Pretty Good Article On Flacco From KVV, Baltimore Sun

[Bltravens]

Starting note before I explain the article. Mods I hope you dont merge this, even though it would be warrented, because the way this article is written is extremely unique in my opinion. It is written DIRECTLY to Joe Flacco from Kevin Van Valkenberg at the Baltimore Sun and I think it deserves its own thread so it doesnt get lost in the shuffle.


The article itself has a melancholic feel about it, which is vastly different from anything KVV writes. He is non emotional in anything he writes and sometimes it feels like youre reading an article spit out of a computer, thats how ruthless he is in his judgements on games. But this article I found completely fascinating by the way it was written. KVV defends Flacco, in a most interesting way for him, without continually throwing numbers down your throat. Anyone with 5min to spare, that has heard how badly Flacco has been roasted this week, should read this article.



http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/ravens-insider/bal-joe-flacco-ravens-quarterback-deserves-to-be-appreciated-20120120,0,3782950.story

[K-Dog]

I agree with that article.
Joe is very good, not great, but very good. He gets the job done. No more no less. ( most of the time )

I have a jumbo Wendys Frosty that says one of his best games is tomorrow.

[Ravenslifer]

[quote name='Bltravens' timestamp='1327197033' post='961619']
Starting note before I explain the article. Mods I hope you dont merge this, even though it would be warrented, because the way this article is written is extremely unique in my opinion. It is written DIRECTLY to Joe Flacco from Kevin Van Valkenberg at the Baltimore Sun and I think it deserves its own thread so it doesnt get lost in the shuffle.


The article itself has a melancholic feel about it, which is vastly different from anything KVV writes. He is non emotional in anything he writes and sometimes it feels like youre reading an article spit out of a computer, thats how ruthless he is in his judgements on games. But this article I found completely fascinating by the way it was written. KVV defends Flacco, in a most interesting way for him, without continually throwing numbers down your throat. Anyone with 5min to spare, that has heard how badly Flacco has been roasted this week, should read this article.



[url="http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/ravens-insider/bal-joe-flacco-ravens-quarterback-deserves-to-be-appreciated-20120120,0,3782950.story"]http://www.baltimore...0,3782950.story[/url]
[/quote]

Excellent read. Thanks for posting it.

[Ed_Reed20]

I've always loved KVV's "Five Things..." column and other articles he's produced over the years. But that piece made him appreciate him as a writer even more. Great article.

I still remember that run on 3rd and 7 and how Joe stretched to get the first down, and up till now, I don't think I'd seen it written in any article that mentioned that game. It wasn't a jaw-dropping play, but it's a play that a winning QB makes.

Can't wait for tomorrow's game.

[Militant X 1]

here is what i like the most about this article....

[i]To be honest, I almost feel like someone is picking on my little brother. I say that because [url="http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/ravens-insider/bal-5-things-we-learned-from-chargers-34-ravens-14-20111219,0,757399.photogallery"]I pick on you fairly frequently[/url] -- mostly because I recognize how talented you are, and I expect a lot from you -- but I'll be damned if I'm going to let the rest of the world tee you up repeatedly without coming to your defense a little bit. [/i]

now...i have done my share of smoking Joe's poor gameplay at the qb spot at times this season as well only because i see his potential and i want him to be considered one of the "elite" qbs in the league. but, i can do that cause i am a Ravens fan! all of these other cats in the media couldn't care less about Joe or our Ravens. so to hell wit'em! go out there Joe and get this "W" for yourself, your teammates, coaches, the FO, the city of Baltimore and we...the Ravens fans!

let's goooooo Joeeeeee!!!

~Mili

[Ravenslifer]

I wonder if people ever stop to think how many times over the past 4 years have we gotten to the red zone, and then Ray Rice, Ricky Williams, Willis McGahee, LeRon McClain, etc. ran it in for the score, while you see a lot of "elite quarterbacks" almost exclusively throw it in from that distance. For instance, the Green Bay Packers have a total of 12 rushing TDs on the season. 5 have been by the quarterbacks and BJ Raji. Conversely, when we get down the goal-line it's almost exclusively Ray Rice or Ricky Williams running down there. If we threw as much as other teams, especially in scoring situations, I think Flacco's numbers would easily match "elite QB" numbers, at least in the TD department.

[PuRock]

That was a fantastic read. I can't see how Joe doesn't read that like 5 times and frames the article. That pretty much reflects how I (and many of the posters on here) feel about Joe.

[ratedr]

[quote name='Militant X 1' timestamp='1327198286' post='961646']
here is what i like the most about this article....

[i]To be honest, I almost feel like someone is picking on my little brother. I say that because [url="http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/ravens-insider/bal-5-things-we-learned-from-chargers-34-ravens-14-20111219,0,757399.photogallery"]I pick on you fairly frequently[/url] -- mostly because I recognize how talented you are, and I expect a lot from you -- but I'll be damned if I'm going to let the rest of the world tee you up repeatedly without coming to your defense a little bit. [/i]

now...i have done my share of smoking Joe's poor gameplay at the qb spot at times this season as well only because i see his potential and i want him to be considered one of the "elite" qbs in the league. but, i can do that cause i am a Ravens fan! all of these other cats in the media couldn't care less about Joe or our Ravens. so to hell wit'em! go out there Joe and get this "W" for yourself, your teammates, coaches, the FO, the city of Baltimore and we...the Ravens fans!

let's goooooo Joeeeeee!!!

~Mili
[/quote]
Basically. I slam Joe a lot, maybe too much. But when I hear others who aren't Ravens fans --- this Jets fan I work with, for example, who claims Sanchez is better --- I defend Joe like he's my brother. Of course Joe is older than me, but I still defend him like he's my little brother. Only I'm allowed to trash him.

[Gordo52]

Great article. It got me thinking....
I cant remember the last time we had 3 WR's on one side of the field?
Why? lol. WHY Cam?!

[sliceanddic3]

Great article. I'd say that's exactly how most Ravens fans feel about Joe.

[kingcars]

I definitely agree with everything said in that article.

[Ravenslifer]

"I'm going to admit, Joe, that I'm one of those people who initially was fooled into thinking Matt Ryan was better than you. In general, his game looks "prettier" than yours, and he puts up slightly better statistics than you do. But lately, I've come around to the idea that a lot of his success looks like the product of playing in a weak division and in a controlled environment. Put him in Giants Stadium against a good defense with the wind swirling in a big game and [b]he looks like a noodle-armed check-down artist[/b] who can't handle getting pushed around."

Is it wrong that I find this to be my favorite paragraph in the whole article, especially the highlighted phrase. Every time I read it, I crack up. I know, it's wrong. But I still can't stop laughing.

[RivenHale]

The only problem I have with that article is how did Kevin Van Valkenburg get into my brain and write down exactly what I was thinking except eloquently and intelligently.

[CalvinSmoke]

[quote name='Bltravens' timestamp='1327197033' post='961619']

[url="http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/ravens-insider/bal-joe-flacco-ravens-quarterback-deserves-to-be-appreciated-20120120,0,3782950.story"]http://www.baltimore...0,3782950.story[/url]
[/quote]

BLT I first want to thank you for posting this, definitely my best read of the day. I truely appreciate it.
Secondly KVV get's a lot of respect from me for stepping outside of the box and writing a great article.

We all here know that Joe Flacco is the man, and he's the perfect QB for our team as of now. If i were playing receiver i'd want to play for a Q like Joe, no doubt about it.

[Purple Nurple]

Wonderful read. Go get em, Joe.

[T3hRaven]

This was a pretty good read, and at least one of the local boys is coming to Flacco's defense. I'm most surprised someone said he was better than Matt Ryan, I never thought I'd see that.

If Flacco winds up being Aikman, like Dilfer and this guy suggest, the franchise is set for a while. Aikman is one of the most underrated QBs of all time and he won three Super Bowls.

[gabefergy]

KVV consistently writes great articles, well done by him once again.

[jaege]

[quote name='K-Dog' timestamp='1327197742' post='961637']I agree with that article. Joe is very good, not great, but very good. He gets the job done. No more no less. ( most of the time ) I have a jumbo Wendys Frosty that says one of his best games is tomorrow.[/quote]


K-dog,

That is not a bet I would take. I am going to have to agree with you completely. Let the skeptics beware.

[HaX]

I'm gonna be rocking my flacco jersey hard
come on Joe!

[HaX]

plus he is gonna look like a dope if he loses with his fumanchu

[Shadowalker]

This article was incredible.

[Sizzlebshu]

I love this article, but there is one thing I hate about it. I think Joe actually does have the potential to be an elite qb in this league. Not an elite game manage or Troy Aikman type (nothing wrong with that at all), but an elite qb. The problem is A. Cam has to go (although that wont be a quick fix). B. There will be an adjustment/learning period (but hey even rodgers has this when he took over the team). I dont think you can make a judgment about what kind of qb flacco is going to be until he is given a chance to run the offense to some degree and mature into a team leader, not just an offensive one.

[CorvusCorax]

A great read thank you very much. Pretty much summed up how I felt about Joe.

[poedacrow]

[left][b]"I've seen you play awful, and I've seen you play brilliant football."[/b][/left]


[left]That is a pretty fair assessment of what a lot of us Ravens fans have seen. I think Joe is on the cusp of putting his mark on the NFL and this team (yep I said that out loud) and I think the measure of that will begin roughly 12 hours from now. I think we'll look back years from now and say, "this is when Joe turned the corner...this is when it started."[/left]

[slayback0317]

Great article Im glad the writer said whats on my mind!

[Ski Money]

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[Ski Money]

[quote name='Shadowalker' timestamp='1327213409' post='961784']
This article was incredible.
[/quote]


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[Ski Money]

[quote name='CorvusCorax' timestamp='1327215744' post='961790']
A great read thank you very much. Pretty much summed up how I felt about Joe.
[/quote]


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[Ski Money]

[quote name='slayback0317' timestamp='1327219811' post='961809']
Great article Im glad the writer said whats on my mind!
[/quote]


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[theFRANCHISE]

[quote name='gabefergy' timestamp='1327207190' post='961744']
KVV consistently writes great articles, well done by him once again.
[/quote]
Kevin Van Valkenburg is probably my favorite sportswriter of the past four years and he's always been The Baltimore Sun's hidden gem. I've yet to read a bad article from him, even if I've disagreed with him at times.

KVV perfectly sums up how we feel about Flacco, whether you love Joe or hate him.

However, I've always felt that it's far too easy to hate Flacco when we've never known what it's like to develop a QB in Baltimore. Everyone wants a Tom Brady, Drew Brees, or Peyton Manning, but those are once-in-a-lifetime players. It's nice to expect more out of our QB, but there's times where we forget just how good we have it compared to other teams.