Superbowl 2013: Ravens vs. 49ers

On Sunday 3rd of February, the Baltimore Ravens swiped a triumphant victory against the San Francisco 19ers in this year’s Superbowl. They won 34-31 having gone through an intense and constantly changing game. This was the Ravens’ first Superbowl victory since 2000 and was the best way for star linebacker Ray Lewis to end his seventeen yearlong national football career.

This year showed the Ravens’ most successful and intense games throughout the season. Despite supporting many rookies through their careers, they still managed to beat last year’s Superbowl champions, The New York Giants, with 33-14. This is just one example out of many which shows how unbelievably the Ravens have pulled through this year to claim the Superbowl title.

Even off the pitch there was plenty to look forward to with the children of Sandy Hook Elementary performing “America The Beautiful” before the game. This brought a tear to many people’s eyes as the young children wore the green ribbon to remember their schoolmates at the national event. There was also the half time show performed by Beyoncé, which included the reunion of Destiny’s Child for several numbers.

To make the game even more intense, for the first time in Superbowl history, the head coaches for both teams are brothers; John Harbaugh (Baltimore Ravens) and Jim Harbaugh (San Francisco 49ers). They claimed to have always been very competitive even when they were young. John claimed that they are even competitive over who is the most competitive!

In the first two quarters, the Ravens stormed the pitch and were winning 21-6, thanks to the well thought through tactics from head coach John Harbaugh as he played to all of his team’s advantages and attacked the weaker parts of the 49ers defence.

Ravens’ quarterback Joe Flacco was making some of the best decision in his professional career and is now considered to have outdone Peyton Manning, who is one of the top three elite quarterbacks in the NFL. Flacco has nine postseason wins and a Superbowl title at the age of twenty eight. He has been named the game’s most valuable player.

After the half time show, just as the third quarter was about to commence, the lights on the pitch went out and all audio commentary was lost due to a technical glitch which meant that the game was set back thirty five minutes leaving the football players to run around the pitch and pass the ball in order to stay warmed up for the game. Many of the players, and especially the head coaches, seemed frustrated at the lack of contact.

However as soon as the lights were back, the game started for what was the most tense and anticipated game of the year. By the time the two minute warning came up, the Ravens were just ahead with 34-31 as they got to 4th and Goal for the 49ers. A pass was thrown to the 49ers side receiver Crabtree, who was unable to catch the ball because of the Ravens’ defence- cornerback Jimmy Smith and free safety Ed Reed. This left the Ravens with 1:46 left.

With twelve seconds left the Ravens played a safety leaving the 49ers with four seconds left at the end of the game. Having passed back to the Ravens’ punter Koch, he managed to wait in the corner for eight seconds before running out of the end zone when the defence were unable to hold the 49ers attackers back any longer.
The last two minutes were by far the most intense any Superbowl has ever seen as the match could easily be tipped leaving the 49ers with a victory. However, thanks to the safety played, the Ravens finally reclaimed their title as Superbowl champions.
This was their most intense game yet, but the Ravens managed to claim a victory again.