Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis celebrates with the Vince Lombardi trophy after his team's 34-31 win over the San Francisco 49ers. Getty Images

NEW ORLEANS—The Baltimore Ravens, as they are prone to do, were yelling late Sunday night. Their running back, Ray Rice, kept screaming for Ray Lewis deep in the tunnel. Lewis was distracted by the dozens of people who were circling him, desperate for a high five or a quote, but when Rice finally got his attention he screamed: "I just want to tell you, we made it."

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The Ravens won the Super Bowl 34-31 on Sunday in a game that took more turns than they would have liked. They sped out to a 28-6 lead, and the game had all the earmarks of a blowout. Quarterback Joe Flacco was flawless and the Baltimore defense was solid.

It was just the lights on one side of the stadium that tripped them up.

After a Superdome power outage shut down half the stadium for over 30 minutes early in the third quarter, San Francisco went on a frenzied 25-6 run that turned the blowout into an all-timer. With the Niners on the cusp of engineering the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history, the Ravens, who led 34-29, stopped them on four plays inside the Baltimore 10-yard line to seal the game, including three plays from the five.

"To be honest, I'm thinking they're going to put the ball in the end zone, and we're going to have to go down and kick a field goal," Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco said of the Niners' late push. But San Francisco couldn't complete its comeback.

When quarterback Colin Kaepernick's pass to Michael Crabtree fell incomplete with 1:46 left, the Ravens had virtually clinched their second title. The Niners got the ball back with four seconds left but could only muster a Ted Ginn Jr. kick return to midfield.

After the game, accounts varied on just how big of an impact the power outage had. "I dont know what the percentage it affected us was," 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said. He added that all he did was simply alert his team on time management and told them to stay loose.

"Oh my goodness, I mean, we had a ton of momentum...then the power goes out for what felt like an hour," Ravens tight end Dennis Pitta said. We lost a lot of momentum and, credit to them, they came storming back and played tremendous."

That the Ravens won is a testament to their perfect first two quarters. Flacco was brilliant early, twisting out of the considerable pressure the 49ers threw at him. That's no easy task since, unlike Kaepernick, Flacco is not particularly fleet-footed. But he danced around as some of the best quarterback chasers in the game zeroed in on him. With Ahmad Brooks and NaVorro Bowman in his face, Flacco spun around to find Boldin for a 30-yard gain.

"He was just being Joe Flacco," Ravens running back Ray Rice said. "He's the best quarterback in football."

Other times, when Flacco couldn't find the big play, he simply slipped into crisis-management mode. When 49ers star pass rusher Aldon Smith was close to sacking him, he was able to quickly dump the ball off to Rice for no gain. Other times he simply threw the ball away to keep his remarkable run of mistake-free football intact. His last interception came on Dec. 16.

But to cast Flacco as a risk-averse game manager wouldn't do his Sunday performance justice. The first touchdown of the game, a 13-yard strike over the middle of the field to Boldin, showed the touch Flacco had long suggested in his throws but rarely showed consistently until these playoffs. Flacco's counterpart, Kaepernick, had no such coming-out party. Though he managed to grind out some spectacular drives post-blackout, he made some crucial mistakes. With 6:55 left in the second quarter, he threw a well off-target pass that found Baltimore safety Ed Reed.

The game looked all but over when Jacoby Jones ran the second-half kickoff 108 yards to give the Ravens a 28-6 lead. And then the blackout came.

Fans remained calm except for a few boos. Finally, referee Jerome Boger, at 9:10 p.m. ET said, "Third down and 13, let's go."

The teams didn't do a whole lot during the break. The 49ers huddled. Players got down on the turf and stretched their legs. The 49ers appeared to benefit from the break.

Once Kaepernick passed to Crabtree for a 31-yard touchdown, there was a hint something could happen. The Ravens helped that notion along: To cap off their next drive, Ravens punter Sam Koch made a bad kick that was returned by Ted Ginn Jr. to the Ravens' 20-yard line. Two plays later, Frank Gore ran six yards for a touchdown. Ray Rice fumbled on the Baltimore 23-yard line. On the next 49ers drive, with San Francisco within a touchdown, kicker David Akers missed a field goal. The Ravens managed to run into him on the kick, however, and gave Akers another chance, which he connected on to make it a 28-23 slugfest.

The Ravens could have used another power mishap. Instead, they were simply average until the last two-minute stand.

Write to Kevin Clark at

Mike Sielski and Jonathan Clegg contributed to this article