Not So "Special Teams"

Today is going to be a tough day for the Harbaugh brothers as they both came so close to meeting each other in the Super Bowl.  Of all facets of the game, it was the least talked about that ended up doing each of the brothers in.  Baltimore kicker Billy Cundiff misses a chip shot that would have most likely put the New England/Baltimore into overtime barring a miracle in the last 11 seconds of the game and Kyle Williams fumbles twice for the 49ers against the Giants.  It makes it pretty tough to call them special teams if you are a fan of one of these teams, but despite these awful miscues, we must realize that there were other opportunities for these teams as well.  Joe Flacco, who outplayed Brady in this game still had some easy miscues that could have changed the game as he missed Vonta Leach for an almost sure touchdown on a drive in which they settled for a field goal.  On the play before the missed field goal on a third and one, he could have most likely ran for a first down, which would have maybe given them another shot or 2 at the end zone.  Let us not forget that on one of Flacco's good throws, Lee Evans had a touchdown stripped away from him by Sterling Moore, who in my opinion should be on the field a lot more as he is always making good plays in his limited opportunity on the field.

The 49ers were able to take advantage of man coverage for Vernon Davis, which is very surprising as he is their main threat, but that is the type of game that must make management rethink if Crabtree can ever be an elite receiver as he was not able to separate all day, which was a real issue for the offense.  In the end, it is fairly evident that you need to keep up with all facets of the game or what we saw yesterday could be the result.  The Patriots continue to show that they are a complete team as against a pretty good Baltimore defense with Brady not playing a good game and still come out with a win.  Congrats to the teams that made it and it should be an interesting rematch from a couple of years ago.