I can only imagine how frustrated the 49ers and Ravens players must be right now. The idea of spending so much time working towards one goal and to have their seasons end the way they did. The frustration in their respective locker rooms is something I’m not going to try and imagine. I don’t want to place blame on any one player but three players had chances to make plays or avoid making bad ones and couldn’t come through.
In New England, the Ravens did not play up to the ability they had shown all season. The Patriots did a great job slowing down Ray Rice and putting the game in the hands of Joe Flacco. While Flacco did not have an amazing game by any means, he stepped up and made the throws when it mattered most. The pass he threw to Lee Evans was a prefect throw. Lee Evans had the ball in his hands, took two steps and just like the Ravens season, the ball slipped threw his fingertips. I’m not sure if he thought he had possession and let up a little or if Patriots cornerback Sterling Moore was able to get his hand on the perfect spot. Either way there is no excuse for not coming down with the football in that situation. If you want to earn the right to go to the biggest game, you have to make plays when it matters most.
Even with the drop, the Ravens could have kicked a field goal and forced overtime. Unfortunately for Baltimore, a 32-yard field goal was too much for Billy Cundiff to muster. He pushed the ball left and gave the Patriots the victory, When the Ravens were on their final, they mentioned all of Cundiff’s stats from 50 yards away or more, and I remember thinking I hope this game doesn’t come down to him making a field goal. Sure enough, the game was put on his foot and he was unable to come through.
In San Francisco, a team that had had the best special teams all season long were about to be plagued by mistakes. Kyle Williams was back to return a punt with the 49ers up 17-10 late in the fourth quarter, makes blunder number one. A punt that was landing short of Williams and looked clearly like he had no interest in picking up, yet he got close enough where an errant bounce skips off of his knee and gives possession to the Giants. Eli will lead his team to a score, with a short field culminating with Mario Manningham in the back of the end zone. Fast forward to the overtime, with Kyle Williams back to return another punt. I don’t know if he was trying to make up for his blunder in the 4th quarter, but he picked up the punt and began to run up the field, and before he could take more than a few steps, the ball was stripped from his hands and the Giants recovered. If Ted Ginn is healthy, maybe this doesn’t happen, but you can play on hypotheticals.
I still believe I had the right teams, when I made my predictions,(AFC and NFC) and both teams had the ball late in the game with the chance to make a play, however inability to complete drives, lack off effectiveness from the running backs and costly errors hurt the chances of HarBowl. I’m curious to see what both the Ravens and 49ers do in the off-season to improve their respective teams for next season. I give a lot of credit to the Giants and Patriots. These teams made the plays when it mattered most and showed why they both have super bowl titles in recent seasons.