Game 35: John F. Kennedy vs. Super Bowl XXXV

Two unsolved mysteries of the modern age:: The JFK assassination and how Trent Dilfer won a Super Bowl .

Even years later, both the 2000-01 Baltimore Ravens season and John F. Kennedy's brief time in office remain vexing and contradictory. The Ravens weren't a perfect team. Dilfer was an average quarterback. Kennedy was neither a perfect man nor a perfect President.  Did someone once say it's the flaws that make a diamond shine brightest?  No? Ok, never mind.

The Ravens had the NFL's 14th best scoring offense during the regular season. The quarterback who started their season, Tony Banks, threw 8 interceptions in 8 games and had a passer rating of 69.  Dilfer took over after that and threw 11 INTs in 8 games, with a 76.6 rating.  Like Kennedy, the Ravens had a tense October, losing three straight. At one point they went 21 straight quarters without a TD.  

What the Ravens had, probably more so than Kennedy, was strong defense, led by marauding linebacker Ray Lewis. They allowed the fewest points in the NFL. Entering the postseason as a wild card, they allowed just one touchdown in three playoff games, winning 21-3, 24-10 and 16-3.  In SB XXXV the offense did what it needed to do and the D did what it always did.  The Ravens trounced the Giants 34-7.  They intercepted Giants QB Kerry Collins four times.  Did someone once say the best way to win the big game is with big defense?  No? Never mind.

Kennedy was in office for just over two years before his assassination.  He got in as a sort of wild card himself, with a family-funded campaign, some election day chicanery, a narrow margin of victory. Flaws?  His Bay of Pigs attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro was a fiasco. The USSR's Nikita Kruschev got the better of him. The Berlin Wall must have seemed like a good idea at the time. He was a womanizing scoundrel. But JFK was young and telegenic and inspired the nation. He launched the Peace Corps and put muscle behind a  space program that would plant a U.S. flag on the moon. "The torch has passed to a new generation of Americans," he proclaimed.  "Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country," he suggested. You know, stuff like that.

Apologies to Trent Dilfer and Ray Lewis, but this victory goes to the Presidents.

Score after this match: Presidents 19, Super Bowls 16.

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