Joe Flacco spent much of the week leading up to Super Bowl XLVII answering questions about his even-keel personality.
The Baltimore quarterback may slide into the background on a team with such outspoken personalities as linebackers Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs, but Flacco’s play spoke volumes Sunday.
Flacco passed for 287 yards and three touchdowns on 22-for-33 accuracy and was named Most Valuable Player of the 34-31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers at the Superdome.
Flacco ended this postseason run as the only quarterback to pass for 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns in the postseason without an interception. He also shares an NFL record with San Francisco’s Joe Montana (1989) and St. Louis’ Kurt Warner (2008) with 11 touchdown passes in a single postseason.
“I don’t think it’s going to settle in for a while,” Flacco said. “We don’t make anything easy. It was a hard-fought game on both sides. I think we gave the country a pretty good game to watch. Not to our liking, necessarily, but that’s the way it goes sometimes and that’s the way we do things.”
Now, Flacco figures to cash in as an unrestricted free agent after another money performance.
“That’s the last thing I’m concerned about,” Flacco said of the contract. “But (general manager Ozzie Newsome) did let me know that if that day came, I could go beat on his desk and really put it to him.
“So that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
DAUGHTER: ALI IS OK
The daughter of boxing legend Muhammad Ali knocked out internet reports of her father being near death, saying he was at home in Arizona watching the Super Bowl.
The Ali family posted a picture on Twitter of the ex-heavyweight champ wearing a Ravens T-shirt, fists raised in a traditional boxing pose.
“He’s fine, in fact he was talking well this morning,” May May Ali said. “These rumors pop up every once in a while but there’s nothing to them.”
A British tabloid quoted Ali’s brother, Rahman, as saying the former heavyweight champion was near death.
Ali, 71, suffers from Parkinson’s disease.
CALM BY THE BAY
Fans in San Francisco seemed to be relatively calm in Super Bowl defeat.
Not like when the Giants won the World Series in late October. Back then, the city was set on fire, cars were overturned and bonfires lit up trash containers and streets. About three dozen people were arrested.
But despite a large number of people on sidewalks, most appeared to be well-behaved in the Mission District. Police declined to say how many arrests had been made.
“City-wide, everything seemed to be pretty good,” officer Carlos Manfredi said.
COLD BOWL
If Super Bowl XLVII were played at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium – site of next big game on Feb. 2, 2014 – it would have been the coldest outdoor Super Bowl.
Mid-day temperatures were in the upper 20s and, according to weather.com, was 28 degrees after the game.
The coldest temperature for a Super Bowl was 39 degrees for Super Bowl VI in 1972 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans when Dallas beat Miami, 24-3.
Super Bowl XVI in 1982 at Detroit’s Silverdome was played indoors during an ice storm, with the high temperature that day 16 degrees with a low of 5.
EXTRA POINTS
During a second-quarter fracas, Baltimore cornerback Cary Williams pushed head linesman Steve Selljes, sending the official stumbling backward. By rule, a player who makes aggressive contact with an official must be ejected. But Williams remained in the game. … After being an 81/2-point favorite over Indianapolis in their first playoff game, the Ravens were underdogs in their final three games, at Denver (9), at New England (71/2) and in the Super Bowl (31/2).
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.