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The Captain's Memorable Moment: IN THE ZONE- One Year in the Books
August 28, 2012, IN THE ZONE started on its journey to provide a unique look into sports, from a few ordinary folks. Here we are, a year later and we have continued to build a product we hope to sustain for years to come.
As sports fans, we have seen a range of different events, stories, tragedies and triumphs that have occurred in the last 12 months. Allow me to share my most memorable moment over the last year with all of you.
The QB with the Long Name, Comes Up Just Short
-Photo Courtesy of FoxNews.com-
The team of the decade of the 1980′s, the San Francisco 49ers, have not won the Vince Lombardi trophy since the 1994 season. This was also the last time the Niners made it to the big game. In January 2012, first year coach Jim Harbaugh, led the team back to the NFC title game, but the second seed 49ers were unable to defend their home turf and get back to the Super Bowl, losing to the New York Giants in overtime.
The 2012 season came along and the 49ers were rolling, QB Alex Smith led the league in passer rating, had the team out to a 6-2 start and atop the NFC West and the team was playing against the division rival St. Louis Rams in Week 10. In the first quarter, then Rams linebacker Jo-Lunn Dunbar smacked Smith in the head and forced the former number one overall draft pick out of the game with a concussion. What happened next, changed the course of the 49ers franchise in ways unimaginable.
Second year quarterback, Colin Kaepernick from the University of Nevada, was inserted into the lineup and made an immediate impact. He was instrumental in leading the Niners from an early 14-0 deficit and the game ended in a 24-24 tie. With Smith out of the next game, Kaepernick showed the nation, why Harbaugh was so high on him, when San Fran selected “Kaep” out of Nevada in the second round of the 2011 draft. The 49ers walloped the Bears, 32-7, on Monday Night Football and a star was born, behind Kaepernick’s 243 yards and two TDs. The 49ers were 5-2 in Kaepernick’s seven regular season starts, including wins in New Orleans and at the Tom Brady-led Patriots.
The NFC West champions faced the Packers in the Divisional Round of the playoffs and the postseason debut jitters were nonexistent. Kaepernick accounted for four TDs (two passing and two rushing) and 444 yards, including an NFL record of 181 rushing yards by a QB in a playoff game, in a 45-31 win over the Packers and reigning MVP, Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers, from nearby Chico, California, was passed over by the Niners in the 2005 NFL Draft, when they chose Smith. He got an up close glimpse at the future of the NFC’s team by the Bay.
The next week, the Niners found themselves in a 17-0 hole, at the Georgia Dome against the Atlanta Falcons, in the NFC Championship Game. In a hurry, the Niners mounted a furious comeback which started in the second quarter and when it was all said and done, San Francisco bested the Falcons 28-24. Kaepernick’s stats (16 for 21 passing for 233 yards and a TD, only 21 rush yards) were not as gaudy as the week before against the Packers, but his calm demeanor under pressure, helped his team erase the largest deficit in the history of the NFC Championship Game. Kaepernick received much assistance from TE Vernon Davis and RB Frank Gore to bring the Niners back from being eliminated in the NFL’s “Final Four” for the second straight year. The second year signal caller now had his team four quarters away from the franchise’s sixth world championship.
New Orleans, Louisiana was the site of Super Bowl XLVII and a place where the last time the 49ers played for a ring, they thumped the John Elway led Denver Broncos, 55-10, behind Hall of Famers Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. Some of the storylines for SB XLVII were:
Brother vs. Brother- Ravens coach John Harbaugh facing his little brother, 49ers coach Jim.
Legendary Linebacker’s Last Game- Ravens LB Ray Lewis announced prior to the playoffs, the 2012 season was his last.
A Homecoming for One of the NFL’s Best- Ravens safety, Ed Reed playing for his first championship, just about 20 miles from his hometown of St. Rose, Louisiana.
One for Randy- 49ers WR Randy Moss playing in his second Super Bowl and hoping to win his first championship, coming out of retirement in 2011 to play for San Francisco.
As the game started, Baltimore took it to the 49ers right out of the gate. Baltimore scored early in the first quarter and then took advantage of two San Francisco turnovers, led at the half, 21-6, behind Ravens QB Joe Flacco’s three TD passes. Beyoncé had a rousing and electric halftime performance, while the two teams were in their respective locker rooms analyzing the first half and strategizing for the second half and the electricity did not end with Mrs. Carter’s halftime performance. Ravens WR and New Orleans native, Jacoby Jones took the second half kickoff and darted up the middle, winding and twisting and turning himself to an untouched, 108-yard kickoff return TD, the longest play in Super Bowl history. This left the 49ers down 28-6 and speaking of electricity, shortly after, the power went out in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
After a 30 plus minute delay, play resumed and Kaepernick led the 49ers on another monumental comeback, as he had done in the NFC Championship Game vs. Atlanta. Behind “Kaep’s” throwing and scrambling, the Niners closed a once 22 point deficit, to a 28-23 game after a David Akers, 34 yard field goal in the final minutes of the third quarter. Baltimore went ahead 31-23 and then the legs of Colin Kaepernick, got running. In a fashion like Jones’ kickoff return to start the third quarter, Kaepernick scrambled and magically earned a 15-yard TD run, which got the Niners to within two points at 31-29, but the tying two-point conversion attempt was thwarted by Baltimore. The Ravens tacked on three more after a Justin Tucker FG and then the final San Francisco drive commenced, with a 34-29 score.
With 4:19 left in the fourth quarter, a mixture of Kaepernick and 49ers all-time leading rusher Frank Gore, pushed and pushed Baltimore to the brink of a collapse of epic proportions. Gore ran for 41 yards and ‘Kaep’ accounted for 34 yards passing and rushing, including hitting WR Michael Crabtree for a 24 yard gain down the middle to precede Gore’s big run, to set up the Niners inside the Ravens ten yard line. After a LaMichael James two yard run to the five yard line, Kaepernick threw an incomplete pass to Crabtree on a second down play. Before the all important third down, the Niners had to burn a timeout with the play clock running down and could not afford to lose five yards. Kaepernick went back to the well again, looking for Crabtree, but was unsuccessful on third down. On fourth down, the Niners ran a play with Crabtree isolated on the right side, the ball was in the air and Crabtree moved towards the ball, but could not get to it. The 49ers fans were irate, expecting a flag to drop for a defensive penalty in the end zone, but it was not to be. The Ravens took over on downs, took an intentional safety for two points for San Francisco and the game ended on a free kick that was returned by Ted Ginn, Jr. to midfield.
The final score was Ravens 34 and 49ers 31.
As a longtime San Francisco 49ers fan, I cannot remember having a sickness in my stomach, quite like I had after watching the Super Bowl. To be so close, but come up short is a memory that will live with me forever. Even if the 49ers go on to win a Super Bowl, this one was so gut wrenching, because of how it started, continued and ultimately ended with being five yards away from winning ring number six.
My faithful 49ers have been through three different versions of “The Catch,” but I also remember the first QB controversy quite well. When the 49ers decided to part ways with Joe Montana and have Steve Young take over the reigns as the leader, I initially did not agree with it. Eventually, Young led the Niners to a championship in 1994 and ended up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Honestly, I questioned the decision to start Colin Kaepernick after Alex Smith was deemed healthy enough to resume playing. I felt Smith had revived his career and deserved to finish what he started following the 13-3, 2011 season and that thrilling win over the Saints in the Divisional Playoff round. However, as time has gone on, I have began to appreciate the skill set that Kaepernick has and the trials he has faced in his life, I appreciate that much more.
Kaepernick was adopted, after his birth mother turned him over to Rick and Teresa Kaepernick, because she was unable to provide properly for her son. Colin wanted to be a 49ers quarterback since he was youngster, writing a letter, saying he would in fact be a 49er after college. He was not highly recruited coming out of high school and wound up at the University of Nevada-Reno, where he played for legendary coach Chris Ault.
Tremendously and athletically gifted, ‘Kaep’ holds these school records:
Rushing Touchdowns (59)* Also NCAA record for QB
Passing Touchdowns (82)
Total Offense (14,210 yards)
It is hard to believe the impact he has made for the 49ers after what he was thought of coming out of college, see his draft analysis. He is often viewed as a running QB, but I sense the improvement in his game with his arm and I am ready to see how it unfolds for him the season.
I wish Alex Smith all the luck in the world in Kansas City, unless he is playing against San Francisco. It took a while for me to come around, but Jim Harbaugh did make the right choice for a quarterback. Maybe if the 49ers had run the play called on third down instead of burning the time out, the outcome of one of the best Super Bowls ever could have been different. Kaepernick seemingly had an opportunity to run for a touchdown, based on how the two teams were aligned, but we will never know. Nonetheless, Kaepernick has made a believer out of me. The run the 49ers made to the Super Bowl and coming up just short, with “Kaep” at the helm is my memory, in our first year of IN THE ZONE.
