NEW ORLEANS -- Lost among the craziness of Super Bowl XLVII's wild end: The fight that nearly got a Baltimore Ravens starter kicked out in the first half.
Ravens cornerback Cary Williams was very lucky not to get the boot after shoving an official in a wide-ranging melee where San Francisco 49ers tackle Joe Staley and Ravens cornerback Corey Graham were penalized. After the game, Williams didn't forget.
"To me, I feel like the 49ers are pretenders," Williams said, via The Baltimore Sun. "They're fake tough guys. You got to play football. We do it physical and we do it between the whistles. They were diving on piles, shoving people from behind. They can try to pretend they're physical, but we really are."
To the victors go the trash talk. Or something like that.
We don't think Williams has a particularly good point here. There was some big hitting in this game, but it often was done by the offenses while blocking.
Both defenses didn't play that well. It was a chippy game, but the physical defenses, surprisingly, mostly were pushed around. This was not an example of great defenses making the Super Bowl; it was another sign that this is a quarterback-driven, offensive league.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.
