First of all, congratulations to Torrey Smith for a stirring and spectacular performance last night (six receptions for 127 yards and two touchdowns). No matter who you were rooting for, it’s difficult to aptly describe all that went into the final result of the Ravens beating the Patriots last Sunday, 31-30. There were moments of enraged confusion and sudden joy weaved into a wildly entertaining football game.
Courtesy: ESPN
The Ravens’ win was there 13th straight home victory, their 21st win in their last 22 home games and their 14th straight win following a loss. Furthermore, the Ravens now have at least one regular season win versus every team in the NFL. How good is this team right now? How good can they be? That depends on many factors, not the least of which is the quality of players on the roster. There are many players on the Ravens who are experience, talented, athletic, perceptive, etc. Who is the best? Who is the one who will put the team on his back and lead the team to victory is pressure-filled situations? I came up with four players who are absolute game-changers and all four of them could be chosen for this distinction. But the one Raven I chose to ‘wear the crown’ is quarterback Joe Flacco.
As Sunday showed, Flacco is able to repeatedly perform better than and beat elite quarterbacks and elite teams. For the second time in as many games, Flacco outplayed Tom Brady. He’s been successful in every environment: home, road, division, out of conference, indoors, outdoors and in the playoffs.
Speaking of the playoffs, of the 32 current starting quarterbacks in the NFL, 18 of them have started at least one playoff game (including Flacco). Of those 18, only seven have winning records (Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Eli Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Flacco and Mark Sanchez). After Brady (16), Roethlisberger (10) and Manning (8), the other four are tied with five postseason victories. The reason Flacco is so noteworthy is because he’s the first quarterback ever to win a road playoff game in each of his first four years.
Some people say Flacco was riding the coattails of a great defense and a strong running game. To those people, I submit that the Ravens were a run-first team until this season. So since Flacco has the best all-around running back in football (Ray Rice), his passing stats aren’t going to be as good as Rodgers’, Brady’s or Brees’, because those players have to pass to win. Although he wasn’t the main factor in recent Ravens postseason success, he was a significant factor in the Ravens getting as far as they did.
Courtesy: Associated Press
If you watch Flacco and observe his progression from year to year, it’s been steadily improving. Take this season for example. He’s on pace to complete 379 of 587 passes (64.6 percent) for 4,869 yards, along with 32 touchdowns, 11 interceptions and a 104.3 quarterback rating. Every one of those marks would be a career best.
His receivers, backs and lineman have, for the most part, gelled to the point where Flacco finally looks comfortable running any play in this offense. Statistics aside, his command of the offense and overall decision making has gotten remarkably better from even a year ago. He’s identifying defenses and calling audibles with more effectiveness than ever before. If you’ve heard that Flacco can’t win the big game, tell that/those people this: Since 2010, Flacco is 5-2 against Super Bowl winning quarterbacks (2010 win at Pittsburgh was against Charlie Batch, due to Roethlisberger’s four-game suspension). Of course he isn’t perfect. He’s not even the best quarterback right now (for my money, it’s Aaron Rodgers). And yes, football is a team sport.
That said, rankings are irrelevant to a point, because what the fact of the matter comes down to is: Can this player make the big play to win the big game? Recent history proves Flacco to be elite in that respect.
