All Four Super Bowl Previews VII

Seven years and counting! I look forward to this week every year! I enjoy the anticipation of what should be the best two NFL games of the season and I get to sit down and write my favorite post of the year! (In case you are new to JMO, this post is where I break down all four possible Super Bowls, discuss who will win, which one I'd like to see, which one the league and the networks are pulling for, and who the losers are for each game.)

If you'd like to see how I've done in the past, you can read my previous versions here (I'll list them with the year the Super Bowl happened along with the actual teams that faced off):

2007, Colts over Bears;
Game Predicted: Saints over Colts.
Predicted Winner of the Eventual Super Bowl: Colts;

2008, Giants over Patriots;
Game Predicted: Accurately predicted the Giants vs the Patriots.
Predicted Winner of the Eventual Super Bowl: Patriots;

2009, Steelers over Cardinals;
Game Predicted: Steelers over Eagles.
Predicted Winner of the Eventual Super Bowl: Steelers;

2010, Saints over Colts;
Game Predicted: Purposeful lack of prediction.
Predicted Winner of the Eventual Super Bowl: Colts;

2011, Packers over Steelers;
Game Predicted: Packers and Steelers
Predicted Winner of the Eventual Super Bowl: Steelers;

2012, Giants over Patriots;
Game Predicted: Giants over Ravens.
Predicted Winner of the Eventual Super Bowl: Patriots

So far I'm 10 for 18 (if I get 1 point for each team in the game and 1 point for the winner of the teams that actually played each other). I had a 100% for 2011 and a premonition pick of 2010's game way back in 2007 (With the Saints winning too!). To maintain my 55% I'll need to get at least 2 correct this year.

Alright, enough about previous years! On to this year's potential Super Bowls from least compelling to most:

Patriots vs Falcons
Let's be honest, nobody really wants to see this match-up. The Falcons are stuck with the perception that they didn't play anyone decent to get to the playoffs this year, and people not from New England are so sick of the success of the Patriots that they'd rather see the Ravens in the Super Bowl than Belichick and company! Not even the fans of the teams want to see this game! The Falcons would rather face Flacco as their defense isn't exactly tailor-made to stop Brady's fast-paced offense. On the other side of the coin, Patriot fans see this game as "too easy" which means it would be really bad if they lost! Matt Ryan has flown under the radar too much for this to be a story about the reigning king of the NFL vs a usurper to his crown. There's just so little for the average fan to get excited about.
Winner: Patriots
Losers: Companies who spend $1 Billion for a 15 second advertisement. Nobody's watching!

Ravens vs Falcons
The Battle of the Birds! Fight of the Fowl! The best thing this game as going for it is the retiree story-line. Both teams have an icon of the game who will be calling it quits after this year: The Falcons have TE Tony Gonzalez who, despite his record breaking career, won his first playoff game last week. The Ravens have LB Ray Lewis who has one ring already (over the Giants in 2000) but would like to end his career winning the big game! That and the pairing of Flacco vs Ryan has some appeal as well: both are considered second tier Quarterbacks. Both are struggling to solidify their name in the annals of NFL lore. This match-up would ensure a victory for one of them.
Winner: Ravens
Loser: The Fantasy Owners who pick the winning QB in next year's league because he won the Super Bowl.

Patriots vs 49ers
Now this would be a good game! With Kaepernick's read option, Gore's running game, and the threat of Crabtree and Davis it would be amazing to watch Belichick's defensive brilliance attempt to slow them down. And that's just half of the game! The other half is watching Brady, Welker, Hernandez, Vereen, Ridley, Lloyd, and Woodhead attempt to surgically dismantle the 49er's D. Other underlying stories: Gronk out. Harbaugh's decision to bench starter Alex Smith in favor of Kaepernick. This is the game I want to see, and this is the game I'm predicting. Now if Hollywood were writing this, Kaepernick would get hurt in the 1st Quarter and Smith would come off the bench and lead his team to victory. In past Super Bowls the Patriots have done well against the animals (Defeating the Rams, Panthers, and Eagles [hence my prediction of a Patriot win over the Falcons]) but have fared poorly against the human(oid) teams (the Giants). This pattern will unfortunately continue.
Winner: 49ers
Loser: Doesn't matter who wins, the loser is Joe Montana

Ravens vs 49ers
And now we've come to the game that everybody wants to see! Ray Lewis with a chance to close out his career with a ring, Kaepernick's unique offense versus the Ravens stingy defense, top all of that off with the fact that the head coaches for these teams are brothers and you've got yourself one exciting football game! In the end, though, I believe the 49ers have more weapons on both sides of the ball. Besides, it's more important to the younger brother that he defeat the older brother (trust me on this one, I know!).
Winner: 49ers
Loser: Mr and Mrs. Harbaugh

There you have it. My predictions for this year's "Big Dance." One major reason I don't think the Ravens will make it is that you get one miracle win per year and they wasted theirs in Denver. Many pundits bringing up two previous Patriot/Raven games. They are saying that the Ravens should have beaten the Patriots in the AFC Championship game last year (despite an expertly defended TD pass that many incorrectly refer to as "dropped" and a missed FG that would have merely tied the game, not won it.) and they are bringing up the Ravens victory over the Patriots earlier this year under the replacement refs! I believe the Patriots will overcome Fluke-o and the Raven to go to their 6th Super Bowl in the Brady era.

One final note: if the 49ers defeat the Falcons, the Patriots will have had three rematches from this season in their quest for a fourth Championship (and it didn't matter who won the the game between the Ravens and Broncos because the Patriots played them both!)

Those are my thoughts, what are yours?