NEW ORLEANS — There was a lot of fighting in the game, and the referees looked like they could lose control at any moment. The 49ers were particularly upset with the officiating at the end of the game. The Ravens seemed to like the physical play.
“The referees allowed us to play all day,” cornerback Corey Graham said. “There was a lot of competing, a lot of physical play on both sides. I love it. The referees did a great job.”
Ravens cornerback Cary Williams was fortunate he did not get ejected in the second quarter after he made contact with an official in a scuffle after Ed Reed’s interception return. Referee Jerome Boger called offsetting personal foul penalties on Joe Staley of the 49ers and Graham.
* Colin Kaepernick’s second-quarter interception, on which he badly overthrew a pass intended for Randy Moss, was the first thrown by a Niners quarterback in a Super Bowl, covering 169 passes. Joe Montana and Steve Young had thrown 17 touchdown passes and no interceptions in the previous five games.
Reed made the ninth interception of his postseason career, tying the NFL record shared by Charlie Waters, Bill Simpson and Ronnie Lott.
* The 4 hour, 14 minute game was the longest Super Bowl in history. … … It was only the second league championship game in NFL history (including the pre-Super Bowl era) in which each team scored 30 or more points. The Steelers defeated the Cowboys 35-31 in Super Bowl XIII.
The Ravens are the 12th team to win multiple Super Bowls. … The Ravens now have a postseason record of 14-7 (.667), the best percentage of any team to have participated in 12 postseason games or more. John Harbaugh is 9-4 in the postseason as Ravens coach.
* Jacoby Jones’ 108-yard kickoff return to open the second half was the longest play in Super Bowl history. The previous longest was a 100-yard touchdown return by Steelers LB James Harrison against the Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII.
Jones became the first player to ever score a TD on a kickoff return and on a reception in a Super Bowl.
Joe Flacco has nine postseason victories as a starting quarterback. That ties Tom Brady for the most by any quarterback in his first five seasons and ties him for ninth among all quarterbacks with Bart Starr, Kurt Warner, Donovan McNabb, Jim Kelly and Peyton Manning.
Niners tight end Vernon Davis hurt his elbow in the first quarter making a 24-yard catch against Reed. Davis had to go to the sideline for a few plays, while Reed had to go to the locker room to get his left knee attended to.
* The Sandy Hook Elementary School chorus from Newtown, Conn., sang “America The Beautiful,’’ accompanied by Jennifer Hudson, prior to Alicia Keys’s national anthem.