Super Bowl discussion thread!

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

I'm predicting an easy 49ers win. They are just too good for the Ravens imo

[GSC]

Joe Flaccid going to take viagra and leave Kaepernick more sore than Brady and Peyton

[sodhat]

Strikes me as a closer game than you think, but still the 49ers are the favourites. The Ravens won't go quietly, and I hope it will be a belter.

[cherriesfna]

Ravens to win

[CFCNick]

On one hand I think it's gonna be one of the closest in recent time but on the other hand I feel that the Ravens can't defend the run as well as they defended Tom Brady in the AFCCG it's too traditional for what the Niners offer up. The Niners have run the option 60+ times in the playoffs!!! That's 20+ more than they ran it in the whole of the regular season.

Niners for me.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Exactly MJ. Ravens havent defended the run well all season. They were giving up 4 yards a carry to Ridley and Vereen imagine what Gore and Kaepernick will do to them on the ground!

[Pr4wn]

But the 49ers have David Akers...

[Number-25]

Still struggling to get up for this one to honest. 49ers should run away with it. Saw something earlier on the NFL website about how it will be a classic. I don't buy that. Ravens didn't have a clue what to do with the Redskins offense a few weeks ago. Niners are running something very close to that now and have a far better defense. San Fran should win pretty easily. I'm terrible at predictions though so you should all fasten yourselves in for a great game!

I think I'll prob be giving it a miss this year. An early start on Monday combined with not feeling anything for either team means, at the moment, staying up doesn't look like it will be worth the pain!

[GSC]

Ravens are too proud to let this one run away. Feel as though Kaepernick is due for a let down.

[BamBam]

But the 49ers have David Akers...

Prediction* - David Akers will kick the winning field goal










*may be wishful thinking rather than a prediction

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Akers won't be needed. 49ers will be miles out of site by then. 5-0 in Super Bowls, don't think a 49ers QB has ever thrown an INT in a Super Bowl either?

I fully expect it to go to a 6-0 record in the big game

[Number-25]

I'm with you on that prediction Olly

[crazy_dave23]

5-0 in Super Bowls, don't think a 49ers QB has ever thrown an INT in a Super Bowl either?

Whilst I think the Niners will win... both of these are complete irrelevances.
These are all from teams at least 20 years ago... It has no bearing on whether Kaepernick will throw a pick or not!

[GSC]

Giving the 49ers a bit too much credit and the Ravens not enough i suspect. Theres a reason the Ravens have put down Peyton and Brady back to back.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Finally Super Bowl Sunday is here!!

Last game of football for ages though

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

My prediction for Super Bowl MVP

Frank Gore

[Guest]

49ers to win IMO

[GSC]

NFC team has won 14 straight coin tosses before last year

[Bull]

go Ravens do it for the Bears!!!!

[mikeygnfl]

The Ravens and the 49ers have met four times since 1996 with the Ravens leading 3-1 in head-to-heads. The Ravens have won the last three meetings and have kept the 49ers to less than 10 points in all three games.

That said the 49ers have won 22 of their last 23 games in which they have scored 20 plus points. The other game being the tie with the Rams.

Another interesting fact is that in passes over 21 yards, Kaepernick has the best passer rating this season. Second is Alex Smith.

[GSC]

Yeah but Smith tried like 5.

[BamBam]

BBC or Sky??

[Thomond]

Niners win and here's part of my explanation why: http://nfl-ireland.com/nfl/4178-a-look-back-at-the-49ers-season/

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

BBC HAVE CARLSON BAMBAM!

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Play 60 Kid ‏@NatePlay60
"Omg, I can't see my GF." - Manti Te'o

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Josh McGinn ‏@joshmcginn
Ray Lewis didn't kill the power...but he was there when it happened

lol

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Faux John Madden ‏@FauxJohnMadden
Chris Culliver just realized his biggest fear when he took a stiff one to the face.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Chris Culliver is stinking it up

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

23m Oliver Inwards ‏@oinwards
One big turnover left in this game. Ed Reed pick #calledit

Would like to point towards this tweet before the 49ers drive starts...

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Well done to Baltimore!

But I must say I thought that looked like a penalty on Crabtree in the endzone...

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

You could tell that game was going to Baltimore though throughout the 4th quarter.

Baltimore making crucial 3rd downs, and San Fran with silly penalties (notably Culliver on Smith 3rd down) throughout the last quarter.

What. A. Game.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Also I thought Boldin deserved the MVP. Man was a beast.

[mikeygnfl]

A more disappointing lose than had it been a blow out. Too many errors made on the 49ers side. Not enough tackles made that probably should have been made.

Thought Kaepernick should have gone for the endzone, I think on 2nd down, in their last drive instead of looking for a touchdown pass.

Positives? They got one step nearer than last year. They couldn't have been any closer. They should be coming back even stronger next seadon with a proper preseason preperation with Kaepernick as starting QB.

[sodhat]

Knew it would be close, knew it would be great. Lost 15 quid but i don't mind, a fantastic game all round.

[GSC]

Still can't believe you all expected Baltimore to roll over

[GSC]

Best team won on the day. Ravens came in and looked like they belonged, 49ers looked like deer in the headlights until 20 minute halftime was extended with a 30 minute power outage.

The downside of going to Kaepernick, yes hes exciting, but inexperience really told. The comeback is all well and good but if you start playing down 22 you ain't winning many games

[CFCNick]

I was really impressed with Flacco. He reminded me of Eli in 07. Epic performance to try and finally help get the monkey off his back.

Especially the play where he avoided a few sacks and lumped it to Boldin. Straight out of SB42.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Yeah like GSC said 49ers didn't really turn up for the 1st half and you're not gonna win many games like that.

Flacco has had a brilliant postseason. Next season will show if it was a one off or if he really has pushed onto the next level

[Number-25]

Still can't believe you all expected Baltimore to roll over

I didn't think they'd roll over - I just thought, based on what I saw of them this season, that they would struggle to contain the 49ers offense which is very similar to the Redskins offense that Baltimore struggled against, i.e tough RB, mobile QB with a strong arm and an average bunch of WRs. I didn't expect the 49ers defense to play as bad as it did. I only saw the last 8 mins of the first half and the very first play of the second half and on that little snapshot, the 49ers tackling was dreadful and coverage just shambolic. That's the bit I didn't really see coming. I thought with two weeks to prepare they'd be better than that. Flacco has had a good postseason but this is no Peyton Manning or Tom Brady at their best we're talking about here - this is Flacco who's body of work in the NFL to this point says that he's not very good playing away from Baltimore. That San Fran defense should be hanging their heads today...... based on the 8 and a bit mins of action that I saw!

Thanks Beyonce and and thanks crappy power supply - cos of you two, I watched for an hour and a half and saw just over 8 mins of action

Beyonce did look pretty fine though

[GSC]

The Ravens also had to face RG3 on the 2nd crappiest field in the NFL (behind Soldier Field).

Almost as funny as whoever said the Ravens would struggle against kaepernick because they left running lanes for Tom Brady last night. That was by far the funniest.

[GSC]

As for the 49ers, back to the drawing board somewhat. Front 7 is the best in football, but the secondary has been exploited quite a few times down the stretch. Might see Whitner and Culliver dumped this offseason

[GSC]

http://www.nj.com/super-bowl/index.ssf/2013/02/super_bowl_47_49ers_coach_jim_harbaugh_goes_down_complaining.html#incart_river_default

A strong piece perhaps, but does illustrate the difference. Possible Johns stint as a ST guy helped ground him.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Culliver stunk the joint up last night. Beat for that play by Jones on the TD and a crucial 3rd down DPI.

Karma some would say

[GSC]

I think the big question is whether a gay team would want Culliver

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

That piece on Jim Harbaugh is correct on the strange playcalling on the final four downs for the niners.

I DM's my mate on twitter saying watch for the QB run and was suprised they didnt spread em out and let Kaepernick run or just call a QB run

[Colan (niner)]

Amazing game and really proud of the team. The Ravens made a few more plays and got the trophy which is fair enough. Feel quite positive after this, not at all as depressed as last year after the game vs the Giants. I was going mental last night though watching the game because a lot of calls blatantly went the Ravens way like when they were offside on 2pt conversion, meant a field goal instead of TD would've been fine at the end but oh well. But a tough Ravens team, many missed calls, big enviroment and a young team almost make an epic comeback, I'm excited for the future.

Congrats to the Ravens, played hard and showed that heart and leadership can sometimes beat natural talent. The only annoying thing is that Lewis will get all the plaudits, because the entire team had a say, Boldin in partricular was a beast.


The secondary needs work but that will be fixed. The 49ers have the most draft picks in the NFL right now, with more to come compensatory and maybe in a Smith trade. I'm confident two cornerbacks will be coming in, whether througgh the draft or FA. The problem is that our corners aren't that big and will be beat more often than not in a jump ball situation

[GSC]

Just watched the highlights given I went to bed when the power went out.

Delay really helped the 49ers. Game was only headed one way before Harbaugh got half an hour extra to calm Kaepernick down.

Ravens looked a tad old towards the end. Perhaps not the worst thing that this was Rays last game. Ed Reed has looked old this postseason.

If you're calling hold on Crabtree at the end then you're calling hold on White in the NFCCG. Crabtree initiated contact.

Difference at the end was poise for me. Flacco had it, Kaepernick needed too long to find his.

Jim needs to calm down or hes going to burn some serious bridges in the NFL. Also raises the question of how he'll handle a down year

[mikeygnfl]

Still can't believe you all expected Baltimore to roll over

To be fair they did in the 2nd half. The 49ers just didn't seem to turn up in the first half and made far too many stupid mistakes. They didn't seem to learn anything from the Falcons game.

[GSC]

To be fair they also played lights out in the first half and until the lights literally did go out.

[mikeygnfl]

That piece on Jim Harbaugh is correct on the strange playcalling on the final four downs for the niners.

I was surprised they just didn't try and run it/ power it through. I didn't feel comfortable trying to getting in the air from such close range.

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