Joe Flacco Is "The Best Quarterback In Football" - John Harbaugh - David Portnoy
ESPN – Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh declared Joe Flacco “the best quarterback in football” for the second time in less than a week. Harbaugh made the latest grand declaration after Flacco guided the Ravens to a 30-17 wild-card victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday night. In the Ravens’ first-ever playoff victory over their rival, Flacco completed 18 of 29 passes for 259 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions, finishing with a 114.0 passer rating. “Joe Flacco, what can you say,” Harbaugh said. “He’s the best quarterback in football. We’ll take him any day of the week, twice on Sunday or Saturday if that be the case.” Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco has thrown 166 straight passes without an interception in the playoffs, the fourth-longest streak in NFL postseason history: Flacco has excelled more in the postseason than the regular season. He has never thrown for 4,000 yards in a season and has never been voted to a Pro Bowl. His 3,986 yards passing this season were a career high, but only 12th-best in the NFL. But Flacco’s play in the postseason has been more impressive. By beating Pittsburgh, Flacco improved to 10-4 in the postseason, including seven playoff wins on the road — two more than any other quarterback in NFL history. Over his last five postseason games, Flacco has thrown 13 touchdowns and no interceptions while earning Super Bowl MVP. “He’s Cool Joe,” linebacker Terrell Suggs said. “The situation may change, but we don’t. Joe didn’t change. That’s his game. He’s going to make plays.”
“Who would you rather have be your QB if you needed to win 1 playoff game…And really isn’t that the only thing that matters?…Who do you want to win the big game? That’s it.” – David Portnoy
Straight from the boss’s keyboard to your eyes. All that matters is the playoffs. Regular season stats/records do not make one iota of a difference. Think about it. Put your bias aside for one second and think about it. How many times have you read or heard him scream about how all Peyton Manning does is win regular season awards? About how Peyton is the Pro Bowl MVP? About how Peyton can’t win the big game? It’s all he blogs about if Beeber is off the grid for a few days.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen him say one thing about how the regular season matters…oh wait, besides this morning! How convenient is that?? All of a sudden “But let’s not pretend the regular season doesn’t count.” – David Portnoy, conveniently insisting regular season stats matter. Rattling off Flacco’s regular season stats from LAST SEASON. Perfect. So while it’s always Peyton vs Brady this, Peyton vs Brady that while shoving playoff wins down your throat, all of a sudden last year’s regular season numbers matter (the only season in Flacco’s career the Ravens didn’t make the playoffs, you know, because they lost half of the Super Bowl winning team). All while forgetting Joe Flacco is the best playoff QB in NFL history. And that’s not hyperbole. I’m not making shit up to fit some made up narrative. Not my style. When we suck, I say we suck. When we beat teams up and take their lunch money, I write it as so.
Here are the facts, Jack:
ESPN – The numbers prove Flacco is elite in the postseason:
Flacco’s 10 playoff victories since 2008 (his first season in the NFL) are twice as many as any other quarterback over that time.
His seven postseason road wins are two more than any quarterback in NFL history.
Over Flacco’s last five postseason games, he has thrown 13 touchdown passes and zero interceptions.
His postseason passer rating of 105.9 since 2010 is tops among quarterbacks with at least four playoff starts during that span.
In his last five playoff games, Flacco has beaten and outplayed Andrew Luck, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Colin Kaepernick and Ben Roethlisberger. That group has totaled 30 Pro Bowls, seven NFL MVP awards and six Super Bowl rings.
Is that good? Is that great? Is that…elite? (If you aren’t smart enough to catch onto the “elite” joke by now, I have nothing for you). And don’t say he relied on the defense, the Ravens were in the bottom half of the league in yards allowed in 2012 when we won the ring. Beat Indy and Luck at home. Went into Denver and beat Manning despite Peyton getting spotted 2 special teams TD’s. And then marched into Foxboro as underdogs and what happened? In case your memory is fuzzy:
Flacco 21/36, 240 yards, 3 TDs 0 INTs
Brady 29/54, 320 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs
I’m not sitting here and saying BRADY SUCKS BLAH BLAH BLAH. He is clearly still a great QB and won 3 rings a decade ago. But going 4-5 since 2008 with 0 wins on the road doesn’t cut it in my book. And again, I’m not making up numbers or skewing them. Numbers do not lie when all you want to do is win playoff games. And since he entered the league, Flacco doesn’t lose playoff games. And yep, he doesn’t light the world on fire in the regular season, but we’ve already agreed that doesn’t matter anyway. The bottom line is when the going gets tough, January Joe gets going, and Flacco is the QB you want under center right now. And I gotta say it’s refreshing knowing David Portnoy agrees with me on that.