DESPITE 22 SETS of brothers reaching the Super Bowl, Sunday marks the first occasion when siblings will line up on opposite sides of the field as head coaches and, as you’d expect, there are a lot of similarities between the two brothers.
Both John and Jim Harbaugh are fiery characters, though the 49ers coach’s ‘handshake’ with Detroit’s Jim Schwartz last season probably marks him as the more histrionic of the two.
Both brothers believe in allowing player power to develop with John, especially, not afraid to let big personalities like Ray Lewis take control of his locker room.
The most striking similarity, however, is that both took big decisions earlier this year to change key personnel that has directly led to their appearance in New Orleans this Sunday.
Indeed, only the most fervent 49ers or Ravens fan could claim they’d still be in the Super Bowl had the former left Alex Smith at quarterback or the latter endured any more of Cam Cameron’s woeful offensive play-calling.
Super Bowl fact to impress your mates #1: The use of Roman numerals to designate Super Bowls began with game V (1971), when the Baltimore Colts beat the Dallas Cowboys, 16-13.
However, the Harbaughs have their differences, the most obvious being that while John is a defensively minded coach, Jim was groomed as an offensive coach from the time he quit the game as a player.
And while Jim may have had the advantage of actually playing in the NFL, including with the Ravens, John has much more coaching experience at this level.
Of course, for all their strengths and weaknesses, the coaches can’t actually take the field on Sunday. So how do the teams match up?
(C) Dave Martin/AP/Press Association Images
The 49ers are one of the most successful franchises in the NFL with their five Super Bowl wins second only to the Pittsburgh Steelers (six). Indeed, the 49ers are a perfect five from five when it comes to Super Bowls and are the only team in NFL history to appear in more than one without losing.
The Ravens, on the the other hand, have only been to the Super Bowl once before, a 34-7 victory over the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV.
While it has been 12 years since the Ravens appeared on football’s biggest stage, Sunday will mark San Francisco’s first trip to the Super Bowl in 18 years and, despite what Randy Moss thinks about himself, they don’t have a Jerry Rice, Joe Montana or Steve Young on their books this time around.
Super Bowl fact to impress your mates #2: After four receptions in his first game with the 49ers, Randy Moss has yet to make more than three in any game since.
Offence
That said, they do have a young man by the name of Colin Kaepernick who, potentially, has the world at his feet.
This will be just Kapernicks’s 10th start as an NFL quarterback but his record of 7-2 is impressive nonetheless. However, his apparent overnight success comes as no surprise to those of us who watched him become the first college quarterback to throw for more than 10,000 yards while rushing for more than 4,000.
Key for Kaepernick, has been the 49ers increasing belief in the pistol formation when running the read-option. According to ESPN Stats and Info, during the regular season, San Francisco ran this formation (a variation on the shotgun formation but with the running back behind the quarterback rather than beside him) seven times a game and averaged 5.4 yards per play with it.
In the playoffs, they’ve ran it 14 times per game and averaged 8.4 yards per play showing that, instead of adapting to it, defences actually get worse the more they face it.
Super Bowl fact to impress your mates #3: According to the Snack Food Association of America – a real thing – the average viewer will consume 1,200 calories during the game.
On Sunday, he comes face to face with the antithesis of the read-option quarterback in Joe Flacco. While CK7 has 202 rushing yards and two touchdowns in the postseason, the Ravens QB has just 16 rushing yards, despite playing an extra game.
Instead, with Ray Rice and Bernard Pierce in the backfield, the Ravens have gone about making their rushing yards the old fashioned way thanks to some dominant offensive line play which has also seen Joe Flacco record no interceptions and take just four sacks in the playoffs.
Super Bowl fact to impress your mates #4: When running to his right, Bernard Pierce has 6.4 yards per carry (72 attempts) compared with just 3.8 when running to his left (63 attempts).
Defence
On the other side of the ball, the Ravens have had their struggles this year. However, the 11 who will line up on Sunday probably can’t be compared with the players that caused Baltimore to stumble into the postseason.
(C) Matt Slocum/AP/Press Association Images
However, they are still not the defence many Ravens fans would like them to be and while Ma’ake Kemoeatu and Terrence Cody continue to struggle at the line of scrimmage, cornerback Corey Graham is undoubtedly Baltimore’s weakest link, giving up 210 receiving yards in their Super Bowl run, 60 more than any other player.
Super Bowl fact to impress your mates #5: The Ravens are the only team in NFL history to win three games in a single postseason when allowing 375 or more yards on defence in each game.
That said, the Ravens actually have been the better pressure defence this postseason with six sacks compared to just two from the 49ers. They also lead the interception count 5-2 and have defended more than double the passes (25-12) San Francisco have.
The 49ers, however, are not the third best defence in the league for nothing and the key to their stinginess on that side of the ball has to be consistency. While San Francisco have nine players who have played at least 90% of defensive snaps this season, no other team has more than six players.
They also make sure they wrap up players when they make a tackle allowing just 1.2 yards after contact on every run which saw them lead the league in that particular statistic for the third year running.
Super Bowl fact to impress your mates #6: Of Aldon Smith’s 35.5 career sacks – the most by any player in a two year period – only one has come without Justin Smith also being on the field for the 49ers.
Verdict
Three times this postseason I’ve said the Ravens would lose, three times they’ve proven me wrong. However, despite all the talk of Joe Flacco ‘becoming elite’ I still find it hard to buy into a quarterback who has completed less than 55% of his passes this postseason and a defence who have endured 1,342 snaps this season, the most by any team since 2001.
However, if the 49ers fail to put pressure on Joe Flacco, he will take advantage as he has done throughout these playoffs.
I expect as tight a game as the four point spread would have you believe. Indeed:
Super Bowl fact to impress your mates #7: As an NFL head coach, neither Harbaugh brother has lost coming off a bye week in either regular season or playoffs. John is 6-0, Jim 3-0-1.
Something’s got to give on Sunday, and I just think it will be a step too far for the Ravens.
San Francisco 49ers 28-24 Baltimore Ravens
