Joe Flacco: Tough Talk

[Edgar]

Joe will play well Sunday. Defense will step up and we get a W.

 

[BmoreBird22]

1 hour ago, Ravens419 said:

I agree but Brady can make something out of nothing and you can't deny that... 

I can deny that because it isn't true.

[donkeyking64]

Man I knew I'd check out this post amidst the Ray Lewis comments and people would be slurpin (not trying to be mean mods) up Ray Lewis. For the LOVE, can 90% of the contributors once just say that Ray needs to chill?

Notice I didn't say 'say that Ray is wrong' cause I know that'd be waaaaay too much to ask. This is the same man who when he was on the team would claim this and that about how Joe is our guy and he's always been a leader and 'I've always been a Joe Flacco fan since day 1' and then the minute he's no longer an active player has to provide criticism RE: lack of leadership, Joe's personality, blah blah blah.

Yes - as a media guy now, that's his job. But there's a right way to do it. Just say the man has played inconsistent and we need him to do better. No need to suggest that his personality is why he doesn't play well after the last 5 seasons you played in the NFL the man helped the team win at least 1 playoff game and play in 3 AFC Championship games!

When was the last time a Baltimore Raven past or present suggested something about Ray Lewis's personality in a negative connotation??? Cause Lord knows all my non-Ravens friends have something negative to say. He needs to chill.

[donkeyking64]

3 hours ago, Purple_City39 said:

This.

Ray Lewis criticism of anyone has gotten very old.  He manages to mention himself every single time in some way and clearly just likes to hear himself speak

In this latest criticism did he mention how "I played 17 years in this league"...did he drop that soundbyte??

Further to my last post, all he had to say was something like 'Joe isn't playing like a $120mm QB'

...and if he really wanted to "light a fire" the way some folks are suggesting it, the better way would have been for him to say something like

a. Joe isn't playing at the same high level he played at in my last few years with the team...
b. Joe can do better and he should...expect him to bounce back
c. This isn't the same Joe that took us on the epic run...I expect he will change that

Anyone of those approaches would have been much better than whatever he said

[BirdWatcher]

Quote

“If it’s a series or something hasn’t been going right, he’ll come in the huddle and say something to get us going,” Aiken said. “He does it. He just doesn’t do it for cameras.”

 

[codizzle]

1 hour ago, Tank 92 said:

No, your right he did say he was a great leader. He called him The General.  lol   Guess when you have air time to fill you, well, you have air time to fill. 

Exactly... he's saying crap on tv just to make statements. 

Like plenty have said already any conversation about the Ravens always goes full circle to talk about him and he has the need to make pointless statements. 

 

Loved ray ray as a player and leader of the Ravens team but he is an awful analyst/tv figure 

[GrimCoconut]

1 hour ago, Tank 92 said:

No, your right he did say he was a great leader. He called him The General.  lol   Guess when you have air time to fill you, well, you have air time to fill. 

I thought so but I'll admit I've been wrong before so I added that disclaimer. It's a strange statement to make. Maybe he'll end up clarifying this statement 

[gtalk12]

I thought Ray was a bit off base.

 

 

Flacco never was the VOCAL SUPREME COBRA COMMANDER that Ray Lewis and to an extent Ed Reed was....It's just not his style at all.

 

That being said, I do question his leadership as it pertains to working with his WR during the offseason, other than that he is Joe Cool with me.

[donkeyking64]

1 hour ago, Tank 92 said:

No, your right he did say he was a great leader. He called him The General.  lol   Guess when you have air time to fill you, well, you have air time to fill. 

http://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/article-1/Ray-Lewis-Passes-Torch-To-Joe-Flacco/d903bf58-4e53-4ae2-97b2-50bbfce2c6b7

[AsianRice]

http://gioandjones.radio.cbssports.com/2016/11/18/bart-scott-ray-lewis-comments-joe-flacco-ravens/

Bart defending Joe and it is the fact....

 

Some of ya said Boldin bailing out Joe, but without Joe's audible and perfect back shoulder throws and reads, would Boldin even have chance to make plays?

 

It's like saying Reggie Wayne bailing out Manning without any help on Manning's audible, perfect reads on defense and perfect throw?

 

Get your common senses down......

 

PS: it is a team sport and you can't do it alone, but when both of you do your jobs, some thing good will happen....

[Ravens419]

http://gioandjones.radio.cbssports.com/2016/11/18/bart-scott-ray-lewis-comments-joe-flacco-ravens/

enough said 

[usmccharles]

I really couldn't care any less about what Ray is saying about the ravens right now.   This is no different than "the media not respecting us"  cries,  Ray is the media now.... Simple as that.  

[allblackraven]

4 hours ago, The Raven said:

No, I just didnt feel the need to scream and give psuedo-inspirational speeches. I couldn't possibly care less about that garbage. Maybe I just have enough inner drive to where I didn't need to get motivation from some amped up ball of testosterone screaming at me.

Question is - were you willing to die for that inch?

[Deflated Football]

I love Flacco but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want my QB to be fiery like Brady or Rivers to at least get the offense amped up. God knows we've needed that this season 

[redlobster]

6 minutes ago, Deflated Football said:

I love Flacco but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want my QB to be fiery like Brady or Rivers to at least get the offense amped up. God knows we've needed that this season 

I see it the opposite, Rivers and Brady come off as whiny sissy's and complainers to me. That in your face racket gets old quick.

[flynismo]

13 hours ago, Tru11 said:

people seriously disrespecting ray in favor of flacco.

hilarious

It is hilarious how huge Ray's ego has always been. Me me me me....

[flynismo]

Not going to bother reading all the comments...the usual bridge dwellers are going to like what Ray said, the more sensible people will see it for what it is.

I remember being at our playoff game in 2006 and watching Trevor Pryce roll his eyes and look away when Ray started the pregame hooting and hollering.  People need to stop equating loud and obnoxious with leadership. Ray was a great leader, but because he waved the pom poms

[BmoreBird22]

Just throwing this out there, but I was just reading an article about how Rodgers actually is one of the quietest QB's when it comes to pumping up his teammates. He's like Joe Flacco, basically. 

That State Farm commercial? That's the opposite of Rodgers. He bottles all his emotions up.

[Deflated Football]

11 minutes ago, flynismo said:

Not going to bother reading all the comments...the usual bridge dwellers are going to like what Ray said, the more sensible people will see it for what it is.

I remember being at our playoff game in 2006 and watching Trevor Pryce roll his eyes and look away when Ray started the pregame hooting and hollering.  People need to stop equating loud and obnoxious with leadership. Ray was a great leader, but because he waved the pom poms

Who cares what Pryce did? He's not even half of what Ray Lewis was. 52 was the heart and soul of Baltimore for so damn long and now we're going to act like his rah-rah was obnoxious and unnecessary just to protect Joe Flacco? This thread is getting embarrassing now. He's in media. What do you expect him to say? I'm not saying that he's right or wrong; I actually believe the latter because everybody goes about being "passionate" differently, but to take away Ray's qualities and importance of getting the team fired up is extremely nonsensical. 

[Militant X 1]

35 minutes ago, flynismo said:

Not going to bother reading all the comments...the usual bridge dwellers are going to like what Ray said, the more sensible people will see it for what it is.

I remember being at our playoff game in 2006 and watching Trevor Pryce roll his eyes and look away when Ray started the pregame hooting and hollering.  People need to stop equating loud and obnoxious with leadership. Ray was a great leader, but because he waved the pom poms

Everyone seems to be commenting on a small portion of Ray's statement.  Well, here's the whole thing....

"There is something called talent, right, and you see it a dime a dozen. Then there's something called being passionate about what you do, about really what you do," Lewis explained on FS1's Speak For Yourself on Thursday. "Me being around that... Gifted? Absolutely. Passionate about what he does? I've never seen that. I don't know what that looks like."

Lewis would know a little something about passion; his legendary pregame entrance is oft-imitated and revered as sacred performance art league-wide. Not to mention that the future Hall of Famer also played every snap of football like his life depended on it. While what provoked Lewis' diatribe about his former quarterback's cool demeanor isn't clear -- he was originally asked why Flacco had been inconsistent -- the linebacker clearly had to get something off his chest.

"I don't know how many times you hear somebody really just go out on a limb to defend, He's the greatest teammate I've ever had. ... Maybe his personality is just not that personality. He's not a ra-ra guy; he won't say much. But still, in the game of football, there has to be some burning fire behind you, there has to be something that speaks that is bigger than me. This is us, this is a core. Whether you understood that I used to do or why I used to do it, sometimes I didn't ra-ra for me. Sometimes I ra-ra because my boys need to ra-ra." "He's always isolating himself to go sit on the bench, never talking to anybody after a big play, bad play, whatever it is. Teammates figure out how to create this core that we all get along. Then there's a fact, right? Some people will be co-workers, some people will be teammates, some people you may call friends. I call Joe Flacco a teammate; we won a Super Bowl together. What the Ravens have is a Steve Smith, is a Mike Wallace, is different personalities now that can make him rally because that's the only thing that can really bring him out of that.

Flacco caught wind of Lewis' comments and went on SiriusXM's Schein on Sports on Friday to read between the lines.

"It's something that I've always dealt with. It's my personality," Flacco said when asked about Lewis' comments. "When things are going well, people are asking why it's a good thing. When things aren't going well, they want to question you and different parts of your game. I'm not going to sit here and talk too much about it. It is what it is. Ray can think what he thinks. I'm here to lead these guys, keep us on top and keep us moving forward."

No one has ever argued that Flacco was an inspiring sideline presence, akin to Tom Brady or Russell Wilson. But it's interesting to hear from someone who knew him well that Flacco's lax attitude is actually a detriment to the team.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000741896/article/ray-lewis-questions-joe-flaccos-passion

 

Ok!  As much as I love Ray...and he is definitely my dude for sure and always will be; this was a very personal attack on Joe!  I believe it was a retaliation of what Joe said in the past about Ray's pregame speeches....

For the second time this offseason, Flacco has said that while Lewis was a great player and teammate, the pregame speeches that were intended to fire up the locker room often left Flacco feeling more confused than anything else. In March, Flacco said Lewis use to lose him while addressing the team.  Flacco has said that as he takes more of a leadership role, he’s not leading the way Lewis did.

“That’s not me,” Flacco says. “I love Ray, and I love how he always spoke from the heart, but if you listened to those speeches, a lot of them didn't even make sense.  He meant everything he was saying, but I didn’t know what he was talking about 90 percent of the time.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/08/23/joe-flacco-i-love-ray-lewis-but-his-speeches-didnt-even-make-sense/

Initially, I though Ray might have been saying this to indirectly inspire and rally the Ravens to fight hard for Joe on Sunday against the Cowboys. But after this?  Naw!  It was very spiteful and vindictive.  C'mon Ray!  SMH!!!!!!!

Edited November 19, 2016 by Militant X 1
Added a link

[January J]

Uncalled for. Joe Is the only qb I know who can throw 2 awful  picks and then bounce right back and throw 3 TDs BC he doesn't get rattled whatsoever.

[jazz1988]

1 hour ago, Militant X 1 said:

 

Initially, I though Ray might have been saying this to indirectly inspire and rally the Ravens to fight hard for Joe on Sunday against the Cowboys. But after this?  Naw!  It was very spiteful and vindictive.  C'mon Ray!  SMH!!!!!!!

I'm not entirely sure it's Ray Lewis being spiteful or vindictive. Before Joe Flacco it was  Ray Lewis that was the franchise player and the face of the team and when he retired he probably looked at  himself passing the baton to Joe Flacco . Joe Flacco is indeed suppose to be the franchise player and face of The Ravens team but I think Ray Lewis overall expected more from Flacco at leadership stand point especially since he had the space to do so with Lewis and Reed departure. Flacco leadership is passive aggressive  and Ray Lewis leadership wasn't . Both franchise players have different view points on leadership and let's be real here Flacco himself has took shots at Ray Lewis leadership methods before in the past but it didn't get alot attention like Ray Lewis comment towards Flacco.

 

What I find interesting is that Ray Lewis is considered self serviing because of his leadership and how go about things but Joe Flacco technically considered the same with his leadership and how he goes about things.  Ray Lewis is 41 years and Joe FLacco is 31 years so to me it just seems like former franchise player giving his view points on current franchise players and he probably is wrong for his remarks but both these guys just grew up differently and see things differently.

Edited November 19, 2016 by jazz1988

[GrimCoconut]

1 hour ago, BmoreBird22 said:

Just throwing this out there, but I was just reading an article about how Rodgers actually is one of the quietest QB's when it comes to pumping up his teammates. He's like Joe Flacco, basically. 

That State Farm commercial? That's the opposite of Rodgers. He bottles all his emotions up.

Rodgers?! Pfft! He clearly sucks I mean just look at his fantasy numbers and stats 

[Ravensfan23]

2 hours ago, Deflated Football said:

I love Flacco but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want my QB to be fiery like Brady or Rivers to at least get the offense amped up. God knows we've needed that this season 

I'm sure some players feel the same way you do. There is something about seeing your QB have swag and passion because those guys are historically like Joe. Just cool, claim and collected. 

However you really can't be mad at Joe's style. He is who he is and I'd rather him be true to himself and everyone else adapt than him try to be something he's not. Than the question has to be asked, how much does verbal leadership actually help. The Ravens had plenty of vocal leadership from Ray Lewis when the team wasn't playing so well. How did it help. Would Joe being fired up make the oline not get injured? Would it force guys not to miss step or hold? How would it really help other than us sitting on our couches saying yeah get them Joe? lol

Go back to the first Browns game and listen to Mike Wallace speak about Joe at his presser. He spoke about how great it is to have a QB with such a cool demeanor as Joe because he makes you feel like nothing is to bad to overcome. Guys love that. I'd be willing to bet that most players love Joe's style and would rather have a guy who gets on them for mistakes. I think we as fans want to see that from an entertainment factor but again would Stanley had fared any better vs Harrison if Joe grabbed him by the facemask and told him to block better?

As for Ray's comments. I find it hard to believe that players could have a near mutiny against the Head Coach one season and come back this season with a no punches held, say exactly how you feel meeting, but not one single player has come out against Flacco over the years. This man hobbled around for like 4 games in 2009 with a deep bruised hip. Finished a game with a torn ACL and MCL. Busted his butt to return as soon as possible from that injury. This guy rehabbed in Baltimore almost every single day, most big time guys don't rehab at the team facility for whatever reason but Joe did. So those young guys who were allowed to here during the offense got to see Joe work everyday. Flacco has plenty of passion for the game. Ray also talked about how you have guys you consider teammates and some you consider friends. Well what does his passion for the game have to do with whether he's a friend or not. Ray used to call Ray Rice a little brother but than throw him under the bus. What type of friend is that? Bart Scott just called him whack, is that a friend? Also Ray talked about how he doesn't recall anyone saying Flacco is a great teammate. Well if Flacco wasn't a great teammate why are so many guys rallying behind him despite him having one of his worse years? Why does a guy like Mason continue to talk about how he loves Flacco 5 years later? I just don't understand the comments, but you gotta love Joe's response to it. 

[GrimCoconut]

1 hour ago, Deflated Football said:

Who cares what Pryce did? He's not even half of what Ray Lewis was. 52 was the heart and soul of Baltimore for so damn long and now we're going to act like his rah-rah was obnoxious and unnecessary just to protect Joe Flacco? This thread is getting embarrassing now. He's in media. What do you expect him to say? I'm not saying that he's right or wrong; I actually believe the latter because everybody goes about being "passionate" differently, but to take away Ray's qualities and importance of getting the team fired up is extremely nonsensical. 

I think it's clear Ray is just upset Flacco didn't keep the Dirty Squirrel

[flynismo]

1 hour ago, Deflated Football said:

Who cares what Pryce did? He's not even half of what Ray Lewis was. 52 was the heart and soul of Baltimore for so damn long and now we're going to act like his rah-rah was obnoxious and unnecessary just to protect Joe Flacco? This thread is getting embarrassing now. He's in media. What do you expect him to say? I'm not saying that he's right or wrong; I actually believe the latter because everybody goes about being "passionate" differently, but to take away Ray's qualities and importance of getting the team fired up is extremely nonsensical. 

Did you even read what I said? "Ray was a great leader, but not because he waved the pom poms."

I bring up Trevor Pryce because it illustrates the point that grown men don't give a crap about how many dogs are in the house and squirrel dances. That's for the fans, and Ray.

Nobody is diminishing what Ray meant to this franchise. If you want to construe it as bashing Ray to protect Flacco, go right ahead.

[flynismo]

“It’s just odd that you hear Ray Lewis saying something. Joe Flacco won you a Super Bowl, did you forget about that?” Weddle said. “I don’t know. It is what it is. We love Joe. He’s our guy. He’s a great teammate, professional, leads, everything you want. It’s kind of irrelevant. We don’t really care what the outside thinks. For an old teammate to say that, it’s just like, ‘Don’t you have something better to talk about?’ I guess he didn’t.”

[usmccharles]

4 minutes ago, flynismo said:

“It’s just odd that you hear Ray Lewis saying something. Joe Flacco won you a Super Bowl, did you forget about that?” Weddle said. “I don’t know. It is what it is. We love Joe. He’s our guy. He’s a great teammate, professional, leads, everything you want. It’s kind of irrelevant. We don’t really care what the outside thinks. For an old teammate to say that, it’s just like, ‘Don’t you have something better to talk about?’ I guess he didn’t.”

God I love having Weddle on this team. 

[flynismo]

1 hour ago, Militant X 1 said:

Everyone seems to be commenting on a small portion of Ray's statement.  Well, here's the whole thing....

"There is something called talent, right, and you see it a dime a dozen. Then there's something called being passionate about what you do, about really what you do," Lewis explained on FS1's Speak For Yourself on Thursday. "Me being around that... Gifted? Absolutely. Passionate about what he does? I've never seen that. I don't know what that looks like."

Lewis would know a little something about passion; his legendary pregame entrance is oft-imitated and revered as sacred performance art league-wide. Not to mention that the future Hall of Famer also played every snap of football like his life depended on it. While what provoked Lewis' diatribe about his former quarterback's cool demeanor isn't clear -- he was originally asked why Flacco had been inconsistent -- the linebacker clearly had to get something off his chest.

"I don't know how many times you hear somebody really just go out on a limb to defend, He's the greatest teammate I've ever had. ... Maybe his personality is just not that personality. He's not a ra-ra guy; he won't say much. But still, in the game of football, there has to be some burning fire behind you, there has to be something that speaks that is bigger than me. This is us, this is a core. Whether you understood that I used to do or why I used to do it, sometimes I didn't ra-ra for me. Sometimes I ra-ra because my boys need to ra-ra." "He's always isolating himself to go sit on the bench, never talking to anybody after a big play, bad play, whatever it is. Teammates figure out how to create this core that we all get along. Then there's a fact, right? Some people will be co-workers, some people will be teammates, some people you may call friends. I call Joe Flacco a teammate; we won a Super Bowl together. What the Ravens have is a Steve Smith, is a Mike Wallace, is different personalities now that can make him rally because that's the only thing that can really bring him out of that.

Flacco caught wind of Lewis' comments and went on SiriusXM's Schein on Sports on Friday to read between the lines.

"It's something that I've always dealt with. It's my personality," Flacco said when asked about Lewis' comments. "When things are going well, people are asking why it's a good thing. When things aren't going well, they want to question you and different parts of your game. I'm not going to sit here and talk too much about it. It is what it is. Ray can think what he thinks. I'm here to lead these guys, keep us on top and keep us moving forward."

No one has ever argued that Flacco was an inspiring sideline presence, akin to Tom Brady or Russell Wilson. But it's interesting to hear from someone who knew him well that Flacco's lax attitude is actually a detriment to the team.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000741896/article/ray-lewis-questions-joe-flaccos-passion

 

Ok!  As much as I love Ray...and he is definitely my dude for sure and always will be; this was a very personal attack on Joe!  I believe it was a retaliation of what Joe said in the past about Ray's pregame speeches....

For the second time this offseason, Flacco has said that while Lewis was a great player and teammate, the pregame speeches that were intended to fire up the locker room often left Flacco feeling more confused than anything else. In March, Flacco said Lewis use to lose him while addressing the team.  Flacco has said that as he takes more of a leadership role, he’s not leading the way Lewis did.

“That’s not me,” Flacco says. “I love Ray, and I love how he always spoke from the heart, but if you listened to those speeches, a lot of them didn't even make sense.  He meant everything he was saying, but I didn’t know what he was talking about 90 percent of the time.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/08/23/joe-flacco-i-love-ray-lewis-but-his-speeches-didnt-even-make-sense/

Initially, I though Ray might have been saying this to indirectly inspire and rally the Ravens to fight hard for Joe on Sunday against the Cowboys. But after this?  Naw!  It was very spiteful and vindictive.  C'mon Ray!  SMH!!!!!!!

I think spiteful and vindictive may be a tad strong...if he took Flacco's comments a certain way, then I can't knock him for wanting to get a retort in there.

My issue is, Ray seems to think there are two ways of doing things: his way, and the wrong way.

Maybe if every other teammate Joe has ever had didn't have his back, or would have said something similar to what Ray did, this would be a non-issue.

No love lost for Ray, I have always said he has a ridiculous ego, and too many people have no clue what leadership is, when they mistake squirrel dances for leadership. Ray is a legend, love him to death. But when you're wrong, you're wrong...

[Wisdom]

4 hours ago, usmccharles said:

I really couldn't care any less about what Ray is saying about the ravens right now.   This is no different than "the media not respecting us"  cries,  Ray is the media now.... Simple as that.  

LOL, I'm sure the feelings are mutual. Hilarious.