Super Bowl XLVII preview: Defenses

            This year’s Super Bowl could be the lowest scoring Super Bowl that we have had in the last decade because the Ravens and 49ers defenses are just that good. Both teams feature various pro bowlers and future first ballot hall of famers.

            The Ravens defense ranked 12^th in scoring defense this season but that number should have an asterisk as they had various injuries to their defensive leaders: LB Ray Lewis, LB Terrell Suggs, and S Ed Reed. One place where the Ravens are good is their turnover margin where they were +9 during the regular season and had 25 takeaways during the season. Lewis has been the image of the Ravens defense since he entered the league in 1996 and when he announced that this would be his last year, I wondered how he would perform in the postseason after missing 10 games during the regular season. Lewis is playing amazingly this postseason with 44 tackles. Reed will have a tough task of trying to read 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick’s eyes but is very successful having had 61 career Ints. The Ravens struggled with stopping the run in the regular season ranking 20^th by allowing 122 rushing yards a game and it will have to start at the front line where DT Haloti Ngata and LB/DE Paul Kruger anchor this blitzing team. CB’s Cary Williams and Cory Graham have four of the five Ravens Ints this postseason and Williams will matchup with 49ers number one wide receiver Michael Crabtree and will need to shut him down if the Ravens want to win the game.

            The 49ers defense was consistently one of the best in the league in the 2012 regular season and their star power was a huge reason why. The 49ers had six defensive players chosen for the Pro Bowl… That’s right six defensive players.. That means that more than half of their defense starters were pro bowlers. The 49ers ranked 3^rd in total defense and 2^nd in scorning defense, allowing 17 points per game. They had five games during the season in which they allowed less than 10 points and five where they allowed fewer than twenty. Second year LB Aldon Smith out of Missouri was second in the NFL with sacks with 19.5 this season and LB Navorro Bowman finished second in total tackles with 149. The 49ers LB core is the best in the league with also Patrick Willis and Ahmad Brooks and they run a 3-4 scheme. DE Justin Smith had three sacks during the regular season and DE Ray McDonald had 2.5 sacks and two tackles for a loss. The front seven of the 49ers will need to control the line or Ravens RB Ray Rice will have a big game. Both safeties Donte Whitner and Dashon Goldson were pro bowlers and will have to keep an eye on WR’s Torrey Smith and Anquan Boldin and CB’s Carlos Rogers, Tarell Brown, and Chris Culliver had 35 pass deflections in the regular season.

           

images were used from espn.com and baltimore.cbslocal.com