New Orleans, LA – Talk about an electric play.
Jacoby Jones' 108-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to open the third quarter of Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans seemingly put a punctuation mark on the Baltimore Ravens' eventual 34-31 win over San Francisco.
The return, Jones' fourth this season, gave Baltimore a comfortable 28-6 advantage and was so electrifying it sent a surge through the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, one that resulted in an 34-minute power outage early in the third quarter.
While that might be a little bit of hyperbole, Jones' big play, coupled with Beyonce's powerful halftime performance certainly distracted the mice running the wheel at the dome.
Whether it was 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh pulling the plug to stop John's momentum or the Undertaker practicing his ring entrance for Wrestlemania XXX in NOLA really doesn't matter. Heck, play the role of "progressive" and blame George W. Bush and the troubled infrastructure of downtown New Orleans.
Just know in the end, "Brownie" finally did do a good job and power was restored to everything but the Ravens.
During the outage, a somewhat chilly Dome turned into a sauna sans air conditioning and it was the 49ers who got hot as the Ravens' fans began celebrating the impending coronation a little too early.
Spurred by a terrific second half by quarterback Colin Kaepernick the 49ers were on the verge of the largest comeback in Super Bowl history, cutting the massive deficit down to just two, 31-29, after the second-year signal caller's 15-yard touchdown run with just under 10 minutes left to play.
Perhaps inspired by Ray Lewis' swan song, however, the Baltimore defense rose to the occasion, thwarting a potential game-tying two-point conversion attempt following Kaepernick's score before coming up with a pivotal late game stop.
In the end, what you watched on Sunday night was somewhat of a market correction.
Young, untested quarterbacks with nine NFL starts under their belts aren't supposed to make their 10th in the Super Bowl but Kaepernick proved to be the exception to many rules this season since taking over the Niners from Alex Smith.
The lights on the game's biggest stage ended up being a tad too bright for both the Superdome and Kaepernick, and there's no shame in that.
After all the Nevada product hardly played poorly. He made his share of good throws and finished 16-of-28 for 302 yards with a touchdown and a 91.7 passer rating, while adding another 62 yards and the score on the ground. That's 364 yards of total offense for those of you who are mathematically challenged.
That said, the "Cool Hand Luke" persona Kaepernick had seemingly mastered just wasn't there tonight. He brought the 49ers to the brink, inside the Baltimore 5-yard line with under two minutes to go but failed to cash in, honing in on Michael Crabtree, and throwing three straight in completions to his favorite target.
The last of which on fourth down sailed harmlessly over the head of Crabtree.
"Yes there's no question in my mind that there was a pass interference and then a hold on Crabtree on the last one," Jim Harbaugh lamented. "I think (Kaepernick) was making good throws the entire game. There was one that got a little high but again, in my opinion, that series should have continued."
It didn't of course.
But there are some stocks you stick with even after a down tick and Kaepernick happens to be the NFL's version of Apple -- don't sell, he'll be back.
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