[News] Eisenberg: Pre-Bye Facts, Opinions And Awards

[Crusader]

Looking back in Ravens history it will come to be that Joe's contract killed this team. Yes that's "going rate" for QB but Ravens have done nothing since Joe signed and it does not look good for the future, Ravens will have a hard time keeping anyone. Not when you got people like Webb and Elvis taking 17 million.

[woolly61]

Please allow me to get off the track for a second. I know Joe Flacco has not played well the last couple of years, and certainly he must eat the last loss because of the two dreadul INTs. But I am so tired of the ill-informed fans who think that Joe "only had those four good games leading to the Super Bowl win." Do you remember the year before, the playoffs of 2011? In the two games played, Flacco combined for 4 TDs and 1 INT, with QB ratings of 97.1 and 95.4 in the two games. In the AFC Championship game that year AT New England, Flacco stats were 22-36 for 306, 2 TD, 1 INT; Brady went 22-36, 239, 0 TD, 2 INT (at home, remember?)...and Flacco threw a certain perfect pass to Lee Evans, who couldn't hold on for what would have been the game-winning TD and a trip to the Super Bowl the year BEFORE we won the Super Bowl. But Evans doesn't hold on, and then Billy Cundiff does his thing and misses the kick, and no overtime, either. Ravens miss the playoffs in 2013, but return to the playoffs in 2014; first game is AT Pittsburgh. Flacco goes 18-29-259, 2 TD, 0 INT,QB rating of 114.0; Roethlisberger goes 33-48-356, 1 TD, 2 INT, and the Ravens win, 30-17. You decide who had the better day; oh, the Raven running game was non-existent with 25 rushes for 53 yards. Divisional Round is next, again on the road, again at New England. Flacco goes 28-45 for 292, with 4 TD and 2 INT; Brady goes 34-51 for 418, with 4 TD and 1 INT. The Ravens were up 28-14 in the 3rd quarter, and end up losing 35-31. I will admit Flacco threw a bad INT late in this but I also remember the defense not being able to stop Brady and the Pats at all once the score was 28-14; it was constantly one long drive after another after another when one stop would have won that game. Flacco's QB rating in this game was 92.1.

My only point is quit with the Joe "Fluke-o" talk I hear too much of. Look at how closely the Ravens came to possibly being in two consecutive Super Bowls. Flacco has been, not just good good, but outstanding in the playoffs, and most of the time on the road. He has often played better than, or at least as well as, Brady and Roethlisberger when facing them in the playoffs. And, truth be told, if some of Flacco's passes had been caught this year (the bomb to Perriman in the Redskin game dropped --should have been a TD; Perriman could have gotten his second foot in-bounds for a game-winning TD [where are the acrobatic catches we fans see on ESPN from around the league; anybody helping Flacco out?!]; the game-ending fourth down throws where Flacco puts it right where it has to be when driving for a game-winning FG but Aiken and Wallace can't make the tough catch [granted, Wallace took a pop, but it's the NFL, and again, I see this catch made elsewhere around the league], things might look a little different. But I know Flacco hasn't played well; he has to play better, they all do. But what if C.J. Mosley doesn't fumble that ball into the end zone for a touchback in the Redskin game and the defense doesn't allow them to go down and score; how does that game turn out? What if Timmy Jernigan doesn't try to advance the fumble he recovered inside his own 5-yard line and then fumbles it right back to the Jets? How does that game turn out? What if Jimmy Smith on 4th and 5 in the Giant game actually covered Victor Cruz instead of standing 8 yards off the line of scrimmage and then backing up, enabling Cruz to catch a 10 yard pass, on 4th and 5! What if Lardarius Webb actually took a good angle to cut off a receiver running with the ball in the open field instead of the ridiculous angles we have seen him take these last two games when Odell Beckham and Quincy Enunwa have broken free and he is the last line of defense...anybody see Webbie make a tackle lately?! Sorry, I digress...