Undercard Nonsense? Let’s Talk Main Event

Deer antler spray and gay-bashing are unfortunately the driving headlines leading into Super Bowl XLVII. This is the circus that the Super Bowl “media” ring has become.

Real reporters and analysts asking real questions have been pushed aside in favor of paparazzi and comedians – but I guess this is what Super Bowl media week has always been about – sideshow over substance.

Hearsay about what is realistically the equivalent of popping a few extra vitamins and opinions on social issues have officially engulfed the anticipation of the game itself.  The insignificant and unbelonging are being overvalued.  The news shouldn’t be what football players think about swirling gossip and civil rights.

What has been said about the game itself?  The reason everyone should be tuning into the biggest annual spectacle of American sport has effectively become the back page, and what doesn’t even belong on the back page has regrettably become the front page.

Maybe its just me. I suppose I’m only interested in the X’s and O’s, but I assume there are actually people out there that care about all the undercard nonsense? It wouldn’t be driving the media if that weren’t the case? I guess I’ll never come around to the TMZ factor – but then again, I never hope to.

Move to the matchup on the field. What immediately comes to mind when breaking it down?

The difference-maker is undoubtedly Colin Kaepernick.  What he has the ability to do is something no one else that will be taking the field is capable of:  turning something into nothing the majority of his team’s offensive snaps.

And why do I dance around the “something into nothing” factor with the caveat of “the majority of offensive snaps?”  Ray Rice doesn’t take the snap from Matt Birk.  Rice can absolutely put the same type of pressure on a defense that Kaepernick can, but the ball just has to travel further to find him.

Touches, touches, touches.  Rice needs more than 25 throughout the course of the game for the Ravens to be on schedule. Throughout the end of the regular season and into the playoffs, newly-appointed offensive coordinator Jim Caldwell, formerly the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, has kept Baltimore on-time.

49ers defensive coordinator Vic Fangio is a creative mind that will be more than ready for what Baltimore has already shown they are capable of doing.  The key for Caldwell will be comprising twists and tweaks that haven’t been documented on tape.

Look for the Ravens to have gadgets ready on 1st-and-10 to 2nd-and-ahead situations in the middle of the field.  Don’t rule out a Rice-Flacco-Smith flea-flicker if the opportunity presents itself in an advantageous down and distance with room to work.

I’d also be missing the bus if I didn’t mention Jim Harbaugh’s transparent taste for the trick on special teams.  The Ravens better be on alert for a fake punt, a fake field goal or even an onside kick at some point.

Two brothers, two sons of a coach, going head to head for the game’s ultimate prize?  Some deeply conceived surprise is bound to unravel.

Now place your mind on the opening kick.

If San Francisco comes out and gets a lead with Kaepernick getting loose, the burden for Baltimore will quickly find its way to Joe Flacco.  Advantage: 49ers.

If Baltimore can control the clock in the 1st half, the groundwork will be laid and the rock will end up lying with Ray Rice in the end instead of Flacco.  Advantage: Ravens.

The other side of the coin?  “God is absolutely AMAZIN’!”

There isn’t a doubt Ray Lewis will have his defense pumped up for one last final pass through the gauntlet.  The motivating factor behind a single galvanizing player being able to inspire an entire team in the ultimate fashion can’t be understated.

That being said, what unfolds on the turf still ends up rising over words in the locker room.  Talent and opportunity fundamentally prevails more than motivational speeches – but I think it goes beyond that to a certain extent.

History and experience on big stages has a better shot of winning out in a game like this.  Top to bottom, the Ravens simply have been there more than the 49ers have.  And when you factor in a complete wildcard like Kaepernick, the potential for him to dominate doesn’t completely cancel out the potential for him to fold under the pressure.  His naivete could superceed his obliviousness in the end.

He might not have known where he was in all of his 10 NFL starts that fill his resume, but I think he will eventually find out where he actually is come crunchtime.  Asking what is essentially a rookie quarterback to finish on the grandest of main-event stages is as “all or nothing” of a bet as it gets.

I’m not really much for predictions.

Ravens 27 – 49ers 23.  Whoops.  Slip of the keyboard.