The Ravens Nation is proud of its team, and there's nothing that can take away the feeling of sheer triumph that surged through the hearts and minds of fans late last night. Joe Flacco tied Joe Montana for the most touchdown passes in a single post-season without an interception, Ray Lewis set an NFL record for the most tackles in a single post-season, Ed Reed tied Ronnie Lott's all time NFL record for most career playoff interceptions, and Jacoby Jones tied his own NFL record for the longest kickoff return of all time with 108 yards from the endzone. With that said, there are still those (eh EHM--Skip Bayless) who would like to blame the Ravens victory on questionable officiating or some such nonsense, and I will tell you why their claims are patently false.
The biggest gripe I heard from both the national media and the 49ers' head coach, Jim Harbaugh, was that Jimmy Smith was holding in the endzone on the 49ers' final 4th down play from the 5 yard line. The receiver that Smith was guarding became engaged with Smith and pushed off of him in an attempt to gain separation. Because of the massive push-off the referee did not throw a flag. Some might argue that the holding occurred prior to the push-off and a flag should have been thrown immediately. What they DO NOT realize is that the penalty for holding in the endzone is a safety. That would have meant that the 49ers would have been awarded only 2 points and would have still trailed the Ravens by 3. The Ravens would then boot the ball deep to the other side of the field and the 49ers would have little time and a single timeout to try to get back down the field. For this reason, the Ravens corners were actually coached to hold their receivers on the play since a flag would have yielded a desired result.
Beyond that, however, the 49ers got away with plenty of holding and pass interference earlier in the game. I recall a deep pass to Torrey Smith where Torrey was first held and then interfered with as the ball came his way. The ball fell either close to or in the endzone and a penalty on that play would have likely set up another Ravens score that would have effectively put this game out of reach. The 49ers never once got called for massive and numerous blocks in the back on kick off and punt returns, and the there was a horrendous no-call on a critical 3rd down play from about the 2 yard line where Flacco was hit violently after he had already gone out of bounds. A flag there would have given the Ravens 1st and goal from the 1 yard line and would have allowed them to run out the clock or simply go in for a touchdown to put the game out of reach. The officials did not call a single holding penalty all night despite visible jersey pulling at the line of scrimmage by the 49ers. All in all, the refs simply let a lot of things go. Any way you look at it, the Ravens were almost certainly going to win this game.
Ok, enough about the bad things that happened. Let's examine some of the GREAT things that happened in this game. Joe Flacco demonstrated an ability to drive seemingly at will on a defense that allowed the fewest points in the league during the regular season. Joe was able to do so in large part because of the athleticism displayed by a superior receiving corps. Anquan Boldin deserves a medal for his heroic, clutch plays in this post season and in the last 3 years that he has been a Raven. Joe knows that he can throw the ball in Q's direction and the sure-handed, physical receiver will likely come down with the catch. Jacoby Jones didn't make many catches this season, but the ones he made were spectacular and absolutely essential to the Ravens going 4-0 in the post-season. Beyond that, the Ravens literally would not have won a handful of games and gotten to and through the playoffs without Jacoby's 4 returns for touchdowns this season. His explosive track speed makes him absolutely invaluable to this team and he should be retained as long as he can move like that.
From a defensive standpoint, the Ravens held the 49ers without a touchdown for a majority of the game. They appeared tired and slow later in the game, but managed to hold together when it really counted--in the red zone. Ed Reed's interception and Courtney Upshaw's forced fumble both proved pivitol in halting what might have otherwise continued on to be scoring drives for the 49ers. This should give Ed Reed a good case for one final contract with the Ravens, and I sure hope they can work something out soon because there's really no replacing history's greatest free safety.
I could continue further about impressive plays and questionable calls, but the discussion won't change the ultimate outcome of last night. The Ravens won the Super Bowl and they did so in dramatic fashion. The offense put up enough points to win, but in the end, the game came down to a goal line stand by the most consistently dominant defense of the last dozen years...with #52 at the helm. You kept the faith Baltimore, and your team rewarded you for it!!! Oh, I almost forgot: Purple Nightmare went 10-1 in playoff predictions, and now improves to 17-2 all time!!
AS ALWAYS
GO RAVENS!!!!!
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