Super Bowl XLVII between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers features two teams whose similarities go beyond their respective head coaches being brothers.
The biggest storyline leading up to the game is, of course, the head coach matchup of Jim Harbaugh for San Francisco and older brother John Harbaugh for Baltimore.
“Anybody who has a brother, especially one that’s close in age, gets it. You just grow up fighting for everything. You fight for the extra hotdog. You fight for girls. You fight for everything,” John Harbaugh said during Tuesday’s Media Day press conference.
“As to who won and who lost, I can’t remember,” Jim Harbaugh said about fighting as kids.
“I’ve said it many times, I think I’m half the coach that he is, but I’m trying,” Jim Harbaugh said. “I have less than half the experience he has, less than half the playoff appearances, wins, etc.”
According to the NFL, this is the first meeting between two brothers as head coaches in any NFL, NHL, NBA, or MLB playoff game.
Ravens and Ravens 2.0
Both Baltimore and San Francisco were eliminated at the conference championship stage last season—one step away from the Super Bowl. The two teams are also undefeated in Super Bowl appearances—San Francisco is an incredible 5–0 with their last victory coming in 1994, while Baltimore is 1–0 after a dominant performance in 2000.
With two highly competitive brothers at the helm, perhaps not surprisingly, the two teams have taken on a similar look. The identity of the Ravens has been known for some time now—a perennial AFC powerhouse spearheaded by a ferocious defense.
San Francisco has been just that in the NFC, albeit for only the past two seasons. It’s as if the 49ers were modeled after the Ravens.
These are two teams led by middle linebackers wearing the number 52—San Francisco’s Patrick Willis and Baltimore’s legendary Ray Lewis. Both are also first round draft picks of their respective teams.
Lewis has adopted a quasi-mentor role for Willis over the years. “I think he is one of the up-and-coming young stars who plays the game the right way. He plays the game with a certain passion, and plays with a certain discipline,” Lewis said.
‘Why don’t I get the number 52? I know a guy right now who wears that number who is one of the best,“ Willis said. ”It will be a great number to play up to.”
“This is going to be a defensive battle,” Willis added. “Our guys come out every week, week-in and week-out, and we play for each other. Baltimore has those same kind of guys with [Terrell] Suggs and Ray [Lewis], and [Dannell] Ellerbe.”
“If you look at their structure, the defense is similar to ours with that 3–4, big nose guard and great pass rushes,” Ravens running back Ray Rice said.
The offenses were above average during the regular season, but are led by red hot quarterbacks in Colin Kaepernick for the 49ers and Joe Flacco for the Ravens.
Both offenses rely heavily on their tight ends to get downfield and make big plays, in addition to having very capable wide receivers.
