King on M&M: Patriots-49ers Super Bowl

Sports Illustrated's Peter King checked in with Mut & Merloni Friday for his weekly discussion about the Patriots and the NFL. King is predicting a Harbaugh will advance to the Super, but not the one who coaches the Ravens.

"I really think it's going to be a New England-San Francisco Super Bowl," he said. "Although, I continue to think I'm crazy to pick against Eli Manning after he's played as well as he has in big games over the last four years. But I just think that the San Francisco defensive front is going to be at times overwhelming and is either going to strip the ball -- they're going to make a couple of plays on that defensive front.

"In the Patriots game, it's just hard to me to imagine -- as I wrote online today -- it's hard for me to imagine Baltimore scoring in the 20s. Maybe they will, but it's not really something that I can see. I can't imagine that the Ravens can really stop them and this be a game in the teens, which I think is what it has to be for the Ravens to have a chance to win."

King discussed how the Ravens might try to slow down the Patriots' dynamic tight end duo of Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez.

"I think what they're going to try to do really is make sure they hit them a lot in the five-yard touch zone and be extremely physical with them," he said. "They don't want Ray Lewis going downfield covering either of those guys. They're a matchup nightmare for everybody. You saw that last week, what a difficult matchup they were for the anybody on the Denver Broncos. It's a great example of what happens to a team when they really don't care how they get something done."

Added King: "I had somebody in the league say to me this week: 'Aaron Hernandez is not only a really good tight end, he's probably their best running back right now.' It sounds like a joke, but it's not. Who scares you more running the ball right now on that team than Aaron Hernandez? Certainly not 'The Law Firm' [BenJarvus Green-Ellis]. I just think it's a really smart way of using the weapons you have on your team."

Joe Flacco has been in the spotlight for the Ravens, in part because his ability frequently is being questioned. With teammate Ed Reed joint the doubters after Sunday's victory over the Texans, King was asked if Flacco is sensitive to the barrage of criticism.

"I really don't think he is," King said. "I think that's one of the reasons he was able to step in right away and play so well, which is what he did his first few years in the NFL. He did an incredible job early on when nobody thought that he was good enough. Everybody thought he was a reach, taking him so high out of Delaware. But the one thing right now about this that you have to question: If somebody like Ed Reed questions you, you've got to then start wondering what everybody in the locker room is thinking. If somebody were to say that publicly, as respected a guy as Ed Reed is, that would really bother me. And if I were John Harbaugh, it would bother me that that happened before a game like this.

"The X-factor in this game, to me, is how well he'll play, especially knowing that -- I thought the Patriots defensive line last weekend was absolutely fabulous. Gerard Warren, have you every seen him play better? Guys like Kyle Love, Vince Wilfork was a monster. Rob Ninkovich obviously coming in from the outside. That did not look like one of the worst defenses in the league last week. And I know they were playing a specialized offense and all that. But I really think they're going to play well against the Ravens, and I think they're going to play a lot better against Ray Rice than people think."

To hear the interview, go to the Mut & Merloni audio on demand page. For more Patriots news, visit the team page at weei.com/patriots.