Two Things About the Super Bowl

First, that was the most atrocious goal-line play calling in the history of the NFL by the 49ers.

Let's look at the four plays San Francisco ran when they needed a touchdown from the 6(ish) yard line with inside four minutes left.

1st down: Run up the gut. 2 yards. Predictable and easily stopped by Baltimore's fat old linebacking core.
2nd down: QB sprint right, hoping for some Montana to Clark magic. Effectively eliminates half the field, gives Kaepernick no chance to break for the endzone because every single player is on the right side of the field and it's just a scrum
3rd down: A pass into the flat to a double-covered Michael Crabtree, who even if he had caught it would have been tackled at the three.
4th down: A stupid fade pattern to Crabtree that was pretty much the lowest-percentage play possible under the circumstances.

At no point did the Niners try to misdirect the old, tired Ravens, as they had on Frank Gores earlier TD. At no point did they try to let Kapernick use his legs to scramble for six, the way he had earlier in the game. Just miserable horrendous game-losing coaching by the 49ers.

Secondly, watch 84 for the Ravens win the Super Bowl for them with EASILY the most blatant hold that has ever been perpetrated on an NFL field. He holds onto 24 in red like he's the mother of a four-year-old who's just spotted an ice cream truck and tries to run across 6 lanes of traffic to get there.

There's also a MAJOR hold on the far left of the screen as well, but it's not as long and egregious and play-altering as the 84-24 debacle. I will always remember this play, and when my kids ask me how the Ravens won this Super Bowl, I'll tell them (correctly) that they cheated. 

Update: My friend Albie the Racist Dragon alerted me to the fact that holding wouldn't matter in this scenario: "The only thing is, the holding penalty would not whistle the play dead, meaning that the punter could still burn the clock. The penalty for holding in the endzone? A safety. So pretty much Harbaugh ran this play telling everyone to hold because regardless of it being flagged or not, the time would run off the clock."

I stand (sit) corrected. Now when my kids ask how the Ravens won, I'll just give them this piece of advice: "Never get yourself into a situation where the other team's coach is encouraging them to cheat. It most likely means that all hope is lost."