Superbowl Prediction

Just for the record, I picked the Ravens to win PRIOR to picking them to lose in the playoffs (see third paragraph below), I'm just saying.

With that in mind I'm picking the Ravens to win the Superbowl for several reasons:

• The most glaring reason is that these guys are going to play their hearts out in an effort to get Ray Lewis a ring on his last "ride".
• The Ravens are a veteran team with a lot of resolve playing a younger team that clearly has about 3-5 years (if everyone stays healthy and doesn't get traded or leave) where they will be vying for NFC and NFL supremacy. I don't think you can discount just how much veterans that produce on-field matter to a team. The Ravens have Lewis, Suggs, Ngata, Pollard, Flacco, Rice, Boldin, McKinnie (yep), and Oher that are all veterans that are proven and will be focused on getting that championship. Not that the young guys on the Niners side won't be focused and ready to play, but it's different when you've come close several times but not gotten the deal done (just ask LeBron before last year).
• The Ravens defense has a solid blueprint on how to stop a QB like Kaepernick AND, if he stays in the pocket, the Ravens have also proven they can stop a QB like sayyyy, Tom Brady. And I doubt that Frank Gore and LaMichael James are going to beat the Ravens by themselves.
• My Washington Redskins beat last year's Superbowl Champions and the last time San Francisco and the Redskins played, San Francisco won.

So there you have it. I expect Baltimore to be purple all weekend and probably for an entire year until the get eliminated from playoff contention or lose in the playoffs next season.

Revisiting my NFL Season Prediction post

First and formost, the Redskins won this week and I am shocked in the best way possible. RGIII played great and the defense played well, but not necessarily great. I'd say that the defense got lucky more so than played great since Drew Brees was clearly off on Sunday. RGII beat my prediction of him throwing for 200 yards with a TD and an INT by a landslide. His line ended up going for 320 yards with 2 TDs and NO INTERCEPTIONS! That's stellar for a rookie debut. Congrats to him because the hard work paid off!

Now that I'm past my own team's play this weekend, the only other team I would like to talk about also happens to be in my "just formed after week 1" NFL season prediction. If you recall, my original post on how the season will end was basically full of nothing. But now that I have gotten a chance to watch a week's worth of games I think I'm ready to go out on a limb (it's still early in the season) and make a prediction for the Superbowl. Like to hear it? Here it goes...

The San Francisco 49ers will represent the NFC in the Superbowl. Point blank period, defense wins championships, just ask the Patriots. The 49ers went into Green Bay and basically shut Aaron Rodgers down completely. That's all I needed to see. And as crazy as it may sound, I think Alex Smith is the key to their season even more so than the defense. If Smith goes down who is his backup? That's all I have to say about that. But back to my main point, this team is stellar defensively. No one can run the ball on them, their LBs are stout, they pressure the QB with 3 or 4 man fronts, and their secondary is full of hitters and ballhogs. That's a recipe for forcing teams to pass, putting pressure on QBs, and forcing turnovers through the air, or just forcing teams into plain-ole 3-and-outs. If they stay healthy on defense and Alex Smith stays healthy, I've got them in the Superbowl this year.

In the other conference, I'm finding it a bit tougher. My gut is telling me that this is the year that Houston will make it to the big show but I can't rule out the Ravens. They're going to be hungry this year because of what happened to them in the playoffs last year. Not to mention, what better way to send Ed Reed and Ray Lewis into retirement than with a Superbowl win where they go out on top, their QB finally breaks-through (though I'd argue he did that in last year's playoffs), and every in Baltimore's favorite running back (Ray Rice) gets a chip? So I'm gonna roll with either the Ravens or the Houston Texans in the Superbowl against the 49ers.

Who will win you ask? Well, if the 49ers play the Ravens, I think the Ravens will win. The Ravens defense is just as gritty as the 49ers defense and I think the Ravens have an edge offensively over the 49ers, especially at the QB position. But if the 49ers play the Texans, I think the 49ers will win. I'm going to hate to see my favorite RB in the league (Arian Foster) lose in the Superbowl if it happens, but I think the 49ers would impose their will on the Texans more so than they could against a seasoned veteran team with playoff experience like the Ravens.