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Daily Madden: The 49ers Are The Better Team

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - "This is a great match-up," John Madden told the KCBS Radio morning crew. But he likes the 49ers in Sunday's Super Bowl.

"I always preface this with 'I'm just guessing,' but I've thought the 49ers all the way... The whole two weeks I've been thinking the 49ers are the better team."

And quarterback Colin Kaepernick is a big reason why.

"He's a threat to throw it short, throw it medium and throw it deep, and he's a threat to run with it. He's a threat to do a lot of things. But the biggest threat is the deep ball," Madden said.

He said Baltimore's Joe Flacco can also throw deep, and that play could be the key to the game.

"If either one of these teams hit a deep pass early for a touchdown, I think that would make their job a lot easier offensively, and conversely would put a lot more pressure on the defense. I know this, every defensive coordinator in the world is scared of getting beat deep, 'don't get me deep.' And if he does get beat deep, he pulls everyone off so it's not going to happen again... That takes those safeties out of there, (and) then you can run."

Madden said no one should underestimate the Ravens.

"We talk about getting better at the end of the season. We talk about peaking going into the playoffs, and those are all things the Ravens did. The Ravens were a much better team in the playoffs than they were at mid season." (7:40)

Daily Madden

Listen to the John Madden segment live weekday mornings at 8:15 on KCBS All News 740 AM/106.9 FM. And catch John's extra report at 9:15 a.m. Mondays and Fridays through the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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