Ray Lewis Goes Out a Winner; Ravens Win Super Bowl (My Article)

[Andy]

What a great way to end a career: by winning a Super Bowl. With great performances from Joe Flacco, Jacoby Jones, Anquan Boldin and Ed Reed, the Ravens were able to get their 2nd Super Bowl in franchise history.

 

At the beginning of the playoffs, Ray Lewis announced that this would be his last "ride" and that he would retre after the playoffs. He said this in hopes that it would motivate his team to go and win a Super Bowl. Well, it worked.

 

Just like Super Bowl XL, where Jerome Bettis won the Super Bowl in his last game, Ray Lewis was able to win in his last game. Although he wasn't able to have a very good performance, he did make some key plays late in the game. It was the play of MVP Joe Flacco and Jacoby Jones that won the Ravens the Super Bowl.

 

Flacco was poised and confident in the pocket, making a lot of aggressive throws, and using his legs to extend a lot of plays. This was a great way to cap off one of the greatest playoff performances by a quarterback in the history of the game. He finished with 11 touchdowns to 0 interceptions in 4 games. That puts him up there with Montana, his childhood hero.

 

Then, there was Jacoby Jones, who was very silent early on, but came alive at the end of the 1st half. In what was a perfectly ran route, Jones was able to get behind the 49ers' defense and make the catch. That wasn't it. After that catch, he got up, spun around one guy and beat out Chris Culliver to the outside. Again, that wasn't it. To start off the 2nd half, Jones made a risky move by taking out the kickoff, but the risk paid off. He took the kickoff 108 yards for a touchdown. To add to the impressive play, he did it in 11 seconds. 

 

The Ravens were very aggressive throughout the game, attempting a fake field goal early on; however it was unsuccessful. They passed the ball a lot, and it seemed to work. Jim Caldwell did a nice job with the play-calling.

Then, there were the 49ers. They did not show up to play. Early on in the game, they were not able to get their running game going, and their pistol read option offense was completely shut down. Kaepernick was definitely frazzled early on, and we saw that when he threw an interception to Ed Reed. He was nervous. 

 

However, after the Jacoby Jones kick return touchdown, the lights went out in the superdome. That was the turning point of the match for the Niners. They were able to relax and collect themselves. After the 34 minute delay, the lights came back on. The Niners came out with a new persona, a new life. They were able to get some big plays together, and before you knew it, Michael Crabtree broke two big hits and ran into the endzone.

 

The Niners were back in it, only trailing 28-13. 

 

After a 3 and out from the Ravens, on a series where the Niners D came alive, the Niners were given great field position after a 32 yard punt return from Ted Ginn. It took them only two plays after that for Frank Gore to rush it into the endzone. Gore had a big 2nd half, and he has his O-line and the great play from Delanie Walker to thank for that.

Suddenly, before you knew it, the game was 28-20. 

 

A game once deemed over, was now closer than ever.

 

So, the Ravens got the ball, and everything seemed fine, until Joe Flacco dumped it off to Ray Rice. Rice tried to get out of the tackle, but Terrell Brown was able to knock the ball out and recover it. It was a great effort!

 

Now, the Niners had the chance to tie up the game.

 

They attempted a few deep shots, but none of them were successful. That set up a 39 yard field goal for the shaky David Akers. He lined up, struck the ball, and it went wide left. The game was still 28-20, until a flag came onto the field. Referee Jerome Boger called a running into the kicker penalty, a penalty that we later saw would be a bad call as Akers pretended to be hit by the player, although he wasn't touched. Still, the 49ers were given another chance, just like they got another chance with the power outage. This time, Akers was able to nail the 34 yard kick right down the middle. The score was 28-23.

 

After that drive, we saw the offensive mentality chance for the Ravens. The once pass heavy, aggressive offense that we saw earlier in the game, had now become a ground and pound offense featuring Ray Rice and Bernard Pierce. Seven solid runs and a big Anquan Boldin catch and run is all it took for them to get back into the redzone. Then, the 49ers D, led by Patrick Willis, were able to make 3 big stops on the goaline. The Ravens settled for 3. The score was 31-23, and that unsuccessful fake field goal the Ravens tried earlier had become very costly for the Ravens.

 

With the momentum all with the 49ers, you had to believe they were going to score. Well, you guessed right; they did. In a perfectly planned drive, led by Colin Kaepernick, the 49ers were able to march down the field very easily, with a deep passe to Randy Moss and a big run from Frank Gore. Kaepernick then finished it off with a 15 yard run. The score was 31-29, with a 2 point conversion waiting. In what was a poorly ran play, Kaepernick overthrew Randy Moss on a slant route. The score stayed the same.

 

The Ravens had the ball back, and it took them awhile to give it up. In another perfectly called drive by Jim Caldwell, the Ravens were able to march down the field and get 3 points. They had a 5 point lead, but more importantly, they forced the 49ers to win the game by a touchdown.

 

A lot can change in 25 minutes. The 49ers, once down by 22, now had the chance to win the game. That's football for ya!

 

And so it started. A couple of 8 yard rushes for Kaepernick and Gore and they were already at their own 36. Then, Kaepernick, who received great protection on the play, was able to spot Vernon Davis running down the sideline and make a perfect throw. Davis wasn't able to get control and the ball and he dropped it. It was a big play, but as we found out, not that huge. The very next play, Kaepernick made another great read and throw and found Crabtree for 24 yards. They were in Baltimore territory. Right after that, Frank Gore was able to break a couple of tackles and scurry down the sideline for 33 yards. Suddenly, they were at the 7 yard line. They were 7 yards away from the endzone. 

 

After a 2 yard run, the whistles blew and it was the two minute warning. The Niners standing 5 yards away from their 6th Super Bowl title. The Ravens, on th other hand, were 3 stops away from their 2nd Super Bowl. 2nd down. Kaepernick rolled out to pass, but no one was open. He tried forcing a pass to Crabtree, but it had too much steam behind it, and there was great coverage by Corey Graham. 3rd down. In a quick pass to the outside, Kaepernick was able to find Crabtree, who was a couple of yards short of the endzone, but a big hit from Jimmy Smith knocked the ball loose. It was an incomplete pass and then 4th down came.

 

4th down. No one was sitting in their seats. No one could believe that, after all they've been through during the game, the 49ers were 5 yards away from winning the Super Bowl. 

 

Kaepernick hiked the ball, and a 6 man blitz, led by Ray Lewis, came. Kaepernick had almost no time to throw the ball, and launched it up in the ball in the direction of Michael Crabtree. The prayer came down and hit the ground. Incomplete. Ravens ball. 

 

Let the controversy begin. Michael Crabtree was running a fade route towards the outside. Jimmy Smith was covering him and had his arms on him for the first 6-7 yards. Yes, he had his arms on him past the 5 yard mark. Did it slow him down? Not really. The reason why there was no flag on the play was because Crabtree ran into Smith. Crabtree tried to draw the penalty, and it didn't work. It was a good call by the referees. Plus, the ball was way out of the reach of Kaepernick, I couldn't imagine Crabtree catching that ball had Smith had his hands on him for 2 yards. It was an uncatchable ball, and that's why they didn't call it. 

 

So, the Ravens had the ball back with 1:46 left in the game. The Niners had 1 timeout. After 3 plays and a Niners timeout, the Ravens faced 4th down on their own 8 yard line. In what was a smart play call, the punter Sam Koch took the safety. They avoided a big risk, and that's what you have to do in the Super Bowl. The game wasn't over though, there was one play left, and the Niners had one of the fastest players in the league. They kicked the ball, and Ginn got it. He broke 3 tackles, but it wasn't enough. The Ravens held on and won the Super Bowl.

What once was a runaway, quickly become a close game. Ray Lewis got his wish, and guys like Ed Reed, Terrell Suggs, and Anquan Boldin got their first rings, after years of waiting. Young guns like Ray Rice and Joe Flacco got their first too. Actually, with the exception of Ray Lewis, every player on the Ravens got their first Super Bowl win. 

It was a magical Super Bowl, and a magical run. At the beginning of the playoffs, not many people thought the Ravens could win the Super Bowl. However, they handily beat the Colts, marched into Denver and beat the Broncos and went to New England and beat the Pats. Like Terrell Suggs said "We had the hardest road and we still won."

They did have the hardest run!

 

This really was a team of destiny! Now, Ray Lewis can walk into the sunset, carrying TWO rings on his fingers.

 

[southwest1]

Nice article Andy! You seem to have covered the crucial scoring drives in the SB there. I'm a bit surprised that you didn't mention either the blackout or the Ray Lewis hormone controversy though, but I'm knit picking. Good work. 

 

Okay, you mentioned the blackout briefly "the lights went out in the superdome...After the 34 minute delay, the lights came back on." What was the stadium feeling? How was the audience reacting? Convey that emotion...Describe the atmosphere...

 

Also, I would take issue with the following statement: "Kaepernick was definitely frazzled early on, and we saw that when he threw an interception to Ed Reed. He was nervous." Colin was throwing the ball directly to Randy Moss who wasn't even looking for it, let alone prepared to catch it. He wasn't nervous at all. Someone who never saw the game might believe that statement which isn't entirely accurate in my assessment.