Yay!!! :lux:

Ed Reed was offside on the 2pt conversion blitz.

Ravens got lucky last night. End of.

Congratulations mate, hope you thoroughly enjoyed it. Enjoy basking in it when you wake up (I assume that may be a while!).

Agreed, they were lucky the 49ers' secondary, namely Culliver, was awful...

Was quite a good game especially with the 49ers comeback after the power failure. The Ravens defensive stand at the end was enough to give them a deserved win. Another deserved winner was my good self in the Fantasy Playoffs this year. :lux:

This game never ceases to amaze me. Getting to bed at 4am didn't seem like such a chore. So many times I considered leaving it and going to bed but I just had a hunch that the Niners weren't done. Congrats to the Ravens, well deserved in the end.

But there is not a lot better in NFL at the moment that the sight of crazy legs Kappers on the run .... :)

He was absolutely dire. Was it him covering Jones for the long one up field that he ended up sidestepping and running in? Why didn't he just fall on him rather than totalling avoiding him on the floor? Amazed.

Not too sure I agree completely. Ravens made their own luck. Being so far ahead against the Niners is par of the course. It's holding on is the challenge and they did it. Their D stepped up with the one final opportunity for the Niners just under the two minute warning. But it was definately tense. Thoroughly enjoyable for the neutral.

What. A. Game.

Just finished watching GameDay Final so I'm completley Superbowl drained now (Also watched the majority of the 9 hour GameDay Morning build up yesterday afternoon/evening as well!).

Firstly, massive congratulations to the Baltimore Ravens. If you break the game down, they just about deserved it.

First half, they were superb in every department. They stopped us (Niners) doing anything offensively, and when Flacco had the ball, he delivered.

At half time, I really thought it was going to be a rout, as although the Falcon's game two weeks ago showed that this Niner team has showed comeback from the dead qualities, this Raven's team is a much better defensive outfit than Atlanta.

When Jacoby Jones returned the kick off for a TD, it was game over. Then the lights went out.

Suddenly, the Raven's were a bit flat and that gave us the chance to do something, which we did. The Crabtree TD followed by the Rice fumble which Gore then converted for a TD changed the whole momentum. Kaepernick was running on them and for me, there was only one winner from that point.

But, their defensive stop in the red zone was outstanding. I was surprised that Kaepernick didn't take off at least once, but we still should have made better of the four opportunities we had. I have no problem with the holding call at the end; it looked 50/50 to me, as Crabtree also used the guys helmet to push off and create seperation. If the official had called that, it would be talked about for months.

The one call they did get wrong was the attempted two point conversion when Ed Reed blatantly stepped early. He was almost breathing in Kaeps face by the time he caught the snap! Not sure how they missed that...

I'm proud of the Niners as they are a team that will be around for the next few years, and finally have a quarterback that could go on and become elite (He'll be even better next year with a whole off season and pre season as the starter). Need to give him some more weapons at Wide Receiver and I think this will be the year where we can draft high in this area, whereas in the past, its always been about building the defence up. This needs a few tweaks but not too many.

Obviously its all going to be about Ray Lewis, and I have no problem with that, but I'm happy for the likes of Anquan Boldin and Torrey Smith for different reasons. Boldin really is an outstanding WR and he deserves a ring, and after what Smith went through earlier in the year with the death of his brother, its fitting that he picks up a ring.

Sad the season is over as its been excellent. Having NFL GamePass has meant I've been able to enjoy an NFL season in the UK as much as I would if I was still in the US (In some way, even more, as the access to so many different shows/games at any given time is outstanding). Plus, for the first time since I started following the sport, my team made the Superbowl. It certainly made it more intense viewing and it was strange watching a Superbowl not as a neutral.

Already excited for 2013; bring on the combine (Where a large number of teams are going to be looking for a Kaepernick/Wilson kind of QB!).

I think the Ravens were lucky a few of those penalties weren't called toward the end of the game and also for not having Williams ejected from the game for pushing a referee. Lots of missed calls which favoured the Ravens. Could have and maybe should have been a completely different story.

That being said, the 9ers secondary was woeful and should never have allowed the Ravens to get such a lead, I guess when you look at it that way they only have themselves to blame.

Chris Culliver's performance summed up his entire week; rotten.

Just a general point - nothing personal and I'm not digging anyone out or anything, just curious:

I've watched football (college and NFL) for years, but have never really had a team.

When I was younger I thought I'd decide to support the Eagles (nickname, the fact I had a 76ers jersey, the fact they weren't particularly successful), but it didn't feel natural or organic, so I just slipped into what I do now - watch the sport as a neutral, much like I'd watch the vast majority of soccer on TV as a neutral.

Did most of you who properly support a side just pick one, for fairly arbitrary reasons? I'm guessing most don't have geographical or family reasons like in soccer.

Isn't it just a bit odd to pluck a team out like the Patriots and just say that's my team? Isn't that just as bad as Asians or North Americans supporting Manchester United (something that is regularly mocked on here and amongst English soccer fans)?

For me, its simply because I spent my first spell coaching in the States in San Francisco back in 2007. I went to a game that year and they became my team. Hence why I also support the Giants in Baseball (Although no way near as much as the Niners, as I'm not a massive baseball fan period).

In college, I went to three Stanford games that year, so they are my college team.

In fact, I've been pretty fortunate recently. The Niners, Giants and Cardinal have all had a massive up turn the last 2-3 years. Obviously the Giants in the biggest way with two World Series in three years, but that was not on the horizon in '07, when it was just all about Barry Bonds beating the record for HR's. The Harbaugh/Luck combo at Stanford saw a real upturn in the entire program, and the Niners have reaped the benefits of Harbaugh coming in and doing such a tremendous job.

Even when I moved down to LA, I refused to turn on the Giants/Cardinal in favor of the Dodgers/USC. In fact, I hate the both of them with a passion, so I consider myself Northern Cali adopted! (Although I do like the Lakers...)

Everyone has various reasons for supporting the teams they do, a lot of us are Eagles fans for the obvious reason that it's also Palace' nickname. I am also an Eagles fan because I enjoyed playing as them on Madden in 06 when McNabb was on the cover and had an obsession with Westbrook because of that game.

It wasn't till after I had picked the Eagles that I found out my cousin is an Eagles fan too (he's from the US), he went to OSU so I'm also a Buckeye's fan because of that. My second Mum or "Mom" is an Eagles fan but again, I didn't meet her till after I became an Eagle fan and have since stayed out in PA with her twice and gone to a few games with her over the last few years.

No real reason for me but I have to say it is very different to someone supporting Man Utd from abroad. Soccer is played worldwide so there is always a team closer. NFL isn't (other than London in recent years). I chose Dallas as my team the very first night live coverage came to our screens here in the UK in the early 80s while my father chose the Niners. Since that day I have followed the Dallas Cowboys which has lead me into following all the Dallas teams (Mavs, Stars, FC Dallas and Texas Rangers) ...

I like drinking Jack Daniels, which comes from Tennessee.

That's about it!

Best answer ever! :lux:

Anyone see the David Ackers segment in the build up show? I don't think I have ever held a former Eagle in such high esteem. Great guy and shame it wasn't the perfect story last night.

Everyone always mentions the Man U thing with the Patriots and, even as a Pats fan, it has fair merit, at least to an extent.

Like Man U, their success over the past 20 years is what has set them apart from many franchises. In 1992, the year I first properly picked a team to "follow", they went 2-14. Two years earlier (1990), they'd gone 1-15 and 6 out of 7 seasons after that were losing seasons.

The success has only been recent with only 8 play-off games in the 20 years prior to 1990, including one SB loss.

Anyway, the reason I picked them initially was because I enjoyed watching the games in the snow and the "England" part of the name drew me in, the irony of which was lost on me as a 14 year old but is now quite amusing :D

Since then I've seen them play three times - twice in Foxboro and once in the Meadowlands, all three matches in the same season when Brady was out injured. In other words, I've not yet seen the second best QB ever, which is a shame and something I'll have to rectify quickly. I have seen about 15 NFL games in the US, in 14 different stadiums, as well as visiting about 10 other stadiums outside of game days... but going to NE feels special and is something I miss not being able to do regularly.