Baltimore Ravens: Joe Flacco Still Upset Over Jackson Pick
By Erik Lambert
No man likes to be reminded of his own mortality. This is true for NFL players more than most other athletes. Baltimore Ravens QB Joe Flacco especially.
Here he is. The man who led the franchise to a Super Bowl victory six years ago and won MVP honors has seen his star plummet to the point where his team can’t lean on that accomplishment any longer. The NFL has always been a “what have you done for me lately?” league. Flacco doesn’t have the performance and production necessary to maintain his status as untouchable among veterans on the Ravens roster.
Yet that didn’t seem to deter him from displaying a rather cool attitude and mild annoyance when having to asking questions regarding the Ravens 1st round pick Lamar Jackson. Granted, nobody would want to talk about the person who might one day steal his job. These guys are the epitome of competitors after all. Still, to be so stern about shows how caught by surprise he likely was.
Flacco tried to deny it during a press conference with reporters though.
"“I don’t know if I was surprised. Obviously, when you pick a quarterback — when you pick anybody in the first round — it means something. I don’t know what that means. I don’t know exactly what it is.”“But that’s not my job to worry about what it is. My job like I said is to keep my approach exactly what it’s been for the last 10 years and help our team go win football games…”"
Flacco only has himself to blame for this situation
He may say he doesn’t know what it means, but he’d be lying. Flacco isn’t dumb. He’s the opposite in fact. He knows exactly what the drafting of Jackson means. It’s a loud and clear message from the Ravens organization: either start playing better or we’re going to ramp up the efforts to find somebody who can, and it will start with this guy. It isn’t personal. As with most hard decisions in this sport, it’s all business.
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Flacco is acting entitled when the reality is he’s done nothing over the past two years to justify it. He’s thrown 38 touchdowns to 28 interceptions with just two 4th quarter comebacks. By contrast from 2014 to 2015, he had 41 touchdowns, 24 interceptions, and five 4th quarter comebacks. This despite playing six fewer games due to injury. That represents a significant drop in productivity. So can he honestly be surprised the Ravens are concerned?
If he doesn’t like it, there’s a simple solution. Play better.