Niners and Ravens choke jobs end seasons early

We could very well be gearing up to watch the San Francisco 49ers vs the Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl, but supreme special teams choke jobs doomed both team to early playoff exits.

In Baltimore, despite receiving some criticism from teammate Ed Reed, Joe Flacco played a solid game – until late in the fourth when he did his best to chokeslam the Ravens into defeat with an ill-advised interception.  However, as they’ve done many times over the years, the Ravens defense came to Flacco’s aid after safety Jimmy Smith made an amazing, diving interception after Bernard Pollard batted away a Tom Brady pass that would’ve likely resulted in a touchdown.

The play gave Flacco a chance at redemption.  Behind a relentless running attack, he led his team down the field.  Flacco dropped a perfectly placed pass into the arms of Lee Evans, in the endzone, that should’ve been a game winner.  But Evans contributed choke job #2 as he allowed the Patriots defender to strip the ball away before establishing possession.  Stunned by the misfortune, the Ravens figured they’d take the gimme kick and take their chances in overtime.  But in the third and most disheartening choke of the day, Billy Cundiff missed a simple, 32-yard field goal attempt to send his team home.

On the left coast, the Niners appeared poised to end a long Super Bowl draught with a 14-10 fourth quarter lead and a sputtering New York Giants offense.  But punt returner Kyle Williams unknowingly allowed a bouncing punt to bump into his knee and the Giants recovered in prime position and went on to score a TD.

After forcing overtime, the Niners played good defense but it was all for naught as Williams choked away another championship opportunity as he fumbled a punt and set up the Giants for a game-winning field goal, capping off an exhilerating week of championship football in the NFL.  Now instead of watching the Harbaugh brothers square off in a sibling rivalry Super Bowl, we’ll get to see a rematch pitting the underdog Giants and little brother Eli matched up against the evil empire Patriots.