Review & COVERAGE of SuperBowl XLVII

 

Unlike most sports where the best team usually does win the championship, that was not the case in Super Bowl XLVII. The 49ers were the better team, but this was also their first time in the Super Bowl and played like it the entire first half. The Baltimore Ravens were able to overcome age, injuries, and a lack of talent in comparison to the San Francisco 49er’s and to allow the fraud and cheater, also known as Ray Lewis, to go out a champion.

Each half of the Super Bowl was like an entirely different game. In the first half quarterback Joe Flacco repeatedly drove his offense down the field to stake his team to a 21-6 half-time lead. On the other side of the ball, the 49er’s should search their locker room for guns, because they couldn’t stop shooting themselves in the foot. Whether it was taking idiotic penalties, turning the ball over twice, once on a fumble on what had been a very promising drive, or just making decisions that made no sense at all, such as Colin Kaepernick deciding to drop to the ground on 3rd down inside the Raven’s 5 yard line instead of fighting for the first down, they just couldn’t do anything right and made the Raven’s look like a much better team than they actually are.

 
The halftime show provided the first bit of excitement, first with Beyonce looking beyond amazing, and then the Destiny’s Child reunion. Apparently the NFL has finally gotten over the infamous nipple gate, because Beyonce was the first main Super Bowl halftime performer under 50 since Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake. It was definitely a good show and a refreshing change.


The second half began looking a lot like the first half, with Jacoby Jones of the Ravens returning the opening kickoff and NFL record tying 108 yards for a touchdown. The 49er’s offense also continued to make plays and then stall when it happened. The it I am referring to is half the stadium losing power. Right in the middle of the NFL’s championship game, half the stadium lost power. Ironically enough it was the 49er’s half that lost power. This outage caused the game to be delayed for over 30 minutes while they got the power back online. Once the power came back online, it was like the light had finally turned on in the collective minds of San Francisco.

For the next quarter and a half the 49er’s played like a team possessed, perhaps finally realizing that players only get so many chances at a Super Bowl title in their careers. They turned Ray Lewis into a glorified speed bump, running the ball right over him, and passing anywhere they wanted. Kaepernick also set the record for longest rushing TD by a QB in Super Bowl history, blazing down the left sideline to bring the 49er’s within 2 points at 31-29, before failing to convert their 2point conversion attempt. The Raven’s finally responded by driving to the SF 20 and kicking a field goal to bring their lead back up to 5 points. They would then barely hold on, with some help from the refs, by stopping San Francisco at the 5 yard line to preserve their victory.


I also feel the need to call out the officials of this game. Generally I appreciate it when the refs just let the teams play and don’t throw a ton of flags. However, there were 3 specific calls that were just blatant no calls at the end of the 4th quarter and could very easily have changed the outcome of the game. The first non-call was on the 3rd down before the 49er’s last field goal. Not only did Ed Reed jump off-sides, he lined up off-sides! I thought only the NBA has special rules just for super stars, but I guess I was wrong. Ed Reed is a great player, but he got away with one on that play.

The next play was on the 49er’s last offensive play of the game. The Ravens defender clearly grabbed hold of Crabtree and held on for a good 2-3 yards, but once again, the ref’s seemed to have forgot how to use a whistle. The last non-call was on the Ravens intentional safety with 12 seconds left in the game. Multiple Ravens blatantly tackled 49er’s players to the ground, which is a pretty obvious holding call, but the refs did their best WWE ref impersonation and saw no problem with the play.


Greatest Reviews gives the Super Bowl 3 ½ stars out of 5. The first half wasn’t even competitive, there were only maybe 3 or 4 good commercials the entire night, the refs made several blatant non-calls in the Ravens favor down the stretch, and the 49er’s clock management at the end of the game was possibly the worst since the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX. The only thing that saved this game was the 49er’s coming from 22 points down a few minutes into the 3rd quarter to almost taking the lead with under 2 minutes to go.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>By: Adam Zimmerman

Like us on facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/GreatestReviewsOnTheNet