Am I the only one who thinks some of the analysts' reasons for picking the Ravens are just stupid? It makes it seem like they just don't want to pick the 49ers, so they go with dumb things like this:
Mike Golic, co-host of ESPN Radio's Mike & Mike in the Morning: 27-24. "San Francisco may be the better team but I picked the Ravens at the start of the year and I still think they have the team to do it."
In other words, Golic's reasoning is he picked the Ravens at the start of the year so SF being the better team doesn't matter.
Mike Greenberg, co-host of ESPN Radio's Mike & Mike in the Morning: 22-16. "Kaepernick will have his time. This one goes to Flacco -- his is a team of destiny."
Is that even a valid reason? What the hell does that even mean? Seriously. Come on.
Jon Gruden, "Monday Night Football" analyst and Super Bowl champion coach: 23-20. "If this really is Ray Lewis' last game, how can I pick it any other way?"
Great analysis, Jon. Since it's Ray Lewis' last game, the Ravens automatically win. Makes sense. Just like how the Falcons won in Tony Gonzalez' last game, right?
Mike Hill, co-host of ESPN Radio's Hill and Schlereth: 27-23. "The passion of Ray Lewis; his teammates want him to end his career on top."
So Ray Lewis' teammates wanting him to win is all that matters? I guess none of the 49ers want to win.
Suzy Kolber, NFL32 host: 27-24. "Lightning in a bottle season."
Great explanation, Suzy. I now see why you're employed.
Steve Levy, SportsCenter anchor: 27-24. "I think the Ray Lewis' 'distraction' this week helps keep Baltimore focused and it's time John Harbaugh outshines his brother Jim."
OK, so a distraction is going to help the Ravens. That's funny, because usually people think distractions like that will HURT the team. Go figure. Oh, and since it's time John outshines Jim, I guess you can't argue with that, huh?
Stuart Scott, anchor, "SportsCenter," and co-host, "Monday Night Countdown": 29-24. "Colin Kaepernick will have a great game but he hasn't seen a defense like this in the playoffs."
This one just straight up contradicts itself. If he's gonna have a great game, then why would it matter if he's seen a defense like that in the playoffs? You'd figure that not having seen a defense like theirs would hinder his performance, but no, he's gonna have a great game, yet somehow the defense matters even though the guy pretty much said it wouldn't matter by predicting the great game. Good job, buddy.
None of these reasons are valid, in my opinion. None of them are claiming the Ravens are the better team or have the better matchups, they're just pulling nonsense from their rear ends in order to justify picking Baltimore. Meanwhile, the people picking the 49ers are using reasons such as our guys in the trenches being better, the Niners being the more talented team, having the better scheme offensively due to the fact nobody really knows how to defend the pistol yet, etc.
Your thoughts? Do you guys feel like some of these people picking the Ravens to win are truly just hating on the 49ers? Or is it because some of them have to side with the other team to make people believe it can go either way and still want to watch it? I usually don't pay any mind to the predictions because a lot of these guys pick against the Niners no matter what, but I was reading this article and just thinking to myself "what the hell are these fools talking about?"
