SB 47 Pre Game Thread

[ColtsFan86]

Originally Posted by chevss454

Ironic that Ted Marchibroda, the Ravens' first HC is rooting for the 9ers to win it.

http://blogs.buffalonews.com/press-c...owl-xlvii.html

Harbaugh was also the Ravens QB after leaving Indy. Several former Colts players and coaches were interviewed a couple of weeks ago, and all were rooting for Jim to make the Super Bowl since he was so close in 1995. Marchibroda and Jim were particularly close, so I'm sure he's again thinking "let 'er rip Jimmy" for old time's sake.

[chevss454]

Joyner of ESPN Insider says winning the SB still won't make Flacco elite.

His road playoff record is nowhere near as strong as generally thought
Flacco's six road playoff victories are the most of all time, but it's not as if his track record on the road is as good as that total suggests.
For proof, consider his Total QBR marks in each of his road playoff games:
2008 Miami -- QBR of 46.3 in a win
2008 Tennessee -- 63.6, W
2008 Pittsburgh -- 5.0, L
2009 New England -- 17.3, W
2009 Indianapolis -- 17.7, L
2010 Kansas City -- 66.4, W
2010 Pittsburgh -- 18.8, L
2011 New England -- 43.0, L
2012 Denver -- 65.3, W
2012 New England -- 80.2, W
Flacco posted above-average Total QBR marks in only four of his 10 road playoff games. In the other six games, he posted slightly below-average marks twice (the 46.3 and 43.0 games) and abysmal marks in four (18.8 or lower).
His latest marks are among his best, but the idea he has a long history of being a money quarterback on the road simply isn't accurate. Taken as a whole, history says he is just as apt to play poorly on the road as he is to play well.
Flacco's statistics fall well short of being upper tier
In 2012, Flacco ranked 14th in passing yards and passing yards per attempt (YPA), tied for 15th in passing touchdowns and No. 19 in completion percentage. He has never thrown for 30 touchdown passes (his best is 25 in 2010) or 4,000 yards, and his highest single-season YPA is 7.41.
His backers will say those numbers are relatively low because Baltimore is a run-first team, but that just makes the point that Flacco isn't someone around whom this offense has been built.
One reason that might be the case can be found in Flacco's season-long ranking in the Total QBR metric, as his 46.8 mark this season ranked 25th in the league.


For perspective, it's worth noting that Jake Locker had a better Total QBR mark (48.1). So did Christian Ponder (53.8), Ryan Tannehill (52.3), Josh Freeman (53.1), Sam Bradford (51.6) and Matt Hasselbeck (48.5). Flacco's total was also only a single point ahead of Ryan Fitzpatrick's (45.8) and only 2.1 points higher than Carson Palmer's (44.7).
Two main factors in Flacco's subpar showing here were his run EPA (expected points added) of minus-2.3, which ranked 33rd, and his sack EPA (minus-29.6, ranked 31st). It's not as if his pass EPA is upper class (62.7, ranked 17th), and, when his lack of mobility is added to the equation, it shows how Flacco's production doesn't keep up with that of other quarterbacks.
His stretch run numbers this season were less than stellar
In his last six regular-season starts (not counting the Week 17 contest against Cincinnati, a game he left early), Flacco posted a Total QBR of 94.4 in one game and 54.2 in another. Beyond that, his highest Total QBR was 40.2, and he had games when he posted marks of 23.7 and 0.4.
To be fair, Flacco has stepped up for the playoff run, but this terribly inconsistent late-season stretch was a key reason the Ravens went from being contenders for home-field advantage when they were 9-2 to being tied with the Washington Redskins for the worst record among division champions in 2012.
The All-Pro/Pro Bowl argument
Even if one makes the argument that this postseason is serving as a springboard for Flacco's rise to the pinnacle, let's not forget that many quarterbacks don't see a reputation change until some time after their championship achievement.
Terry Bradshaw wasn't named to his first Pro Bowl until the season after his first Super Bowl title. Jim Plunkett was never named to a Pro Bowl even though he posted two Super Bowl wins (and was named MVP in one). Roger Staubach also had to wait for his greatness to be widely accepted, as he made only one Pro Bowl before leading Dallas to its third Super Bowl berth.
In addition, it is worth noting that, since 2007, the Ravens are the only AFC North team not to have a quarterback be nominated for the Pro Bowl. Even the lowly Cleveland Browns have sent a passer to the Pro Bowl in that time frame (Derek Anderson in 2007). That, more than anything else, illustrates how unimpressive Flacco has been perceived as in the course of his career.
That negative perception curve is quite long, and changing it will take more than one Super Bowl title. As ESPN.com's John Clayton points out, Flacco is going to get paid like an elite quarterback regardless of how the championship game turns out, but he will have to post a lot more in the accomplishment column before being placed at the level of Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees or Brady.
Super Bowl history has plenty of examples of good-but-not-great quarterbacks who won a title and still were not considered elite. Mark Rypien, Doug Williams, Jeff Hostetler, Brad Johnson -- each of these passers was more than capable of leading a team to a Super Bowl win yet never made the jump to being listed among the best at his position. Even with a win Sunday, Flacco easily could fit alongside those names.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/playo...e-flacco-elite

[chevss454]

gregg rosenthal ‏@greggrosenthal

Flacco running routes as a receiver on the field. Game plan giveaway??

[HSanders]

Mariucci,Flacco and Kaepernik superimposed into "Put a Ring on It"

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-networ...e-next-Beyonce

[Newbologist]

We were 30 minutes away from being in this thing tonight, still not fully over it yet

[OSUBuckeye]

Originally Posted by Newbologist

We were 30 minutes away from being in this thing tonight, still not fully over it yet

30 scoreless minutes will do that.

[HSanders]

Globe writers predictions.
http://www.boston.com/sports/footbal...super_bow.html

[HSanders]

@ the bolded.

http://www.weei.com//sports/boston/f...care-about-sup
WHY PATRIOTS FANS SHOULD CARE ABOUT SUPER BOWL XLVII
Fri, 02/01/2013 - 12:31am


Watching (and daydreaming about) Ed Reed will be one thing Patriots fans can focus on come Sunday. (AP)
The Patriots' season ended almost two weeks ago (by this point, it seems like it was months) with a loss to the Ravens in the AFC title game, and by now, most New England football fans have had more than their fair share of storylines and hype involving Sunday’s game between San Francisco and Baltimore. (Did you know that the two coaches are brothers? And that this is Ray Lewis’ last game?) However, there still are plenty of reasons for Patriots fans to watch on Sunday. Here are five reasons why they should care about Super Bowl XLVII.

Performance of potential Patriots: The game will be an excellent opportunity for New England football fans to check out some free agent possibilities, most notably Ravens safety Ed Reed. We wrote about this earlier in the week, but the veteran has long been the subject of a man crush from Patriots coach Bill Belichick, and he will be a free agent this offseason. The 34-year-old veteran already has said he could see himself playing for Belichick, even professing that he cut the sleeves off his sweatshirt in an homage to the New England coach. Meanwhile, the Patriots secondary could use some veteran leadership. It wouldn’t be a long-term relationship, but if the Patriots could get him for short money, they should make the move.

Randy Moss: Moss always commanded attention in his three-plus seasons with the Patriots, and while he faded from the radar screen (at least locally) after being dealt to the Vikings midway through the 2010 season (making a brief stop in Tennessee with the Titans before ultimately taking 2011 off), he’s remained a compelling figure. But for all the achievements he’s managed to rack up over the course of his Hall of Fame career, the self-proclaimed “greatest wide receiver of all time” has never won a title, coming close with Minnesota in 1998 and New England in 2007. If he’s able to win one this time around, he gets another line on his resume, as well as some validation for the post-Patriots statistical swoon he’s endured since leaving New England in 2010.

Can Dean Pees win a Super Bowl? Pees was a unique hire when he came to New England in that he wasn’t a young assistant who was directly promoted through the chain to the role of defensive coordinator, as usually the case around Foxboro. (Instead, he initially made his bones as a college coach, working for 24 seasons before becoming linebackers coach with the Patriots in 2004 and moving up the chain to serve as DC from 2006 through 2009.) His impact may have been minimized -- as is the case with any defensive coordinator who works under Belichick, it’s the head coach who often gets too much of the credit and not enough of the blame when the defense fails. For what it’s worth, he immediately found another job before he left New England under curious circumstances following the 2009 season, spending two seasons with the Ravens as their linebackers coach before taking over as Baltimore’s DC in 2012. No one in Baltimore has a bad word to say about Pees for several reasons, not the least of which he’s unlike just about every other Ravens defensive coordinator in recent history because he (apparently) has zero interest in a head coaching job. This isn’t Marvin Lewis, Rex Ryan, Mike Nolan or Chuck Pagano. Pees is happy where he is.

Can one of these teams provide a blueprint for stopping the other that the Patriots can pick up on down the road? Unless they meet in next year’s Super Bowl, the Patriots aren’t scheduled to face the Niners anytime soon. But New England will play the Ravens again during the 2013 regular season (and if history is any indication, chances are good they’ll also meet in the playoffs). Can San Francisco provide some sort of template to beating Baltimore -- specifically, keeping the Ravens defense at bay? Baltimore has bedeviled Tom Brady over the years (as we wrote here before the AFC title game), and while the quarterback has won more than he’s lost against the Ravens, some of the worst statistical splits of his career have come against Baltimore defenses. (His touchdown-to-interception ratio, QB rating and completion percentage against the Ravens are all the worst against any other team in the league.) We’re not indicating that Brady has anything resembling Colin Kaepernick’s skill set, but there’s always something to take from every game, and if the Ravens can be exposed in one area Sunday, you can be sure the Patriots will pick up on it for next season.

Morbid fascination: While the Patriots don’t necessarily have much bad blood when it comes to the Niners, they have one of the best rivalries in the league with the Ravens. And while there’s a healthy side to things when the two teams get together, there’s some ill will there as well, particularly in the wake of the AFC title game. The coaches and players wouldn’t necessarily admit to this, but the idea of Bernard Pollard possibly getting embarrassed on the NFL’s biggest stage by someone like Kaepernick would bring some smiles to those folks around Patriot Place.

[chevss454]

Pollard did get embarrassed when he failed to cover a receiver on the sideline and got burned. Ed Reed undressed Pollard in front of the world.

It made we wish we had a DB with that kind of authority as a coach on the field to hold our guys accountable.