“This is Steve Tasker, Sideline Reporter for the Super Bowl 47. If you expect you to hear our friend Jim Nantz, it can be a moment before he continues.”
When the audio of Super Bowl XLVII between the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens suddenly got out early in the third quarter on 3 February 2013, the millions that the CBS broadcast could consider, perhaps there was something wrong.
When Tasker, allocated to work the 49ers, nual activity, was the first voice that someone heard, it was confirmed. There was no strength in the temporary employment cabin, lifts and escalators to a stop and the competition too – for 34 minutes.
“Half of the power in the New Orleans Stadium, the Superdome here, is out,” Tasker announced to the world.
For some Ravens players, the interruption was suspicious. Jacoby Jones had kicked back 108 Yards in the second half for a touchdown, Baltimore led 28-6 and the ravens had just fired 49ers Quarterback Colin Kaepernick in second place. The super bowl was about to become a routes and did the lights go out? Linebacker Ray Lewis smoke a rat.
‘You can’t tell me that someone wasn’t there, and when they say: “The ravens they are about to blow them out. Man, we’d better do something, “” he said In an interview for ‘America’s game’ of NFL films later that year. “That is a huge shift in every game, in all seriousness.”
The actual explanation was everyday. A newly installed device called a relay automatically cuts the current to the stadium when the current hit a certain level because the factory settings were too low.
Entergy, the local electric company, promises not to happen that Sunday when the Super Bowl returns to New Orleans for the first time in 12 years. The company no longer uses the equipment responsible for the Black -out, there are better dismissals for electric electricity and the stadium has since organized more than a decade of New Orleans Saints games and concerts without incidents.
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These concerts include considerable Beyonce, whose rest show preceded the Blackout in 2013, and Taylor Swift, who brought 200,000 fans to the Caesars Superdome for three nights in October.
“Some called the Ultimate Tabletop exercise that weekend,” Entergy said in a statement.
While the 49ers laugh at Lewis’ conspiracy theory – “We had the same delay they made,” said offensive Tackle Joe Staley – there is no doubt that they were benefiting from the reset.
In their dressing room in the rest they intended to repair everything that had gone wrong in the first half and quickly went over the tactical changes they would make. Then they couldn’t go anywhere.
A super bowl-rest time is twice as long as a version with a regular season and because there was so much staggering equipment, the players could not get on the field. Instead, they were merged into the dressing room.
The 49ers note that the ravens came away with a retaining penalty against fullback Bruce Miller about the kick-return touchdown of Jones to start the third quarter. But there was also a feeling that the long rest had an effect.
“I remember that Coach (Jim) Harbaugh came and asked,” Were we warmed up? “, The 49er power coach recalled at the time, Mark Uyeyama. “And I’m going,” uhhh – clear (Jones) was. “
The 49ers then performed two plays of a 29-year pass to Michael Crabtree and a 3-Yard run by Frank Gore-Voordat Kaepernick was fired by Arthur Jones. After that piece, color commentator Phil Simms was in the middle of the sentence when the broadcast was silent at 7:37 pm local time.
The 49 people had the ball 28-6 behind when the power suddenly went out in the super dome. (Dilip Vishwanat / Getty images)
An attack? A shooter? Those thoughts flashed by everyone. The Sandy Hook -Schiet party had happened a month and a half earlier and the 49 people had been present at a match in New England where the victims were remembered.
“The first to go through my mind is an act of terrorism,” said then-49er’s offensive coordinator Greg Roman. “And what’s coming afterwards? First they cut the power. And what now? My whole family is there. “
“I really thought it was initially a terrorist attack,” said Wink Martindale, then the inner liners of the ravens. “You just didn’t know. You immediately look at where you know that your family is and everything else to ensure that everyone was in order. “
After a few moments, those thoughts disappeared. There was a first moan of the crowd, but there was no panic or commotion. The super dome was quiet.
“To their honor, everyone remained calm,” Tasker said in a telephone interview.
“Why did the clock stop?”
Throwback to the lights that go out during ravens versus 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII 💡😳 pic.twitter.com/bd5qbuhjmq
– NFL – Films (@nflfilms) December 25, 2023
He said that everyone’s first task was to find out what happened and how long the game would be postponed. The sidelines were stopped using wireless microphones six years earlier during Rainy Super Bowl XLI because those microphones had gone out. Tasker had attached a cable to his microphone in New Orleans that only extended to the numbers on the field. The League officials he wanted to interview were safe in midfield and did not want to be interviewed on the camera. So he walked to midfield, received as much information as he could and was then approached by Jim Harbaugh on his way back to the sidelines.
“He wanted to know what they told me,” Tasker said.
The 49ers had an advantage that they had experienced something similar the year before when a transformer blew outside of Candlestick Park, which caused two delays during a “Monday Night Football” match against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Uyeyama said he reminded players how well they had handled that waiting on the sidelines.
“We were better prepared than we were against Pittsburgh,” said Uyeyama. “And we would (Ben) Roethlisberger put all the game on his back. So we walked around and communicated with the boys: “Remember, Pittsburgh.” ‘
The teams were initially told that the game would resume in about 15 minutes and that everyone should stay on the field. They heard the same chorus – 15 minutes – when they checked in later.
“The longer it went, you had to go back in coaching mode,” said Martindale. “It was as if,” Holy S -we have to start stretching. ” We knew that analyzes are not like a momentum, but that is the momentum of the game. Team then she and it really took a while to get back and get started. “
Said 49er’s safety Donte Whitner: “Football is a game based on Momentum. And when you have such a silence, it is a good opportunity for the team that does not play well to regroup and restore. “
He said Linebackers Patrick Willis and Navorro Bowman discussed strategy. Justin Smith, the older statesman of the defense, ensured that everyone remained focused and calm.
“I remember that I still heard dashon Goldson say: ‘Not today. Not today. We are too good. We are too big a defense, “Whitner remembered. “And what he was referred to was:” Let’s not make the simple mistakes that will beat us. “
The Black -Out officially takes 34 minutes and seemed to lead to a huge momentum swing for the 49 people. (Jamie Squire / Getty images)
In the attack, Roman only paid a quick visit to the dressing room during the break. At that time, the 49 people had scored only two field goals and he had to rework the entire game plan. Roman spoke briefly with the players and then approached Harbaugh.
“I just said:” Hey, Jim, I have to go upstairs and pick things out, “said Roman.
He was back in the coach before Beyonce started her show and felt good about the changes he had made.
“Then they returned the kick -off and it was as if the price of poker changed even bigger,” said Roman. “It was like:” Oh my God. Now we are in a decent gap. ” ‘
He made even more adjustments after the stadium lost power. The radio roadets that connect him and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio on the sidelines did not work and were in fact one of the last things that would come online before the game resumed.
So Roman plays and ideas from recipients Coach John Morton bounced. The 49 people would occasionally run the ball to keep Lewis and the defense of Ravens honest. Otherwise they would attack through the air.
“We would be ultra-aggressive,” said Roman. “We had so much talent in the team, it was just a matter of time.”
He was right. The 49ers were led immediately after the game, but scored on a 31-year kaepernick-to-crabtree pass when they got the ball back. Then they scored on their next three possessions, which reduced the lead from Baltimore to 31-29 with just under 10 minutes to play. It was as if the Black -out had made two different games.
“It was like a track meeting from that moment,” said Roman.
But while the ravens scored again, a Justin Tucker 38-Yard Field goal-in, the 49ers attack in the last minutes deep in the red zone.
San Francisco seemed to have a great shot for a go-ahead touchdown after Gore’s 33-yard Run to the 7-Yard line with 2:39 to go. That Carry, however, left Gore from the best short-yardage runners in the NFL-Kromd and his replacement, Lamichael James, was stopped for a 2-meter win at the first time.
A Quarterback keeper who would probably have scored a touchdown was swept away when Jim Harbaugh called a time-out to prevent a violation of the Play-Clock. When the last from three throws to Crabtree in the corner of the end zone fell over the head of the recipient, the ravens knew that they had finally stopped the momentum of San Francisco and hung at the victory.
“If we had lost that game, I would have run away and say,” It was because the power went out and the long delay, “said Martindale.” We just kill them differently. “
Roman said: “Unfortunately it was just not enough. That was certainly a bizarre day in our lives. ‘
Although the lonely face and the voice for the Super Bowl broadcast was for a few uncertain minutes, Tasker said he didn’t get much attention after the game. Instead, his phone started to blow up six days later when “Saturday night live” – where Taran Killam Tasker played – the Black -out falsified with a cold open.
“Then I knew I finally made it,” Tasker said laughing.
(Top photo: Dilip Vishwanat / Getty images)