SUPER BOWL XLVII

Flacco, Ravens survive power failure, 49ers

Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Anquan Boldin catches a 13-yard touchdown pass against San Francisco 49ers safety Donte Whitner during the first half Sunday in Super Bowl XLVII at the Superdome in New Orleans. The Ravens led 21-6 at halftime and extended their lead to 28-6 after Jacoby Jones’ 108-yard kickoff return for a touchdown early in the third quarter before a power failure delayed the game for 34 minutes.
Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Anquan Boldin catches a 13-yard touchdown pass against San Francisco 49ers safety Donte Whitner during the first half Sunday in Super Bowl XLVII at the Superdome in New Orleans. The Ravens led 21-6 at halftime and extended their lead to 28-6 after Jacoby Jones’ 108-yard kickoff return for a touchdown early in the third quarter before a power failure delayed the game for 34 minutes.

— It went from blowout to blackout to shootout.

In the end, Joe Flacco and the Baltimore Ravens had just enough power to survive one of the most electric Super Bowls.

The power failure flipped a switch for the San Francisco 49ers, but the Ravens used a last-gasp defensive stand to hold on Sunday night, 34-31.

America’s biggest sporting event came to a half-hour standstill in the third quarter when most of the Superdome lights and the scoreboards went dark. By then, the Ravens had a 28-6 lead.

Everything changed after that, though, and the 49ers quickly got back into the game before Ray Lewis and Co. shut them down. But there were plenty of white-knuckle moments and the Ravens (14-6) had to make four stops inside their 7 at the end.

It was a Super Bowl with many subplots.

Flacco’s arrival as a championship quarterback coincides with Lewis’ retirement - with a second Super Bowl ring no less. The victory capped an amazing month since the star linebacker announced he was leaving the game after 17 Hall of Fame-caliber years.

The sibling rivalry between the coaching Harbaughs went to John, older than Jim by 15 months.

“How could it be any other way? It’s never pretty. It’s never perfect. But it’s us,” John Harbaugh said. “It was us today.”

At 4 hours, 14 minutes, it was the longest Super Bowl ever. Among the most thrilling, too.

The loss of power delayed the game 34 minutes and left players from both sides stretching and chatting with each other. It also cost Baltimore the momentum it built, and that was considerable after Jacoby Jones’ 108-yard kickoff return and game MVP Flacco’s three touchdown passes made it 28-6.

Back came San Francisco (13-5-1) in search of its sixth Lombardi Trophy in as many tries.

Michael Crabtree’s 31-yard touchdown reception on which he broke two tackles made it 28-13. A couple minutes later, Frank Gore’s 6-yard run followed a 32-yard punt return by Ted Ginn Jr., and the 49ers were within eight.

Ray Rice’s fumble at his 24 led to David Akers’ 34-yard field goal, but Baltimore woke up for a long drive leading to rookie Justin Tucker’s 19-yard field goal.

San Francisco wasn’t done challenging, though, and Colin Kaepernick’s 15-yard TD run, the longest for a quarterback in a Super Bowl, made it 31-29. A two-point conversion pass failed when the Ravens blitzed.

Tucker added a 38-yarder with 4:19 remaining, setting up the frantic finish.

Kaepernick couldn’t get the 49ers into the end zone on the final three plays - there was contact on Crabtree on the final pass that was ruled incidental, and Jim Harbaugh insisted it was pass interference.

Ravens punter Sam Koch took a safety for the final score with 4 seconds left. His free kick was returned by Ginn to midfield as time ran out.

In the first half, Flacco was as brilliant as Tom Brady, Joe Montana or Terry Bradshaw ever were in the NFL’s biggest game. The only quarterback to win a playoff game in each of his first five seasons - his coach holds the same distinction - was nearly perfect.

It was typical of Flacco and Baltimore’s postseason run. The Ravens stumbled into the playoffs with four defeats in its last five regular-season games as Lewis recovered from a torn right triceps and Flacco struggled. Harbaugh even fired his offensive coordinator in December, a stunning move with the postseason so close.

But that - and every other move Harbaugh, Flacco and the Ravens made since - was right on target. Just like Flacco’s TD passes of 13 yards to Anquan Boldin, 1 to Dennis Pitta and 56 to Jones in the first half, tying a Super Bowl record.

Jones, one of the heroes in a double-overtime playoff victory at Denver, seemed to put the game away with his record 108-yard sprint with the second-half kickoff.

Soon after, the lights went out - and when they came back on, the Ravens were almost powerless to slow the 49ers.

Until the final moments.

“The final series of Ray Lewis’ career was a goal-line stand,” Harbaugh said.

“It’s no greater way, as a champ, to go out on your last ride with the men that I went out with, with my teammates,” Lewis said. “And you looked around this stadium and Baltimore! Baltimore! We coming home, baby! We did it!”

It was a bitter loss for Jim Harbaugh, the coach who turned around the Niners in the last two years and brought them to their first Super Bowl in 18 years. His team made a similarly stunning comeback in the NFC championship at Atlanta, but couldn’t finish it off against Baltimore.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING-Baltimore, Rice 20-59, Pierce 12-33, Tucker 1-8, Leach 1-1, Koch 1-(minus 8). San Francisco, Gore 19-110, Kaepernick 7-62, James 3-10.

PASSING-Baltimore, Flacco 22-33-0-287. San Francisco, Kaepernick 16-28-1-302.

RECEIVING-Baltimore, Boldin 6-104, Pitta 4-26, Rice 4-19, Leach 3-10, Dickson 2-37, T.Smith 2-35, J.Jones 1-56. San Francisco, V.Davis 6-104, Crabtree 5-109, Walker 3-48, Moss 2-41.

Attendance-71,024.

Scoring summary Baltimore ............. 7 14 7 6 - 34 San Francisco ........ 3 3 17 8 - 31

FIRST QUARTER

Baltimore TIME 10:36 (2:29 time of possession) SCORING PLAY Anquan Boldin caught a 13-yard pass from Joe Flacco (Justin Tucker kick).

BALTIMORE 7, SAN FRANCISCO 0

San Francisco TIME 3:58 (6:38 time of possession) SCORING PLAY David Akers kicked a 36-yard field goal.

BALTIMORE 7, SAN FRANCISCO 3

SECOND QUARTER

Baltimore TIME 7:10 (4:43 time of possession) SCORING PLAY Dennis Pitta 1 pass from Flacco (Tucker kick).

BALTIMORE 14, SAN FRANCISCO 3

Baltimore TIME 1:45 (0:22 time of possession) SCORING PLAY Jacoby Jones caught a 56-yard pass from Flacco (Tucker kick).

BALTIMORE 21, SAN FRANCISCO 3.

San Francisco TIME 0:00 (1:45 time of possession) SCORING PLAY Akers kicked a 27-yard field goal.

BALTIMORE 21, SAN FRANCISCO 6

THIRD QUARTER

Baltimore TIME 14:49 SCORING PLAY Jacoby Jones returned the opening kickoff 108 yards (Tucker kick).

BALTIMORE 28, SAN FRANCISCO 6

San Francisco TIME 7:20 (3:06 time of possession SCORING PLAY Michael Crabtree caught a 31-yard pass from Colin Kaepernick (Akers kick).

BALTIMORE 28, SAN FRANCISCO 13

San Francisco TIME 4:59 (0:48 time of possession) SCORING PLAY Frank Gore scored on a 6-yard run (Akers kick).

BALTIMORE 28, SAN FRANCISCO 20.

San Francisco TIME 3:10 (1:00 time of possession)SCORING PLAY Akers kicked a 34-yard field goal.

BALTIMORE 28, SAN FRANCISCO 23.

FOURTH QUARTER

Baltimore TIME 12:54 (5:16 time of possession) SCORING PLAY Tucker kicked a 19-yard field goal.

BALTIMORE 31, SAN FRANCISCO 23

San Francisco TIME 9:57 (2:57 time of possession) SCORING PLAY Kaepernick scored on a 15-yard run (pass failed).

BALTIMORE 31, SAN FRANCISCO 29

Baltimore TIME 4:19 (5:38 time of possession) SCORING PLAY Tucker kicked a 38-yard field goal.

BALTIMORE 34, SAN FRANCISCO 29

San Francisco TIME 0:04 SCORING PLAY Chris Culliver pushes Sam Koch out of the end zone for a safety.

BALTIMORE 34, SAN FRANCISCO 31

Game sketch

TURNING POINT Baltimore’s Jacoby Jones returned a kickoff 108 yards for a touchdown to open the second half and extend the Ravens’ lead to 28-6.

KEY STATS Baltimore was outgained 468-367 but stopped San Francisco on fourth-and-goal from the 5 with less than 2 minutes remaining when 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s pass sailed beyond wide receiver Michael Crabtree in the end zone.

Sports, Pages 13 on 02/04/2013

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