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The Ravens had made it back to the Super Bowl and winning it was going to be sweeter than ever. Ed Reed, Terrell Suggs, Haloti Ngata, and Marshal Yanda were going to get well deserved Super Bowl rings. Joe Flacco and John Harbaugh were going to shed the reputation of guys who couldn't win the big one after multiple close losses in the postseason. And Ray Lewis would finish his career on top of the NFL.
The Ravens had been underdogs for almost the entire postseason. They were 9.5 point underdogs against the Broncos and Patriots, and they were 4.5 underdogs against the 49ers on Super Bowl night. They didn't care, they were the team of destiny and the Super Bowl was theirs for the taking.
The Ravens started out the Super Bowl strong. The Ravens forced San Francisco to punt on their opening possession and Joe Flacco would throw a 13 yard touchdown to Anquan Boldin on the Ravens first possession. The 49ers would respond with a field goal and force the Ravens to go three and out on their next possession, but Courtney Upshaw would force a fumble that Arthur Jones recovered on the Ravens 25. That would turn into another Joe Flacco touchdown pass, this time to Dennis Pitta.
Ed Reed would add to his legend when he intercepted a pass intended for Randy Moss, which gave him the record for most postseason interceptions with nine. The Ravens would give the ball back after Justin Tucker came up one yard short on a fake field goal, but the 49ers punted the ball back to the Ravens. Joe Flacco would throw yet another touchdown pass, this time to Jacoby Jones, who caught the ball falling down, remained untouched, and evaded two 49er defensive backs en route to the endzone. The 49ers would score another field goal to end the half.
Jacoby Jones would open the second half by taking the opening kickoff 109 yards for the longest play in Super Bowl history and giving the Ravens a seemingly safe 28-6 lead. The power went out at the stadium for 34 minutes and Colin Kaepernick threw a touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree and Frank Gore would score after a Ravens punt. David Akers would add a field goal.
The Ravens would drive down and kick a field goal, but the 49ers responded with a Colin Kaepernick touchdown run. Fortunately, the following two point conversion was incomplete.The Ravens would drive down and kick another field goal to give the Ravens a five point lead. The 49ers would drive all the way down to the Ravens seven, hoping to take the lead for the first time during the game. The Ravens would need the defense to save the day, as it had done for years.
The Ravens held the 49ers to two yards on a LaMichael James run. Then Colin Kaepernick threw two incompletions, and on fourth down, Jimmy Smith would start to live up to his potential and he prevented Michael Crabtree from catching Colin Kaepernick's final pass. The Ravens would take an intentional safety to shave eight seconds off of the clock and Josh Bynes would tackle Ted Ginn Jr. at midfield to end the Super Bowl.
Joe Flacco was the MVP of the Super Bowl completing 22 of 33 attempts for 287 yards and three touchdowns, which capped off a postseason that has a place among the postseasons of Kurt Warner and Joe Montana.
Ray Lewis retired gloriously, winning his second Super Bowl with the Ravens and being the last member of the 1996 squad left.
The Ravens won the Super Bowl after falling short so many times before and the city of Baltimore could not be happier.
Previous Entries:
#4: Jonathan Ogden Becomes Immortal
#6: Ravens Rally To Defeat Patriots
#7: Ed Reed Makes History Part 2
#9: Ravens End Jaguar Dominance
#10: Ravens Exorcise Demons In Pittsburgh
#11: Jamal Lewis Runs To History
#12: Ravens Pummel Ben Roethlisberger
#13: Joe Flacco Explodes In Tampa Bay
#15: Ravens Close Texas Stadium
#16: Ed Reed Makes History Part One
#18: Kyle Boller's Finest Hour