I sometimes am confused as to why people beleive Flacco is as bad as they think.
If wins are what we use to judge QBs, why does the criteria change when we talk about Flacco?
In the 6 years prior to the arrival of Joe Flacco and following the salary cap releases of most of the players from the superbowl team in 2001, the Ravens record was 50 and 46. Including the 13-3 record with Steve McNair in 2006. Through that time, the Ravens defense was top 5 every year yet, only went to the playoffs twice during that time with no wins.
Along comes Flacco in 2008. Same team that was terribly inconsistent in previous years with a much older defense yet in those four years since the Ravens record is 44-20 with 5 playoff wins, all but 1 on the road.
Nothing changed but the head coach and the QB.
44-20. Playoffs every year with a win in each season.
I can understand if people are tired of hearing his fans defend him but what must be understood is that we are tired of having to defend him. I could see if he was as inconsistent as Eli early in his career or He was praised like Ryan and fell off, but no. He has never thrown over 12 picks, always been around 3600 yards, and always has around 20 tds. Consistency.
This year, he has faced the #1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 10th ranked defenses (Ravens were third) and went 10-2 in those games with an average Qb rating of 93.1 with 15 tds and 6 ints. He was also 7-0 vs playoff teams and is 26-4 at home.
While he definitley isn't elite by any stretch, he is easily top 12. He may not have the best playoff stats as Sanchez, but I would take his play during the regular season as an assurance that he would get us there.
He may not have the regular season stats of Matt Ryan but, I'll take his play outside of the comfort of his home stadium and road victories as a trade off.
In closing, there is not much to dislike Flacco about other than his followers defending him all day. I just don't think we should have to.
Another thing, where did this old defense thing come from? Oh I know. It's regurgitated by the talking heads in the media and repeated as gospel by fans. Fact is, The only Ravens starters over 30 are Ray Lewis, Corey Redding and Ed Reed. Everyone else even reserves are under 30. Half of our defense is under 25 y/o.
I have no idea who will win this game but I know this. It won't be a blow out by either team. I believe the score will be close to most of the games these 2 teams play. 30-27 27-24 type deal.
Here's to a good game Pats.
