While Ray Lewis enjoys his Hawaiian vacation and a private moment with Bill Belichick at the Pro Bowl, Joe Flacco was making some waves at the Polar Bear Plunge just outside Baltimore at a charity event at Sandy Point Park .
Joe Flacco is not happy that his QB coach, Jim Zorn, was fired last week by the Ravens…and he’ll be happy to tell you about it. I for one am glad to see Joe finding his NFL quarterback voice, and not shy about expressing his opinion on matters where previously he would not dare.
This is a good sign for the Ravens and their fans. Joe Flacco is growing and maturing as a leader.
Flacco, who is a spokesman for Special Olympics Maryland, said he took Zorn’s firing personally, according to Mike Duffy of Baltimore Ravens.com. After throwing for a career-best 3,622 yards, 25 touchdowns and only 10 interceptions, Flacco believes the Ravens’ offense was moving in the right direction with Zorn on staff.
Flacco said he made his feelings clear to the organization.
“I also feel like a little bit like I’m being attacked,” Flacco said. “You fire the quarterback coach. Usually when your fire a position coach, it’s because you’re not really happy with how that position did. And when I look back on my season and our season as a team, I mean, we won 13 games. I felt like I had a pretty good year and you’re firing the quarterback coach? It’s kind of an attack on me, I feel like.”
“This year will be what it is. We’re going to be successful this year. I would have just liked [Zorn] to be a part of it. He would have liked to be a part of it. And I think it would have been good for him to be a part of it.”
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Frequent commenter “Ballhawk” made a poignant observation about Flacco’s mini-rant: “Flacco has a point… this was his best year stat-wise. We have invested three years in Flacco and he seemed to really buy into whatever Zorn was pitching. You can’t blame dropped balls, play-calling, and the lack of running game on Joe. All you can ask of Flacco is to get better every year because he hasn’t reached his full potential yet. Why fire a guy he feels comfortable with and can learn a lot from?”
I like that Flacco was not afraid to stand up to the Ravens organization on the matter. I also like that he did it on public record in a statement to reporters, and not behind a tweet or an intercepted text message. Now that’s in the tradition of Baltimore leadership at the QB position… almost Unitas-like in its boldness.
Joe will surprise you sometimes. You think he’s always going to be a corporate mouthpiece…then he sneaks up on you with a candid and original observation all his own. Flacco has surprised me before in radio interviews on different topics, where I expected a softball answer and got a slider on the outside corner instead.
Of course, the real intent of letting Zorn go may have been to force Flacco and Cameron into a closer and more productive relationship. It’s no secret that Flacco and Cam had a few strategic disagreements last season, and Zorn was the go-to-my-happy-place mediator guy for Flacco.
I think our Joe is growing up and finding his mature leadership voice. He may have just called his best audible ever. And his teammates will notice it, I’m sure.