Super Bowl
2013: 49ers, Ravens Set For All-Harbaugh Matchup In New Orleans
This Super Bowl will be
filled with firsts – and one significant last.
The Harbaughs, San
Francisco's Jim and Baltimore's John, will be the first pair of
brothers to coach against each other in the NFL title game.
Quarterbacks Colin Kaepernick
of the 49ers and Joe Flacco of the Ravens each will be playing in his
first Super Bowl – where success is the ultimate measure of elite
QBs.
It'll be Baltimore's first
crack at a championship in a dozen years, San Francisco's first in
18. They are a combined 6-0 in Super Bowls (the 49ers own five of
those victories), so one club will lose the big game for the first
time.
And middle linebacker Ray
Lewis, Baltimore's emotional leader and top tackler, will be playing
in the final game of his 17-year career before heading into
retirement.
"This is our time,"
Lewis pronounced.
For all of those story lines,
none is expected to command as much attention as Harbaugh vs.
Harbaugh. The game in New Orleans on Feb. 3 was quickly given all
manner of nicknames: The Brother Bowl. The Harbaugh Bowl. The
Har-Bowl. The Super-Baugh.
The Harbaughs' sister, Joani
Crean, wrote in a text to The Associated Press: "Overwhelmed
with pride for John, Jim and their families! They deserve all that
has come their way! Team Harbaugh!"
As John prepared to coach the
Ravens in the AFC championship game Sunday night, he watched on the
stadium's big video screen as Jim's 49ers wrapped up the NFC
championship.
John looked into a nearby TV
camera, smiled broadly and said: "Hey, Jim, congratulations. You
did it. You're a great coach. Love you."
Less than four hours later,
the Ravens won, too. Some siblings try to beat each other in backyard
games. These guys will do it in the biggest game of all.
Who's a parent to cheer for?
During the 2011 regular
season, the Harbaughs became the only brothers to coach against each
other in any NFL game (the Ravens beat the 49ers 16-6 on Thanksgiving
Day that year).
The NFC West champion 49ers
(13-4-1) opened as 5-point favorites, seeking a record-tying sixth
Super Bowl title to add to those won by Hall of Fame quarterbacks Joe
Montana and Steve Young.
Lewis was the MVP when the
AFC North champion Ravens (13-6) beat the New York Giants in 2001.
With Kaepernick's terrific
passing – he was 16 of 21 for 233 yards and a touchdown in only his
ninth career NFL start – and two TD runs by Frank Gore, San
Francisco erased a 17-point deficit to beat the Atlanta Falcons 28-24
Sunday.
Baltimore then fashioned a
comeback of its own, scoring the last 21 points to defeat the New
England Patriots 28-13, thanks in large part to Flacco's three
second-half touchdown tosses, two to Anquan Boldin. Lewis and the
rest of Baltimore's defense limited the high-scoring Patriots to one
touchdown.
In the often risk-averse NFL,
each Harbaugh made a critical change late in the regular season in a
bid to boost his team's postseason chances. Clearly, both moves
worked.
After 49ers quarterback Alex
Smith, the starter in last season's overtime NFC title game loss to
the Giants, got a concussion, Jim switched to Kaepernick for Week 11
– and never switched back. Now San Francisco has its first
three-game winning streak of the season, at precisely the right time.
Baltimore, meanwhile, was in
the midst of a three-game losing streak when John fired offensive
coordinator Cam Cameron and promoted quarterbacks coach Jim Caldwell
to replace him.
The 50-year-old John is 15
months older than Jim and generally the less demonstrative of the
pair, although John certainly did not lack intensity while making his
case with officials a couple of times Sunday.
The ever-excitable Jim –
who was treated for an irregular heartbeat in November – was up to
his usual sideline antics in Atlanta.
He spun around and sent his
headset flying when the original call stood after he threw his red
challenge flag on a catch by the Falcons. He hopped and yelled at his
defense to get off the field after their key fourth-down stop with
less than 1 1/2 minutes left. He made an emphatic-as-can-be timeout
signal with 13 seconds remaining.
Expect CBS to fill plenty of
time during its Super Bowl broadcast with shots of Jim, that
trademark red pen dangling in front of his chest, and John, who
usually wears a black Ravens hat. That is sure to be a focal point,
right up until they meet for a postgame handshake in two weeks' time.
By HOWARD FENDRICH
___
AP Sports Writer Janie
McCauley in San Francisco contributed
The original article can be found here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/21/super-bowl-2013-49ers-ravens-harbaugh_n_2519720.html
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