Baltimore Ravens: Joe Flacco Reacting Exactly as Hoped

Joe Flacco hasn’t exactly been courteous or humble in his response to the Baltimore Ravens overhauling the quarterback position this year.

One might even say he’s irritated. Word spread quickly he didn’t answer or return communication requests from 1st round pick Lamar Jackson and was visibly annoyed when the subject came up during interviews or press conferences. For a man known to never show his emotion on camera, the Ravens seemed to have found the right switch to flip.

It’s not like they did it by accident either. Flacco had the worst year of his professional career in 2017.  He finished with just 3,141 yards passing, 18 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. His 80.4 quarterback rating barely beat out his rookie year back in 2008 by a tenth (80.3). Sure he had some issues to deal with including a banged up offensive line and limited weapons.

Still, his play has appeared on the decline for the past few seasons. The Ravens are getting nervous. So they hedged their bets, knowing two results would come. Either Flacco flops and they have their future in place or he rebounds after being pushed. Longtime safety and teammate Eric Weddle believes it will be the latter as he told the team website.

"“He’s obviously been challenged. We all are. As older players, every year is a prove-it year, and if you don’t believe that, you’re fooling yourself. I have to prove that I can still start in this league, that I can compete, that I should be a starter, that I should be on this team. If you don’t, then you’re going to be out of here.“Now so with drafting Lamar and bringing Griffin in, it’s lit a fire under him. You can tell and he’s shown. He’s worked extremely hard.”"

Flacco always plays better when the heat is on

Could it be possible that Flacco may have just gotten too comfortable? Years and year of going unchallenged for his job can do that to anybody. Sometimes one must be reminded that the NFL isn’t a game of handouts. One must earn everything he gets. It’s a lesson Flacco should’ve remembered well after fighting his way to the top out of Delaware.

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The good news is he’s a quarterback that has always done his best work when the pressure ramps up. For his career Flacco has an 84.1 quarterback rating in the regular season. By contrast, that number spikes to 88.6 in the playoffs. This despite two terrible runs in 2008 and 2009. Flacco is a big game player and this may be the biggest game of his career. His future as an NFL starter could be at stake.