Sports

Ravens, Niners bring defense back to Big Game

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NEW ORLEANS — This is not mostly about the Harbaugh brothers, because no championship is about one, or two, individuals, even if they are related. It is not about a grand Ray Lewis sendoff or the coronation of Colin Kaepernick. To single out anyone in Super Bowl XLVII discredits what the 49ers and Ravens are all about and what they have done to get here.

In an NFL season when more scoring records fell, the two teams left standing think defense first, and maybe even second. At a time when aerial shows are all the rage, these teams like to pound away on the ground, which doesn’t mean they are unable to strike with new-age suddenness.

What happens tonight inside the Superdome will make history, as two brothers — Jim with the 49ers and John with the Ravens — face each other in a postseason game, the first time that has happened in one of the four major professional sports. But at game’s end, as they walk onto the field to shake hands and no doubt embrace in an emotional hug, one will have won and one will have lost as they congratulate and console one another.

“It’s not really about how we’re going to feel,’’ John Harbaugh said.

The Ravens (13-6), last in the Super Bowl following the 2000 season, got here by securing improbable road victories in Denver and New England to leave Peyton Manning and Tom Brady on the side of the road. No wonder they are being called this year’s Team of Destiny.

“You can’t say a team is a team of destiny until they get it done,’’ linebacker Terrell Suggs said. “We won’t accept that moniker until February fourth, if we have taken care of business.”

The 49ers (13-4-1) franchise hasn’t been in the Super Bowl in 18 years, returning to the game they once seemingly owned. They are 5-0 in Super Bowls and with a victory, would tie the Steelers for the most Super Bowl wins in league history. That’s why “Quest for Six’’ is the rally cry.

“It’s a great opportunity to get a win and to bring back the legacy to San Francisco that great teams and great quarterbacks have before,’’ Kaepernick said.

That Kaepernick, nearly a novice on the grand stage, can join Joe Montana and Steve Young as 49ers Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks, almost is hard to fathom.

The brothers got here after making truly bold moves. John Harbaugh fired his offensive coordinator, Cam Cameron, though the Ravens were 9-4 at the time. Jim Harbaugh kept Alex Smith on the bench, though Smith was in the midst of another excellent season because he saw the future of the 49ers offense, and it was Kaepernick, a second-year player with little NFL experience.

It all shapes up to a civilized assault by teams related by siblings and a shared aura of toughness.

A look inside the game:

BEST BATTLE

Ravens RB Ray Rice vs. 49ers LB Patrick Willis. This isn’t a one-on-one confrontation, but Willis is the centerpiece of the run defense and Rice might be the most versatile running back around — as a dynamic run/catch threat. Rice thus far in the postseason was a huge factor (131 rushing yards, one TD) vs. the Broncos but was held in check by the Patriots (48 yards, one TD). The Niners take pride in making opposing offenses one-dimensional by obliterating the running game early, with Willis as the primary obliterator.

KAP-TAIN MY KAP-TAIN

There have been plenty of newfound starts hitting the Super Bowl, but rarely, if ever, has one crashed the party like Colin Kaepernick. He has made just nine NFL starts and yet he’s the next big thing, a revolutionary size/speed athlete with unmatched physical prowess for a quarterback.

Nothing about him is ordinary, from the velocity he throws the ball, the tattoos that cover both his arms, to the run-pass threat he poses and to the low-key approach he takes even though everyone else is gaga over him.

Kaepernick already has beaten the Packers with his legs and the Falcons with his arm in the playoffs. The 49ers will be stunned if he suddenly develops stage fright tonight.

“Just because you’re in a situation you haven’t been in before doesn’t mean you have to feel pressure from it,’’ Kaepernick said.

NOVICE ALERT

Kaepernick is just the fourth quarterback in the Super Bowl era to start a Super Bowl in the same season he made his first NFL start — joining Vince Ferragamo (1979), Kurt Warner (1999) and Tom Brady (2001). Kaepernick’s seven regular-season starts are the third fewest of any Super Bowl quarterback, behind Jeff Hostetler (four) and Ferragamo (five).

TAKE OUT THE TRASH

There usually is a perceived slight here, a motivational jab there, a nobody-believes-in-us theme one day, a let-them-chirp-we’ll-do-our-talking-with-the-pads theme another day. The lead-up to this Super Bowl was filled with many bumps — Joe Flacco’s “retarded’’ jab at a cold-weather Super Bowl, Ray Lewis and deer antler spray, a homophobic rant by an unknown 49ers backup cornerback — but no shots from one team toward the other. With brothers coaching the teams, it would have almost been like taking a swipe at your family.

Plus, these teams admire the way the other plays.

“We’re going to go out and play hard, play tough, play physical football, and I believe they have the same mentality,’’ 49ers FB Bruce Miller said.

LEGACY GAME

Ravens QB Joe Flacco is on the precipice of greatness. He already has won at least one playoff game in his first five NFL seasons — no other quarterback has done that — and he’s the big, sturdy franchise player every team desires, though he doesn’t yet have the gaudy new contract to ensure a prolonged stay in Baltimore.

A few more zeroes will be added to that mega-deal if he breaks through with a Super Bowl victory and maybe even an MVP award. In three postseason games, he has thrown eight touchdown passes and no interceptions.

“I just don’t think people were giving him the respect that he was due early on in the season,’’ Ravens receiver Anquan Boldin said. “I think he’s played great all year, but I think just the stage that we’ve been on the last couple of weeks has magnified who Joe is, and I’m glad people get a chance to see him for exactly who he is.’’

THE NEXT STEP

It is rare when both teams competing in the Super Bowl came so close the year before. The Ravens and 49ers were denied this trip a year ago after agonizingly close losses in their respective conference title games. How rare? This is the second time both Super Bowl teams made it the year after losing in the conference finals. The Cowboys and Steelers did it first in Super Bowl XXX.

“It helped a lot, knowing last year, it hurt,’’ 49ers running back Frank Gore said. “We didn’t get where we wanted to go, but when we got the opportunity to get back in the tournament, we looked at each other and told each other that we got to walk in the door this year. And we did.”

RAY OF LIGHT

Love him, hate him, dig his over-the-top pregame squirrel-dance gyrations, sad to see him go or happy to open the door for his exit, there is no denying the strongest subplot surrounding this game is Lewis’ swan song.

Since he came back from a triceps injury and announced his plans to retire, the Ray Lewis Farewell Tour survived playoff stops in Denver and New England. Those who grew up on Sam Huff, Chuck Bednarik, Dick Butkus, Willie Lanier or Jack Lambert will have their particular favorite, but no one will say Lewis isn’t in the discussion as the greatest middle linebacker of all time. To go out hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in his final game could tilt the discussion in his favor.

“Honestly, it’s the ultimate,’’ Lewis said. “You come into the game as a kid, and you always have these dreams.

“To go out with that confetti coming from the top of this building, and hearing those famous words, that the Ravens are Super Bowl champions, there is no greater legacy.’’

paul.schwartz@nypost.com