And then there were two….after all was said and done, Super Bowl XLVII turns out to be a battle of two siblings, Jim & John Harbaugh, who did something never accomplished before. Two brothers, head coaches in the NFL, who led their teams to the ultimate stage in America’s No. 1 sport, the Super Bowl. John Harbaugh, who coaches the Baltimore Ravems, took his team into New England for the AFC Championship game on Sunday. That normally spells doom for opponents, but with the Ravens riding the emotions of the retiring future Hall-Of-Famer Ray Lewis, there was no fun for the Brady Bumch to have in 2013.
Joe Flacco, the Ravems QB, was superb in avenging last year’s loss in the very same stadium to the very same team. Ray Rice & Anquan Boldin were virtually unstoppable at crucial moments, and the Ravens D completely shut the Patriots down in the second half. That’s impressive considering Tom Brady & Co. have NEVER lost at home in the playoffs when leading the game at halftime. Baltimore wins 28 – 13 and now heads for New Orleans & the Super Bowl, where John will meet up with his brother Jim, head coach of the NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers.
The Niners went into Atlanta and shut down the Falcons high-powered offense, but not before spotting the home team a 17 – Zip lead in the first half. The game looked almost the same as last week’s divisional game against Seattle where Russell Wilson methodically brought the Seahawks back from a 21 – Zip deficit to win, but could hold out the final 31 seconds. Frisco not only came back, but shut the Falcons down, stunning the sell-out ATL crowd to silence in a 28 – 24 victory, and now have a chance to tie the Pittsburgh Steelers with the most Super Bowl wins in NFL history at six. Since these playoffs began, I’ve been rolling with Baltimore, and based on what I’ve seen, there’s no reason to doubt the Ravens now!
