In Baltimore, Joe Flacco has proved that he can win. And the Ravens need it now more than ever.
It has been an offseason to exhale for the Baltimore Ravens. They’re a team on a therapeutic mission. A recalibration.
After finishing 9-7 and missing the playoffs for the third straight season, owner Steve Bisciotti pondered firing coach John Harbaugh, and he did enact his plan to move general manager Ozzie Newsome along after this season. But poor Joe Flacco, he absorbed the nastiest flak.
Blame the quarterback. Blame it on Joe.
He got an earful after that season-ending loss to the Cincinnati Bengals that knocked the Ravens out of playoff contention. Critics chirped about his measly 5.7 yards per pass attempt last season, how it has fizzled each year since 2014, from 7.2 to 6.8 to 6.4 to this latest career-low.
He is 33 and he looked off.
So the Ravens moved into the 2018 draft’s first round and selected Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Lamar Jackson. It was Newsome’s final draft as general manager. (He will be replaced by Eric DeCosta next year, a GM in waiting for the last five years, which was a stipulation in Newsome’s 2014 contract.) And Newsome’s final draft stroke signals an eventual change from the pocket to mobility, from the past to the future, from Flacco to a new way.
But it was Harbaugh who provided Flacco some context.
“In my conversations with him about Lamar, he was definitely surprised, but he took it on himself right away to prove that he will be the quarterback here for the next few years,” Harbaugh says. “Joe is no different from Montana and Brady and Favre, that when the guy is brought in that looks like a replacement, they don’t like it. They often have an answer for it.”
Flacco led the Ravens to the playoffs as a rookie in 2008 and for four straight years after (including a Super Bowl). But since then, they have made the playoffs in only one of the last five years and have missed three straight.
There were reasons. Flacco played much of last season with a lingering back injury. His offensive weapons were sparse.
No matter. Blame it on Joe.
Well, not everyone does.
“He came in here 22 years old and not necessarily naïve, but a kid from South Jersey who despite the quick success remained a humble guy,” Harbaugh says. “The last five years have forged him into something like tempered steel. He just had the best preseason in all of his 11 seasons here: sharp, crisp, confident, mentally into it. He’s healthy. I think we’ve all been where we needed to be and that it has helped us experience what life is and what the challenges of life are.”
Are the 2018 Baltimore Ravens ready to make a Super Bowl dash?
“We have what it takes,” Harbaugh says.
He is talking a Ravens rebound. A Flacco one, too.
Baltimore is 5-11, 8-8, and 9-7 in the last three seasons.
But with Harbaugh and Flacco, they are 104-71 overall with three AFC Championship Game appearances and that Super Bowl 47 victory where Flacco was named MVP.
Flacco is the 2018 Ravens starter. He clearly won the job. He also knows it’s never enough.
“It is really hard to win a single game in this league, I know that after 10 seasons,” Flacco says. “And every year, everything changes. Every year in this league some guys get better and you have to do something more to be great. Physically, mentally, health-wise, I feel good.”
Does he believe he still belongs to the Ravens and that they still belong to him?
“Of course,” he says, matter-of-factly.
He certainly belongs to Ravens safety Eric Weddle, who sees a rejuvenated Flacco heading into this season.
“Joe is back, he’s confident, he’s throwing it strong off that back foot,” Weddle says. “Joe was hurt a lot last year and people just blow that off. I don’t understand that. I expect Joe to have a career year. He had an offseason that required some guts. He didn’t let the stuff get to him. Sure, he must have been pissed off about it, the criticism, the drafting of his immediate replacement in some people’s minds. Joe can catch fire and take this team all of the way.”
Indeed, Flacco has new weapons. Receiver Michael Crabtree gives him a big body, a guy who will go up and ferociously nab passes, a back-shoulder-fade target like Flacco had in previous years with Derrick Mason, Anquan Boldin, and Steve Smith. Willie Sneed IV could become a prime slot weapon. John Brown offers top-end speed, as does Chris Moore. Rookie tight end Hayden Hurst is promising.
“I think Joe is enjoying his new toys,” Ravens cornerback Brandon Carr says. “Joe takes pride in his craft. He has to forget the headaches. He just has to go back there and sling that ball and do his thing. And our defense has to do its part. We need to let our pads do the talking.”
Baltimore opens at home against Buffalo. Then at Cincinnati, home against Denver, and then at Pittsburgh. That’s two AFC North division games (Cincinnati, Pittsburgh) in the early mix. A third, at Cleveland, follows in Week 5.
The Ravens’ pot has been stirred.
Joe Flacco has been lit.
“Everybody seems to think they know this and they know that, but nobody knows,” Harbaugh says. “I can tell you we had a good camp, Joe had a good one, and, as coaches, you have the heart, soul, and mind of these players in your hands. That is an awesome responsibility. There is a time to be a hard-ass, but you better check the intent of your heart every day as a coach. All of our coaches have to do it. I have to do it. That’s where we are with Joe and with all of our players.”
As for his first-round investment? Harbaugh says Jackson is where they expected — a work in progress.
And Flacco is what he is — a Super Bowl-winning quarterback Harbaugh wants, like all of the Ravens, to keep it simple, despite the noise.
“Our philosophy here has always been that we are going to do everything we can do to win, be our best every day, learn from our mistakes and do better,” Harbaugh says.
“Every year is like the first year.”
The Ravens sure hope so.