This year’s Super Bowl, affectionately known as the Harbowl, is a battle of two dominant defenses, two quarterbacks looking to make names for themselves, and two sibling head coaches (John and Jim Harbaugh). Both teams will head down to the Big Easy for a battle of AFC vs. NFC, east coast vs west coast and brother vs. brother. The winner will emerge with the coveted Lombardi Trophy and major family bragging rights. But who will win? Poly Spotlight editors Isaiah Murtaugh and Griffin Ferre give their takes.
Why the San Francisco 49ers will win
by Isaiah Murtaugh, Sports Editor
No-name upstart Colin Kaepernick, genius coach Jim Harbaugh, and the league’s most dynamic, hard-hitting defense have San Francisco on the verge of winning the team’s first super bowl since 1995 and tying the current record of six (currently held by the Pittsburgh Steelers).
Nothing speaks more to why the San Francisco 49ers will win than their most recent victory, a comeback from 17 points back to overwhelm Matt Ryan and the Falcons in the NFC championship game. Kaepernick’s deadly running and big play ability forced the Falcons to implement a new defensive strategy. They worked to contain Kaepernick and force him to win the game with his arm instead of his legs. For the first 17 points of the game, it worked. Then Kaepernick started throwing the ball. The quarterback, who took over for starter Alex Smith midway through the season, hit 16 of 21 passes for 233 yards while running back tandem Frank Gore and LaMichael James torched Atlanta on the ground for three touchdowns and a dominant defense only allowed a single touchdown for the duration of the game.
When one usually talks of a quarterback’s versatility, it doesn’t mean much. It means either
a)that he can throw and doesn’t immediately go insane with fear whenever he crosses the line of scrimmage(i.e. Tom Brady),
or that
b)he’s essentially a running back who throws the ball sometimes (a la RG3)
Kaepernick is different. He can be a typical NFL pocket QB with incredible accuracy and power (he dislocated receiver Randy Moss’ finger with a throw in his first start against Chicago), or he can take over the game with his legs (he scored on runs of 56 and 20 yards and set a quarterback rushing record with 181 total yards on the ground, in San Francisco’s first playoff victory over Green Bay). This ridiculous versatility raises a big question mark for teams. What do they cover? If they try to keep Kaepernick in the pocket, he’ll throw. If they cover the receivers, Gore and James will run. If they blitz Kaepernick, he’ll wreck them with his legs. Baltimore had remarkable success against New England, the league’s top scoring offense, in the AFC championship game, because Tom Brady can only pass and because Baltimore finally got a lock on the Patriots passing offense, garnering 2 interceptions in the fourth quarter and only allowing a single passing touchdown. As for the jitters some writers think Kaepernick will get, where have they been in his first nine starts? Kaepernick is a confident quarterback who has been absolutely unflappable since first taking over for Alex Smith in Week 11. Baltimore will be hard-pressed to find solutions to San Francisco’s flexibility,thanks to Kaepernick and Harbaugh, the mastermind behind San Francisco’s revitalization.
In practically every interview, Baltimore QB Joe Flacco begs to be recognized as an elite quarterback on par with the Bradys, Mannings and Rodgerses of the NFL. But is he? So far these playoffs he’s been doing fine, outplaying all three quarterbacks en route to the Super Bowl. But Flacco has yet to come up against a defense like San Francisco’s (arguably the best in the league), with a quarterback as hot as Kaepernick in a game as important as the Super Bowl. Flacco has struggled most in games where his receivers aren’t winning their matchups, and San Francisco’s defense will see that they don’t.
Bottom line, San Francisco will win a close game against the Ravens and give Kaepernick something to kiss beside his left bicep.
Why the Baltimore Ravens will win
by Griffin Ferre, Copy Editor
The Baltimore Ravens know a thing or two about adversity. After starting off the season 9-2, the team hit a rough patch towards the end of the season, losing four of its last five games. The Ravens still managed to sneak into the playoffs, but were pegged as the underdogs in every matchup. However, somebody forgot to inform the Ravens of this fact; after clinching a playoff berth, the team proceeded to beat the Colts, Broncos and Patriots in three consecutive weeks to punch its ticket to New Orleans for the Super Bowl—or should I say, the HarBowl. There is a heightened sense of intrigue surrounding this Super Bowl matchup as it pits two brothers, John Harbaugh, coach of the Ravens, and Jim Harbaugh, coach of the 49ers, against each other. Neither coach has ever missed the playoffs while at the helm of his team. John has won at least one playoff game in each of his five seasons as coach, and Jim instantly revitalized the 49ers in his first year as coach last year, taking the team to the NFC championship.
In order to lead his squad to victory, John will rely on his defense for another big performance. The Raven’s end-of-season slump was probably due in part to the injuries suffered by three critical defensive players: linebackers Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs and defensive lineman Haloti Ngata. The return of these three players has been a huge benefit to a defensive unit that has allowed only an average of 19 points during the postseason, spurring the team to victory. In the Super Bowl, the defense will be tasked with neutralizing the running ability of 49ers quarterback Collin Kaepernick. Both mobile quarterbacks the Ravens faced during the regular season (Michael Vick and Robert Griffin) were able to lead their teams to victory over the Ravens. Baltimore will also have to contend with bruising 49ers running back Frank Gore. However, the Ravens have momentum heading into this matchup. The Ravens have playmaking safety Ed Reed patrolling the secondary and, since his return from injury, Lewis, the face of the Ravens franchise for the past decade who has announced that he will retire after the game, has willed his team to victory during this recent stretch, including a second-half shutout of Tom Brady and the potent Patriots offense in the AFC Championship. The success of the adjustments the Ravens defense makes to contain Kaepernick and his unpredictability could very well be the difference in the game.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Ravens’ chances lie with the right arm of quarterback Joe Flacco. Flacco has emerged as arguably the best deep thrower in the NFL. He demonstrated this downfield ability in the waning moments of the Ravens’ divisional round game against the Denver Broncos when he uncorked a deep pass and connected with receiver Jacoby Jones to send the game into overtime. Flacco also has several dangerous weapons in his arsenal with the speedy Torrey Smith, who has emerged as a valuable deep threat for the Ravens, as well as intermediate receiver Anquan Boldin, tight end Dennis Pitta and running back Ray Rice, who is adept at catching passes out in the flat. The Ravens will be challenged by a stingy 49ers defense that has both the fourth-ranked run defense and fourth-ranked pass defense, but the 49ers have been susceptible to the long ball during the playoffs. The Ravens should be able to exploit this with Flacco’s downfield ability and its balanced running and passing attack.
Mired in its late season slump, the team decided to fire offensive coordinator Cam Cameron and promote quarterbacks coach Jim Caldwell to his position. The move paid immediate dividends, as Flacco has averaged 202 passing yards and the team has won four of five since (not including the game against the Bengals in which the team’s key players sat in order to rest for the playoffs). Flacco has also been on a tear since the playoffs started; he has thrown eight touchdown passes and no interceptions.
If the Ravens can take advantage of Flacco’s deep play ability, Smith’s speed, the one-two punch of running backs Rice and Bernard Pierce and the momentum and toughness of their defense, they should be able to negate the 49ers’ weapons and complete their season turnaround to send Lewis off in style and give John major bragging rights over his brother.