Even though Kyle Van Noy won’t be playing in Super Bowl LVIII, it looks like he’s already planning. After losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship game two weeks prior, Van Noy and his Baltimore Ravens were not awarded a spot in the big game. All they can do is watch Sunday’s championship game between the Chiefs and 49ers in Las Vegas.
Nevertheless, Van Noy is in Las Vegas for Bounty promotional obligations. Van Noy made it clear in an interview with The Spun that he will not be rooting for the team on Sunday. But he did make an unusually specific wish for the 49ers, who might become the temporary object of Charm City’s affections following the horror the Chiefs inflicted at M&T Bank Stadium. Van Noy declared, “I don’t really care about the game.” “I just hope Christian McCaffrey gets the ball 40 times.”
Van Noy, a two-time Vince Lombardi Trophy winner with the New England Patriots, may simply have some money riding on McCaffrey, the top running back for the 49ers, given the game’s Las Vegas backdrop. However, as The Spun pointed out, there might be more to his wants. The Ravens’ seeming abandonment of the run game was one of the most puzzling subplots of their 17-10 loss to the Chiefs. With quarterback Lamar Jackson controlling most of the game, Baltimore gave only three carries each to backs Gus Edwards and Justice Hill.
With a healthy mix between Edwards, Hill, and Jackson, and after J.K. Dobbins suffered another season-ending injury early in the season, the Ravens had the strongest run game in the NFL and finished with an NFL-best 13-4 record.
Currently in the middle of his first full season in San Francisco, McCaffrey has never had a 40-carry game, but his passing game proficiency has allowed him to earn a lot of touches. When McCaffrey receives at least 20 carries, San Francisco is 6-0; the one victory during that stretch occurred last week against Detroit in the NFC championship game.
