NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Playing nearly perfectly in his Super Bowl debut, Joe Flacco threw two early touchdown passes to help the Baltimore Ravens take a 14-3 lead over the mistake-prone San Francisco 49ers in the second quarter Sunday.
The 49ers turned over the ball twice in about a 5-minute span of the second quarter: Rookie running back LaMichael James fumbled — leading to a Ravens TD — and safety Ed Reed tied an NFL record with his ninth career postseason interception by picking off Colin Kaepernick.
After Reed stole the ball, a group of players from both teams engaged in a scrum and penalties were called.
Instead of adding more points after Reed's pick, Baltimore eventually gave the ball back after failing to convert a first down on a fake field goal.
Flacco connected with Anquan Boldin from 13 yards out less than 4½ minutes into the game on Baltimore's first possession, then found tight end Dennis Pitta for a 1-yard score midway through the second quarter after James' error.
He fumbled at Baltimore's 25-yard line while straining to gain extra yards. Linebacker Courtney Upshaw punched the ball loose, and defensive lineman Arthur Jones recovered it, and the Ravens headed the other way.
The 49ers also began the game with an illegal formation penalty on the very first play, then needed to punt.
A good return by Jacoby Jones set up the Ravens near midfield, and they promptly drove 51 yards in six plays. Another 49ers penalty on third down at the 18 came right before Flacco's nice scoring pass over the middle to Boldin with less than 4½ minutes gone in the game.
His scoring pass later to Pitta gave Flacco 10 touchdown passes and zero interceptions this postseason. He's only the third QB with that many TDs in a single postseason.
Flacco, who led the Ravens past Denver's Peyton Manning and New England's Tom Brady for two of his league-record six career postseason road victories by a quarterback, was making the most of a chance to impress before heading into an offseason that could land him a $20 million-per-year contract in free agency.
Kaepernick was making only his 10th start the NFL, having taken over the job after Alex Smith got a concussion during a game.
It was the first Super Bowl coaching matchup between brothers: Baltimore's John Harbaugh is 15 months older than San Francisco's Jim Harbaugh.
San Francisco scored in the first quarter on a 36-yard field goal by David Akers, who tied an NFL record with a 63-yarder this season but also had a league-high 13 misses. The big gain was a 24-yard pass from Kaepernick to Vernon Davis. Reed, in coverage on that play, left to have his knee examined, but then returned.
The NFC champion 49ers (13-4-1) were seeking their record-tying sixth Super Bowl title — but first since 1995 — and brought in a 5-0 record from their previous appearances. Only the Pittsburgh Steelers have won six Super Bowls.
The AFC champion Ravens (13-6), a franchise that moved from Cleveland to Baltimore 17 years ago, also came in unbeaten in Super Bowls, albeit only 1-0, thanks to their championship in 2001, when linebacker Ray Lewis was voted the game's MVP.
All eyes were going to be on Lewis this time again, as he played his final game before retirement after a 17-year career that is expected to land him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Lewis missed 10 games this season with a torn right triceps muscle — and spent two days in the past week dismissing a report that he had used, of all things, deer-antler spray to enhance his performance.
About 45 minutes before the opening kickoff, Lewis gathered his teammates in the end zone painted the Ravens' purple team color. As they encircled him, Lewis — large triangles of eye black covering his entire cheeks — delivered his usual rousing pregame speech, and other players whooped it up, too.
Not long after, 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis — who, like Lewis, wears No. 52 — delivered his own fiery words, surrounded by the rest of his team near the red, white and blue NFL shield logo at midfield.
Before the game began, with 100 million or so Americans expected to tune in on TV, a chorus of 26 children from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. — where 20 students and six adults were killed in a shooting rampage in December — sang "America the Beautiful," accompanied by "American Idol" alum Jennifer Hudson. Grammy winner Alicia Keys performed the national anthem.
This was the 10th time New Orleans hosted the big game — tying Miami for most in a city — and first since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Big Easy in August 2005.
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Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich
Ravens lead 49ers 14-3 in Super Bowl 2nd quarter
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Ravens lead 49ers 14-3 in Super Bowl 2nd quarter
