Ravens QB Joe Flacco endures one of five sacks in Sunday's divisional playoff win vs. Houston. (By: Eileen Blass, USA TODAY)
Can the Baltimore Ravens offense keep up with New England’s explosive offense? More importantly, can Joe Flacco do enough to keep up with Tom Brady? I’m not the only one asking these questions, Flacco’s teammate Ed Reed took time to voice his opinion on his quarterback earlier this week.
“I think a couple of times he needed to get rid of the ball. It just didn’t look like he had a hold on the offense… He can’t play like [he did against the Texans].”
Joe Flacco has given the Ravens organization and their fans something they haven’t had – security and consistency to the quarterback position. Think about it. You have to realize, the likes of Trent Dilfer, despite winning the Ravens a Super Bowl, only started a grand total of eight regular season games for them? Look at how dire this list is. Before Flacco, the Ravens cycled through fifteen different starting QBs in a span of 12 years. I looked at that list and literally could not remember Randall Cunningham ever playing for this team. The turnover in Baltimore was so fast, you barely had time to notice. Remember Anthony Wright?
Ravens fans – most of them anyway – are incredibly loyal to Flacco because because he was able to bring some semblance of order to a chaotic situation. The problem is that may be ALL he brings. He’s like a pitcher who gives you lots of innings without ever having an ERA below 4.00. Flacco has taken the Ravens to the playoffs his first four seasons. No other QB has done that, but let’s be honest: It’s not as if Flacco has been solely responsible for those playoff runs, not when the Ravens consistently feature a good defense and a healthy running game.
For all the criticism that Mark Sanchez has had to deal with from Jets fans and through the media, statistically speaking – Sanchez has more road playoff victories than any other quarterback ever. You don’t see that little stat keeping Jets fans from wanting him booted out the door. And with good reason, because Sanchez is a thoroughly average, maybe even a below average quarterback.
Flacco may be better than Sanchez, but you’d be shocked at how close of a contest it is. Flacco’s numbers over his career have remained almost exactly the same. He always throws ten to twelve picks. He always throws 20-25 touchdowns. And he always passes for 3,600 yards (three years in a row). There’s been no indication that he’s actually improving. Keep in mind, this is with the Ravens handing him more and more weapons each year to work with (Ray Rice, Anquan Boldin, etc.). In fact, Flacco’s completion percentage this season (58%) was the worst of his career. At this point, he may be as good as he’ll ever be. There’s no reason to think he’ll suddenly make a leap and start playing like Aaron Rodgers.
That’s a real problem, because the Ravens need Flacco to play at a higher level if they want to start winning Super Bowls with him at the helm. Sunday is the biggest game of Flacco’s life. If he can somehow pull out a 250-300 yard game with 5 touchdowns, then maybe all of us, even Ed Reed, got Joe Flacco wrong.
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I tend to agree with you on most points, but let’s not forget that Joe rarely will get a chance to post 300 yard games with 4-5 TDs because the offense is not designed for that. The Ravens are a Ray Rice-centered offense, designed for long, steady, clock-eating drives. Joe has the ability to air it out, and make all the throws, but he hasn’t been asked to for the most part. Plus, Cam Cameron’s offensive schemes with this group of players have been less than stellar.
Also, it’s worth noting that this year’s main group of receivers and tight ends (aside from Boldin) are either rookies or second year players. I agree that this has been a down year for Flacco, but I’m not ready to say he’s plateaued already. Give him some time to gel with his receivers and then we can re-evaluate his progress.
I’m not actually saying that he’s gotta throw 4 or 5 TDs. That was meant to be sarcastic but I do believe he has to get better. Granted, he hasn’t been given the “keys to the car” and must play within the offensive scheme but he can get better. He needs to get better. He can control when he gets rid of the ball and his presence within the pocket. He looks great at times and can make a lot of throws with ease but other times he looks overwhelmed and rattled. If the Ravens were facing an adequate QB last week, I doubt they’d still be going to NE on Sunday. He cannot make the same mistakes on Sunday that he made last week if the Ravens expect to win.
I agree completely.