The NFL Network “Top 100 Players” poll just released is supposedly a poll based on the vote of the players… I still find it hard to believe that any active player would rank Joe Flacco behind Tampa Bay’s Josh Freeman at QB… not with the current body of work to judge from…
Jamison Hensley of the Baltimore Sun made the most compelling argument for Flacco’s being better than Freeman at QB:
“Joe Flacco was ranked No. 90 in The NFL Network’s ranking of the top 100 active players in the league.”
“At first, this would seem like solid praise for the Ravens quarterback. But Flacco’s ranking — which was determined by current players — falls six spots behind Tampa Bay quarterback Josh Freeman (who was No. 84).”
“Flacco has had more long-term success than Freeman. He’s 32-16 as a starter and has taken the Ravens to the playoffs in all three years, including a trip to the AFC championship game. Freeman has yet to guide the Buccaneers to the postseason.”
“And their stats were nearly identical in 2010. Flacco had 171 more yards passing than Freeman. But Freeman’s quarterback rating (95.9) was slightly higher than Flacco’s rating (93.6). Both threw for 25 touchdowns.”
Yes, Ravens fans might be biased on this topic. But it would be interesting to see how many would take Freeman over Flacco.
Fan reaction around town has been a little testy on the subject.
Regular fan poster JahHate had this to say: “Wasnt there a lot of talk going around last season about many of the Ravens players not believing in Flacco. ESPN reported several times how Flacco can’t even go through his progressions in practice. How about when Suggs said “how do you not account for Troy showing blitz, I was thinking uh oh this aint good, #43 is coming and were still gonna roll with the play, I hope he (Flacco) has some kind of plan”….. Wrong. He just snapped it anyway. Fumble!!!!!!!!”
Man, some folks just won’t let go of that play against the Steelers…
Fan poster Baltimore80 put it into a bigger perspective:
“Flacco outplayed Freeman head to head. I mean really, why is this a discussion?… Flacco isn’t rah-rah flashy so he doesn’t get more respect. He played ONE bad game last year, against the Bengals. Other than that, our defense cost us 3 games. But nobody talks about that. Flacco was killing the Falcons in the second half of that game, and our defense lost it in the end. He was killing the Patriots. Our defense lost it in the end. He outplayed Sanchez head to head, he outplayed Brees head to head, he was ballin’ all year. I don’t care about ranks. FLACCO WINS. And the playoff talk? Flacco didn’t lose that game in Pittsburgh. Boldin dropped a touchdown that hit him in the numbers. Housh dropped a FOURTH DOWN CONVERSION THROW, *IN PITTSBURGH* that hit square in the numbers. But Flacco chokes? LOL ok…”
For a lockout topic, at least the NFL Network poll has given us something to argue about!
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