5 Other Things the Ravens and 49ers Have in Common

I started crafting this post in anticipation that we would be all kinds of inundated with Harbaugh brothers chatter for the two weeks leading up to Super Bowl XLVII, but it's been a bit quiet so far.  Maybe everyone else had the same idea and backlashed against the backlash, or maybe I'm just speaking too soon.  Either way, I'll go ahead and admit that I'm having trouble settling on a game pick yet for this one.  A big reason is that there are quite a few strengths and performance traits these two teams have in common beyond their coaching DNA.  If you're in need of stocking up on Super Bowl party conversation ammo, here are 5 Other Things the Ravens and 49ers Have in Common to look for next Sunday:

Legendary Veterans - 17-year veteran LB Ray Lewis will continue to get the lion's share of attention as an all-time great hoping to go out on top the way of John Elway, Jerome Bettis and Michael Strahan.  But he won't be the only legend on the field on Super Bowl Sunday.  Teammate Ed Reed has been with the Ravens for 11 years, and he'll be making his first Super Bowl appearance along with the other 95% of Baltimore's roster.  Reed recently said he plans to return for the 2013 season, but who knows how tempting it could become for him to follow suit with Lewis if they go home with rings?  The 49ers also have Hall of Fame-caliber players hoping to start their Lombardi collection this year.  WR Randy Moss has been in the league for 15 years, coming close to Super Bowl glory multiple times.  During Moss's rookie season with the Vikings, they went 15 - 1 and were heavy Super Bowl favorites before being upset by the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship.  Moss was also with the Patriots during their 16 - 0 season, which they extended to 18 - 0 before suffering another big upset against the Giants in Super Bowl XLII.  Hmmm, come to think of it, I hope Jim Harbaugh's not a superstitious man there.  The 49ers also have 11-year and 16-year veteran All Pros DT Justin Smith and K David Akers in their arsenal.  Smith is way more likely to stick around after this year than Akers, but the confetti will be extra sweet for one of these sets of vets who've seen it all and, for the most part, have only dreamed of winning on this stage before.

Bold Personnel Decisions - Both Jim and John Harbaugh took bold mid-season risks with their personnel this year that have paid dividends in the postseason.  Jim Harbaugh famously benched veteran QB Alex Smith for good after he suffered a concussion in Week 10 despite the fact that Smith was having his best season and leading the league with a very efficient 104 passer rating.  Few could have guessed that second-year backup Colin Kaepernick would somehow be able to top that right out of the gate and through the postseason.  Kaepernick's sheer athletic ability and versatility have allowed him to take big risks with big rewards that Smith never could, and now the 49ers have stomped their way to their first Super Bowl appearance in nearly two decades.  An equally bold but less talked about move was for the Ravens to fire OC Cam Cameron in Week 14 after Baltimore scored 28 points but blew an 8-point lead in the waning minutes against the Redskins.  Even though Cameron's offense had been uneven, it seemed like an odd time to many fans to destabilize the coaching staff with the Ravens still on their way to the postseason.  Save a rough debut against a hot Broncos team, new OC Jim Caldwell has made the Ravens' offense come alive with a much stronger line and play calling that suits Joe Flacco's deep ball skills.  Since the switch, Baltimore's offense has emphatically outplayed that of Eli Manning, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.  Good stuff.

Killer Red Zone Defense - Even in this passer-dominant era, defense still apparently wins championships.  The Harbaughs' teams most recently put up a combined score of 35 - 0 in their respective second halves on Championship Sunday, meaning they shut out two of the most explosive offenses in the NFL (Falcons, Patriots) during that time.  Baltimore's red zone defense has been the league's second best in 2012 with opponents scoring TDs on only 43% of their red zone trips.  San Francisco was somewhat uneven during the regular season, especially with Justin Smith on the bench, but the Niners have really stepped it up this postseason with a conversion rate of just 38%.  If it comes to this in the Super Bowl, expect the Ravens to have an edge with reliable rookie kicker Justin Tucker over the 49ers' David Akers, who is having the most inconsistent year in the league and in his career.

Resilient QBs - You gotta love the way these two quarterbacks have flown onto the radar in January for a variety of reasons.  Colin Kaepernick seized his moment as a backup this season in ways few could have expected, especially coming from the shadows of the efficient and more experienced first rounder Alex Smith. Kaepernick had some early missteps with the Rams and Seahawks and some great moments against the Patriots, Bears and Saints, but he's become quickly battle-tested in the postseason too.  Despite starting the playoffs with a pick six, he shredded a very experienced Packers defense in the divisional round and then led his team to victory after an 0 - 17 start in Atlanta.  That is some serious resolve for a young'un or a veteran.  Joe Flacco has had a different but even more impressive journey to New Orleans.  After pulling an Eli and insisting he was elite in the preseason, Flacco looked equal parts brilliant and powerless in 2012.  His lowest lows have had to be between notching a 0.3 QB rating against the Texans and going on a 1 - 4 slide to end the regular season.  Be honest, if I had blogged from a February 2013 time machine to tell you Flacco bested Brady and Manning with a ridiculous 115 passer rating in the postseason, you'd probably want to lock me up in a padded room for a while (I know, the time machine premise certainly doesn't help there either...).  But here comes Joe Flacco on an improbable ride to the big dance with only his own and Jim Caldwell's confidence setting him in motion.  Let's hope he can get at least as many rings as Trent Dilfer.

Coaching Adjustment Bureaus - Now for the great equalizer that I think will make this Super Bowl very difficult to predict.  Above all else, these two teams have been able to adjust the game plan in big ways this year to get where they are now; this is also evidenced by that 35 - 0 second half run a week ago.  I've already touched upon many elements of the Ravens' game that have made them so successful in the postseason.  They've reconfigured their offensive line with huge success thereby enabling Joe Flacco to attack the opposition's secondary instead of operating primarily from Ray Rice in the backfield.  On defense, Baltimore has also been very resilient in response to the many injuries they've had this season from Terrell Suggs to Ray Lewis to Haloti Ngata to Ladarius Webb.  The next men up--Paul Kruger, Cary Williams and Corey Graham among others--have made names for themselves not just managing games in the regular season but forcing a lot of frustrating mistakes from aforementioned Mannings and Brady later in the year.  The 49ers have also found ways to make a variety of game plans work this year.  They've had success with the traditional passing game from Alex Smith and complementary ground-and-pound that we grew accustomed to in 2011.  They've had success with Colin Kaepernick's play action, read option and scrambling styles of offense.  And just when everyone thought they'd do the same last week against the Falcons, OC Greg Roman switched it up again with a pocket passing package for the middle of the field that obviously caught Atlanta off guard.  These are two teams that have thrived in January because they've won many a chess match deploying new strategies that have elevated their changing rosters.  Now the question becomes, which Harbaugh will out-Harbaugh the other Harbaugh on Sunday?