Super Bowl XLVII Free Football Pick

This is the Super Bowl and anything could happen. Let’s clear that up. You know Ray will get his defense playing out of their mind in his last game, as if any guy on either of these teams needs any extra motivation – going to battle with the leader of your team of the last 15 years is probably one heck of a kick in the pants.

But all things being considered, I don’t see how you can’t take the 49ers in this one. I understand the Ravens have the feel good story, and their defense has been playing very well lately, shutting down Tom Brady in the 2nd half of the AFC Championship, and just stopping the run better, not giving up as many big plays, generally good stuff. But if you watch that Patriots game, you’ll see about half a dozen instances where all Tom had to do was be able to run a 5 second 40 and he would have picked up big plays. There was one instance where all he had to do was outrun Mr. Ngata for 5 yards to pick up a huge first down and he just didn’t have it in him. The Ravens will not be able to do what they usually do defensively, otherwise they’ll get gashed by the run.

I don’t expect that to happen. Kap probably won’t run wild because Baltimore will set their defense up to be wary of his legs. But with that comes holes in the secondary and big plays down the field, something that will almost surely happen.

Defensively, I think the 49ers are the better team. They also have a better rushing attack. I think they win this game by double digits.

Baltimore Ravens @ San Francisco 49ers (-3.5)