Still 8 days away from the Super Bowl, Baltimore has a sense of eagerness, ready to take on Jim Harbaugh and the San Francisco 49ers.
After cruising through his first two playoff games, Colin Kaepernick is looking to join the small group of QB’s who have won a Super Bowl in their first year as a starter. The 6’4” signal caler out of Nevada has had a storybook year since taking over in Week 9. Kaepernick, the latest rushing quarterback to take the NFL by storm, has gotten attention from the Ravens as they will look to stop him in his tracks.
In last week’s squeaker in Atlanta, the Falcons might have helped the Ravens conduct a game plan for the Big Game. Kaepernick had success through the air, completing 76% of his passes, but Atlanta exposed how to stop a key element of his game.
Holding Kaepernick to just two rushes the entire game, the Falcons and Defensive Coordinator Mike Nolan used a strategy that forced Kaepernick to beat them through the air. This caught the attention of Coach John Harbaugh as he emphasized in his mid-week press conference.
“We’re not going to be able to run past him,” said Harbs. “He’s fully capable of putting 200 yards on you, just as capable as Frank Gore is or any of their running backs. He’s not just an integral part of their passing game, he’s a huge part of their run game. We’ll have a plan for it. Assignment football is going to be really important for us. Change-ups are going to be important for us. We just have to play well against him.”
The fact that our offense has been exploding as of late really swings things in the Ravens’ favor. If Dean Pees and the defense can keep Kaepernick throwing, there is no way the 49ers outscore our hot offense.
