[News] Late For Work 12/5: Checking In On Joe Flacco's Elite Status After Record Day

[BR News]

Where has this offense been? A 'fiery exchange' between Flacco & Mornhinweg set stage. Any concern over run-pass imbalance? Webb makes top-five catches list; defense overshadowed. Why Suggs? Why? Pitta on track to put up best season of career. Patriots will try to knock Ravens back down to earth.

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[dhartm2]

It seems like it will probably get lost in all the offense talk and with the Pats next week, but I think Tavon Young had a break out game, glad to see it reflected in the PFF rankings. He's developing into a great corner despite his size and a real play maker. Hopefully he's starting the rest of the season. He got a little banged up towards the end of the game, was it a serious at all?

[merryjman]

Win came at a good time, in terms of morale. Even if they end up losing to NE next week, I think it will be a much closer game than anyone would have thought possible from this Ravens team. Great to see all three phases working, even greater to see the key players mostly healthy.

On a related note: O line performance was a really big deal yesterday, and nobody said much about it. Joe didn't get sacked at all and the line was able to protect him long enough to get those middle-of-the-field passes that tore up the Dolphins yesterday. Kudos to those guys, especially Yanda who's a tougher human being than just about everyone else on this planet!

 

[Wildwest Raven]

Excellent, just excellent... both sides of the ball really shined. Lets go after NE with the same intensity.

[dirtybird66]

yes,there is such a thing called prevent offense and just like the prevent defense,i hate it because it prevents you from winning,wev'e done a great job the last couple of games not playing prevent defense and keeping the pressure on,sunday we did it with the offense.the big thing i saw was receivers settling in,in the zone and seems like flacco finally did as well.

[purpledown]

great win, a good mix, the Ravens HAVE to run the ball to win.

[dirtybird66]

suggs makes a cute little puppy,aw! think it was supposed to be a rabid dawg.

[dirtybird66]

i actually thought their rb ajai looked better then his yardage.

[griffrb]

A lot of good effort and plays were made by the team yesterday. I was so shocked I was outside raking leaves by the 4th quarter. I'm going to re-watch the game to ensure what I saw was real. First time in years I've woken up on a football Monday without being aggravated. The fellas in the trenches on both sides of the ball controlled the game. Good work.

[TorryGundy]

O line play was great. Zuttah must really be getting healthy because the last two games , his play has been great. When Flacco does not have pressure in front of him, he can be lethal. Ducasse still has too many penalties, but boy can he run block! Yanda is just a stud!

On D the run D is impeccable! I do want to get the Old Jernigan going again. He is not getting as consistent a push up the middle. Brandon has ben Great. Webby is playing great at safety! He has range and looks really confident the last three weeks.

If we can put three fazes together , we may be the second most balanced team in the NFL behind Dallas. We will see Monday! Leggo !

[TheRavengers]

The most complete game I've seen since the last time they went to the playoffs.

[Tdot.to.Bmore]

We saw what this offense can do when the Oline blocks for Joe.

[billiejean]

I am not trying to nitpick but has anyone questioned Harbaugh about the decision not to challenge the Pitta fumble? It obviously didn't change the outcome but I thought it was a no brainer. If we didn't win the challenge it wouldn't be a huge deal as there was no reason to try to save time outs. He looked a bit befuddled on the sideline after the play.

[fusuymada]

Just like a cheesy horror movie....

I can see Bellicek just shaking his head at his desk, hoping, all along, that cold-weather Flacco just wouldn't appear. The Patriot Grinch....

Hey Bill, "HE'S HERE!" HAHAHAHAHA

Cue cheesy music........

Your a mean one, Mr Flacco, your Stealing our Lombardi......

[TheRavengers]

Anyone notice that more often than not, Joe was in shotgun formation for a lot of the time?

[VermontRaven]

4 minutes ago, billiejean said:

I am not trying to nitpick but has anyone questioned Harbaugh about the decision not to challenge the Pitta fumble? It obviously didn't change the outcome but I thought it was a no brainer. If we didn't win the challenge it wouldn't be a huge deal as there was no reason to try to save time outs. He looked a bit befuddled on the sideline after the play.

Teams can't challenge turnovers.  All turnovers are automatically reviewed.  There's nothing a coach can do about it.

[Bat-mite]

I think we all agree that we need a good run/pass balance, and that Sunday was pass-heavy. HOWEVER -- when the middle of the field is wide open for the entire game, that philosophy goes out the window. The idea behind a string running game is to set up a string passing game. We had the passing without the running, and I don't blame them a bit for sticking with what was working.

We scored 38 points by exploiting the middle of the field. Good work!

Now, that doesn't mean we don't need to get back to a good run game against the Patsies.

[Bat-mite]

Oh, yeah -- and good for Joe for sticking it to Marty. Looks like whatever he said worked.

And Suggs' crawling thing was just ... unpleasant. 

Edited December 5, 2016 by Bat-mite

[billiejean]

16 minutes ago, VermontRaven said:

Teams can't challenge turnovers.  All turnovers are automatically reviewed.  There's nothing a coach can do about it.

thanks, totally forgot about that rule

[whobilly]

  20 minutes ago, billiejean said:

I am not trying to nitpick but has anyone questioned Harbaugh about the decision not to challenge the Pitta fumble? It obviously didn't change the outcome but I thought it was a no brainer. If we didn't win the challenge it wouldn't be a huge deal as there was no reason to try to save time outs. He looked a bit befuddled on the sideline after the play.

Teams can't challenge turnovers.  All turnovers are automatically reviewed.  There's nothing a coach can do about it.

Pitta did fumble the ball. When they showed it on the stadium screens the fans first reaction was that it wasn't a fumble. After showing it several times from different angles you did see the ball coming out before his knee touched.

[whobilly]

A good QB with an "Elite" game does not make for an elite QB. If Joe would rack up 8 to 10 games a season like yesterdays game then I'd be on the elite wagon. With that being said, very glad that we have him.

[RavenzOz]

I think Joe snuck into the Protocol Updog Laboratory while JT was out practising kicks.

[RailBird]

I've said this on the same article on NFL.com, I'm not at all concerned about our running game after yesterday's win. Wasn't it obvious that Flacco was easily destroying the Dolphins? Why start running it more often when the passing game is working wonders?
The only reason people were mad about abandoning the run in previous games is because the running game was clearly the better option in those games.

[robbie29]

Great job yesterday, especially in terms of a true TEAM effort. Everyone but the kick/punt return guys were firing on all cylinders.

By the way- one terrific game does not suddenly make a QB elite. If Joe had done all season what he did yesterday then we could revive the elite argument. We'd also be the best team in the AFC if he had done all season what he did yesterday. I think Joe owes it to us to play the remaining 4 games (and hopefully postseason games) like he played yesterday.

That said- what a great start to December! Keep the momentum going, Ravens! Please beat those freakin' Patriots.

[steelcityraven]

Who really cares about his "ELITE" status.... I know that we can win with Joe and I know that we can win a super bowl with him bc we have done both under him. With that being said.... I think if he just keeps winning and even adds some more super bowls... The "Elite" debate will take care of itself.

If he can produce another super bowl title -people will start calling him ELITE for sure (he will win some more over)

If he can produce two more super bowls victories in his career... everyone will have to be on board and agree that Joe Flacco was ELITE-

but really... if he is Elite or he is not... the question is this: "Is he a winner" and that is what really matters. I can think of ELITE QBs who could not win a title (Dan Marino, Fran Tarkenton, Jim Kelly, Carson Palmer, etc..).

I can think of avg QBs who have won super bowls (Rich Gannon, Trent Dilfer, Doug Williams, Phil Sims etc.) and even avg QBs who have won multiple super bowls
(Eli Manning) - I really believe that if you ask every owner in the NFL.... they will all gladly trade an ELITE QB for one who wins a couple of super bowls.

The real question is.... can the team be ELITE (or the franchise) be ELITE with the QB at the helm. The answer to that question for the Ravens is yes

We have reached the pinnacle of the sport with Joe and we have no reason to believe that we cannot do it again with him (provided we put the right help in place) Which is what an Elite franchise does.

Is Joe elite? Elite enough for an Elite Franchise like the RAVENS to help him to be a winner. Elite enough to make us an elite franchise and that is what really counts.

[steelcityraven]

Really happy for both Suggs and Pitta... coming off of what could have been career ending injuries. Keep rolling!

[steelcityraven]

Loved the way the OL looked... hope it is a sign of things to come!

[Crusader]

Here I make it simple. How many PRO bowls has Joe been selected too compared to other QB's?

[steelcityraven]

BTW.... wonder what the experts will say about the Ronnie Stanley / L Tunsil thing after last week. I know it is only one game and I know they don't exactly go head to head but Ronnie has to win round 1

[Bat-mite]

14 minutes ago, steelcityraven said:

Who really cares about his "ELITE" status.... I know that we can win with Joe and I know that we can win a super bowl with him bc we have done both under him. With that being said.... I think if he just keeps winning and even adds some more super bowls... The "Elite" debate will take care of itself.

If he can produce another super bowl title -people will start calling him ELITE for sure (he will win some more over)

If he can produce two more super bowls victories in his career... everyone will have to be on board and agree that Joe Flacco was ELITE-

but really... if he is Elite or he is not... the question is this: "Is he a winner" and that is what really matters. I can think of ELITE QBs who could not win a title (Dan Marino, Fran Tarkenton, Jim Kelly, Carson Palmer, etc..).

I can think of avg QBs who have won super bowls (Rich Gannon, Trent Dilfer, Doug Williams, Phil Sims etc.) and even avg QBs who have won multiple super bowls
(Eli Manning) - I really believe that if you ask every owner in the NFL.... they will all gladly trade an ELITE QB for one who wins a couple of super bowls.

The real question is.... can the team be ELITE (or the franchise) be ELITE with the QB at the helm. The answer to that question for the Ravens is yes

We have reached the pinnacle of the sport with Joe and we have no reason to believe that we cannot do it again with him (provided we put the right help in place) Which is what an Elite franchise does.

Is Joe elite? Elite enough for an Elite Franchise like the RAVENS to help him to be a winner. Elite enough to make us an elite franchise and that is what really counts.

Perfect!