The Baltimore Ravens turned a halftime deficit around quickly thanks to a big second half from Joe Flacco, Anquan Boldin and the defense en route to a 28-13 victory to win the AFC championship and advance to the Super Bowl.
It will be the first time many of the team's players have been to the Super Bowl. Ray Lewis is the only remaining Ravens to have played in the only other Super Bowl in franchise history.
The victory sets up a showdown between John Harbaugh and his brother, Jim, the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, which defeated the Atlanta Falcons to win the NFC championship.
The Ravens trailed 13-7 at halftime but quickly turned things around in the third quarter. After playing things fairly conservative in the first half, the Ravens opened up the playbook and let Flacco start spreading the ball around to his receivers.
Instead of sticking with the running game on first down, Flacco continued to pass out of the shotgun formation and find his receivers down the field.
Flacco finished with 240 yards and three touchdowns to once again outplay counterpart Tom Brady. Anquan Boldin had five catches for 60 yards and two touchdowns.
The defense deserves a ton of credit for pitching a shutout of the best offense in the NFL in the second half. Dannell Ellerbe and Cary Williams recorded interceptions and Arthur Jones recovered a fumble forced on a big hit by Bernard Pollard.
The game ended with Ravens fans filling up a significant portion of the lower bowl at Gillette Stadium and players and coaches circling the field to slap hands to demonstrate their appreciation of the support.
The Ravens now get two weeks to rest and prepare for the 49ers, who will certainly present a big challenge with their balanced attack on both sides of the ball.
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