The times they are a-changin’
Quarterbacks Flacco, Kaepernick bring some new blood to Super Bowl
heard his name until the week before the 49ers’ game Nov. 19 against the Bears on ‘‘Monday Night Football.’’ It was his first game as a starter, and he chopped the Bears to bits.
Back then, the Bears were leading the league in takeaways with a ferocious defense that was tough for even veteran quarterbacks to face. But Kaepernick completed 16 of 23 passes for 243 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions and finished with a 133.1 passer rating in a 32-7 rout. He only rushed four times for 10 yards that night, but he made some throws on the run that only a superb athlete could make.
Imagine that there was a question about whether Kaepernick even would start again, considering injured 49ers quarterback Alex Smith was ready to return from the concussion that had dropped him from the lineup in the first place. Credit 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh with seeing the potential in Kaepernick and having the guts to bench Smith, who had been playing well.
So here they are, the new guys under the microscope.
Let’s start with their similarities. They’re both big — Kaepernick is 6-4, 230 pounds and Flacco is 6-6, 245 pounds — and both have cannon arms. Flacco often is said to have the strongest arm in the league, but Kaepernick was a pitcher with a 94 mph fastball back in high school.
Both men are reticent, even reluctant, to spew much more than the usual clichés that fill sports reporters’ notebooks. Flacco has said he doesn’t watch TV highlights or read sports pages and has told his parents not to pay any attention to that stuff, either. Kaepernick has more messages on his tattooed arms — most of them from the Bible — than he does in his interview sessions.
If Brady and, say, Drew Brees had made this Super Bowl, their mouths never would stop moving, graciously giving the gluttonous media world as much as it could handle. With these two guys, though, we might need puppet shows and free beer to fill the silent spaces. But that’s OK. Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis and 49ers running back Frank Gore will help us through the verbal crisis.
Another similarity: These new guys are winners. And isn’t that the point? Differences? Plenty. Kaepernick has what they now call ‘‘foot speed’’ — something Flacco lacks — and is a crazy threat off the read option, which used to be limited to high school and college because it often puts the quarterback in jeopardy. Kaepernick, though, doesn’t care. In a playoff game against the Green Bay Packers, Kaepernick ran for an astounding 181 yards, an NFL record for a quarterback.
He didn’t need to run a lot against the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship Game, but his fakes and the fear of his running did the trick. The matchup should be nice, folks. By the way, did you know the Patriots were 67-0 when leading at halftime at home with Brady at quarterback? That is, until Flacco beat them Sunday with three touchdown passes and a nearflawless game.
It happens. Change is good.