I fully expect the Ravens will win. The 49ers defense is over hyped and over rated. I am fully aware of what they did during most of the regular season, but with the exception of the Arizona game, they have given up significant amounts of points over the last 5 weeks. The Justin Smith injury has been a key one, but in addition, their corners and safeties are weak. And when they blow a coverage, they really blow it. The Atlanta receivers weren't just a little "open" on pass plays...they were WIDE OPEN with nary a defensive player within 5 yards of them. I blame the Falcons for imploding in the 2nd half rather than a stingy 49er defense. Even if I give the Niner defense credit by confusing Ryan into throwing an interception, that defense did nothing to cause the fumble on the other drive. And the Falcons were again on the verge of scoring at the end of the game, so in no way can anyone say that the Niners defense shut them down in the 2nd half. The Niners defense put little pressure on Ryan with only one sack, and they only sacked Rogers one time the week before. In addition, the "read option" should meet its match this game. Most people don't realize that when you run an offense like that, your QB essentially becomes a running back. Whether or not Kapernick hands off the ball, he's going to get hit on most plays. If the Ravens are hitting like they were in the New England game, I suspect Kap may be begging Jim Harbaugh to just hand the ball off or have him drop back to throw by the middle of the 3rd quarter due to the pounding he's gonna take (heck...maybe we'll even see Alex Smith, lol). I think the Ravens defense is gelling at the right moment and have quite a bit of momentum on their side. Even looking back at their very fortunate win in the Broncos game, it was the Ravens special teams that imploded. Take away those two scores and you get a defense that did a good job of shutting down Peyton Manning. As for the New England game, I suspect the Patriots needed an extra week or two to recover from the hits they sustained in that game. A friend of mine commented on how amazing it was that the hit on Ridley changed the total complexion of that game (admittedly I scratched my head when he said that and wondered if he even watched the rest of the game...I found out after that he only saw the 4th quarter). I suspect the only thing that changed was whether the Raven won by 8 or by 15 (in no way am I convinced that Brady could have driven them down the field to score...otherwise he would have done it on one of his previous drives). People get way too caught up in offense. I'll take a better defense any day. And in this scenario, you have a defense that is gelling and has gotten healthy in the Ravens, and a defense that has been declining in the 49ers. I'm not predicting a blow out here but I do think the Ravens will win.
