Joe Flacco is Not a Great Quarterback (and That’s OK)
Joe Flacco is a good quarterback. For his career so far he has 79 TDs to 46 INTs and has completed roughly 60% of his passes. In games he has started, the Ravens have won a lot more than they’ve lost. 43-20 in the regular season to be exact and, interestingly enough, 4-3 in the playoffs. There’s a “bottom line” kind of assessment to be made anytime Flacco comes up and that assessment is simple: he’s good. Maybe even very good. Certainly no worse than capable.
You would think, given Baltimore’s spotty historical record at QB, that Flacco would be (to quote) carried in the arms of cheerleaders. But he’s not.
Instead, he’s a constant topic. Radio callers and internet denizens alike wonder loudly and often whether or not Flacco’s “the guy” who can win this town another Super Bowl. They wonder because they look at Flacco and they don’t see the things they see in quote-unquote franchise quarterbacks like Ben Roethlisberger, Aaron Rodgers, and Tom Brady (among others).
They don’t see these things because these things do not exist. Flacco is not one of the best quarterbacks in the league. Anyone who’s watched him play over the past few years knows as much.
But let’s be clear about something: only a handful of QBs are truly great, truly elite. The fact that Flacco isn’t top-five or arguably even top-ten shouldn’t be held against him. It’s time for Ravens fans to realize that very good can be good enough.
Anyone waiting for Joe to “take the next step” and become a top-tier guy is waiting for the wrong thing. That’s not who he is. The expectation should instead be that he does enough. Because when he does, and when Ray Rice and the defense and the coaching staff do likewise, the Ravens are hard to beat.
Joe Flacco can’t put the team on his shoulders and send them to February with sheer will and talent. But so what? Most teams don’t have that guy. And even some that do — looking at you, Patriots — have such severe shortcomings in other areas that they’re not much better off. Ravens fans should be happy that they have a team built to win and a quarterback who can handle being a player in that scheme, even if he’s not capable of extraordinary things all by himself.
The Ravens might not win the Super Bowl this year. If they don’t, though, I highly doubt it will be Joe Flacco’s fault.
I would say if Joe is top ten then he’s number 9 or 10. 4 straight years in the playoffs has to account for something which is why I place him higher than Ryan, Rivers, Romo, or other good but not great QBs.
To all the people that complain constantly about Flacco, i ask what would you do instead? How would you fix it? Would you really roll with Tyrod Taylor? Would you release Joe? Why? Would you sign a Jake delhomme or David Garrard? I hope not? The amount of top QBs in the draft who succeed is outnumbered by the ones who don’t.
I’m interested in seeing how Flacco does without Cam Cameron. Cam made a mediocre QB out of Drew Brees on SD where he had more weapons and a better defense. Drew gets away from Cam and he’s breaking records.
Flacco is the man. He is good enough to win a Super Bowl, but it’s going to take consistent efforts from the defense and pass rush, which have shown an alarming tendency to completely disappear at times.
Should be a telling game in Cinci this week. And then Playoffs, baby!
agreed on all counts.
that was one of the worst pass interferences i’ve ever seen on aj green but fuck it i’ll take it. ray rice #1.
That was big. I don’t think people put enough stress on how important the 2 seed was to both the Steelers and Ravens. Such a big difference between 3 road playoff games and a bye and a home game (possibly 2). Its going to be nice to get Boldin back and have a well rested defense going into the playoffs.
1st round playoff predictions:
Pittsburgh over Denver
Houston over Cincinnati (this ones going to be good though)
Saints over the Lions
Atlanta over the Giants
Flacco suffers from what I call “Eli Syndrome”. He does not have a commanding presence, he looks goofy, and he seems relatively non-athletic when he moves. Perceptions will always be handicapped by this, and Flacco will likely never be “a man’s man” that other players like to follow or like to look to for leadership. Basically, he’s a big dork (as is Eli).
He’s still very good though, he has done well in potentially game-winning situations, and the Ravens have had far more trouble with receivers dropping passes than they have had with Flacco making bad throws.
@ tvon:
You put into words what I’ve been thinking these last few years! His persona and respect mirror Eli’s.
for real tvon. great observation.
@ tvon:
The Fu Manchu isn’t doing him any favors in the public persona area either (though personally I love it).
@ PW:
Yeah, no kidding. I don’t know why he couldn’t just do your standard playoff beard…
If the Ravens get to the Super Bowl, I’m absolutely shaving my beard and rocking the Flacco.
i know everything changes in a year but from where i’m sitting today, next year’s schedule looks brutal!
The Ravens’ eight home games: Pittsburgh Steelers, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Denver Broncos, Oakland Raiders, Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, New England Patriots.
The Ravens’ eight road games: Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Kansas City Chiefs, San Diego Chargers, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins, Houston Texans.
not really a cupcake on there (unless tebow plays of course). chiefs i guess?
@ Big Ben’s Motorcycle:
Jesus… better get it done this year!
Quick Orioles note: hires by Duke like these should not be overlooked.
Am I the only one that doesn’t want to see the Ravens play the Steelers? I mean, I feel alright about the Ravens playing just about anybody in Baltimore, but getting bounced by Pittsburgh after beating them twice sounds just too typically brutal and obvious for it to not happen.
Give me Tebow any day. Our corners won’t have to do a whole lot, our defense will hold their running game, and Flacco should eat them up.
@ dan the man:
the Steelers D is going to hurt Tebow so bad he might convert to the old Egyptian gods. Absolutely no way the Broncos survive the wild card round.
@ Andrew:
No, I know. I’m just saying, people are like “I hope we play the Steelers!” and I don’t understand that because it’s the easiest way for the Ravens to get bounced immediately. If we’re wishing to play any team, it should be the worst possible team.
we owe the steelers two gut-wrenching playoff losses so if it’s them, great. fuck it and fuck them. that said, if denver beats them it would be hilarious and we would absolutely destroy denver (probably houston as well for that matter).
but then there’s the complication that only pitt can beat new england in my opinion (and give us a home afc championship game).
whatever. i just hope all the teams beat the shit out of each other this weekend.
@ dan the man:
It would be nice to play the Broncos but lets face it, they are clearly the worst team in the playoffs and would lose to any of the 5. So no Broncos. I’d say we should hope for Houston to win. They are banged up and we could stack the box to stop their run game.
Plus, then the Steelers play the Patriots which means we only have to play one of those guys. I’m a lot more confident in our chances if we only have to go through one of those two (not that both aren’t beatable).