Joe Flacco is going to enter his 10th season as QB#1 for the Ravens. But to hear the incessant whining from Baltimore fans on talk radio blaming Joe for the Ravens’ disappointing 8-8 season, you would think Flacco was a 3rd-year 2nd-string plug-in journeyman on a last-place team.
Four years removed from winning a Super Bowl with one of the hottest post-season runs ever posted by an NFL quarterback…two years removed from taking the Patriots to the brink in an AFC championship run…one year removed from a devastating knee injury in the 2015 regular season…
Now suddenly Joe Flacco is the scapegoat for an underachieving Ravens offense and the rallying point for fan frustration?
The torrent of stupid fan comments has reached a crescendo. Here are some samples:
“Joe just isn’t that smart. He can’t read defenses. He can’t change a bad playcall at the line of scrimmage.”
“Joe lacks the passion and intensity of elite QB’s like Tom Brady. He lacks a sense of urgency in the two-minute drill. ”
“Joe doesn’t work hard enough in practice. He’s a 9-to-5 guy. Great QB’s work overtime studying film. Joe doesn’t look at film or play diagrams enough.”
“Joe doesn’t go through his progressions—he automatically checks down to a safety valve receiver if his first option is covered.”
I know 99 percent of the callers on radio who make such statements over and over have never played a competitive down of tackle football in their lives. That’s okay if you at least acquire some football perspective from experienced sources before you shoot your mouth off in public.
Here is where the whining stops. These are the pro football facts about Joe Flacco:
He is as mentally tough and a hard worker as anyone in the business. I’ve observed him in practice over the years going over the same play drill thirty times until he got it right. I’ve seen him come out on an empty field after regular practice just to work on snap exchanges with his center. I watched him during the summer of the NFL lockout organize his own workouts at home with guys like Torrey Smith.
He is as physically gifted an athlete as you would want in your quarterback. He is still in the prime of his athletic life. He is still capable of dropping a 40-yard laser shot face down into an open trash can. There are maybe 4 or 5 guys in the league who can throw a pass with his velocity and distance and match his accuracy. He is deceptively fast on his feet when both legs are healthy.
Joe is not SuperMan. There are things he needs to play well which every QB in the NFL needs. One of these things is a reliable offensive line which provides time for Flacco to survey downfield, and which gets enough push at the LOS to establish a running game. The Ravens did not have such an offensive line in 2016. Even worse they did not have replacements lined up who were half as good as some of the guys they lost to free agency, like Kelechi Osemele. The Ravens’ offensive line was simply below par in 2016. Flacco was sacked 33 times and hurried/bull-rushed at least 50 times more. Tom Brady would look average if subjected to such lousy protection with no ground game to back up his play-action passing.
Joe needs 3 seconds post-snap to establish a full read of his receivers in a pocket passing situation. On average he was getting 2 seconds and less. That’s why he checked down to his safety valve guys so often. It’s either that and live to play for another down, or chuck and duck downfield. Smart QB’s check it down. You don’t like that as a fan? Then get Joe a premium offensive line, running backs who can actually pass-protect, and improved route-runners downfield who can demonstrate better speed and separation.
If you put Joe Flacco behind the Dallas Cowboys’ offensive line, with Ezekiel Elliott at running back, and Dez Bryant and Cole Beasley as his primary receivers, I would guarantee you that Dallas would have the same 13-3 record right now or better.
I can give you more football observations about Flacco’s competence, including chapter and verse on the many successful plays he has audibled into pre-snap over the course of his career. But I’ll stop here…because if you’re still whining that Joe Flacco is the reason the Ravens didn’t make the playoffs in 2016, then you need a much stronger intervention than I’m capable of providing.
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