  So even though the number seemed to change after the blackout, I think we should be paying more attention to the fact that the old, slow Raven’s defense was gassed and Hatoli Ngata got hurt.

8)      Colin Kaepernick finally got a little rattled…for a little while.

Kaepernick made a costly mistake with his 2^nd quarter interception and looked very skittish early in the game.  However, just like he did against Green Bay, he shook off his early errors and played a lights out second half, other than a maybe a few miscues.  But in only his 10^th NFL game, Kaepernick played a solid overall game on the biggest possible stage.  He’s got chops.

9)      The Ravens will struggle to stay on top, but the 49ers can be good for a while.

The Ravens have some major salary cap issues, and are going to have to restructure a number of veteran deals if they hope to sign Flacco and be any kind of player in free agency.  They are losing Ray Lewis (who they probably lost play-wise about 3 years ago) and probably Ed Reed, and have a number of key players entering free agency (Anquan Boldin, Dannell Ellerbe, Pat Kruger, Cary Williams, and Dennis Pitta).  Ozzie Newsome will have his hands full, but he is quite capable as he’s clearly shown.  As for the 49ers, they have a young stud QB making relative pennies, all 9 of their pro-bowl players are under contract, and they have positioned themselves with cap flexibility.  Which means, of course…

10)   We get at least a few more years of this, my favorite thing in the NFL today:

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