It’s Sorta Like a Quarterback Controversy, I Guess

So the big buzz out of Baltimore Ravens training camp surrounds the three way dance for the team’s starting quarterback position. The immediate front runner for the job is Joe Flacco, the QB out of Delaware who the Ravens drafted with the 18th pick in the 2008 NFL Draft. Off top, he’s the guy most people want to see.

But year in and year out, Kyle Boller manages to sneak up in there, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he opened the season as the starter for the team. Throughout his five tenuous years with the Ravens, Boller has always shown flashes of brilliance, only to be dimmed by untimely mistakes in crucial moments. You have to assume there’s a reason why the franchise has kept him around the longest out of all the QB busts that have come through Charm City.

And then there’s Troy Smith, the former Heisman Trophy winner who made the team as a fifth round pick last season, but never had a true opportunity to show if he had the stuff Super Bowl winning quarterbacks are made of. He’s the X-Factor, because there’s a chance Smith may start with Boller as the back-up for the season’s first 2-3 games due to Ravens fans’ general allergic reaction to Boller under center.

In either case, the Flacco regime will begin if the Ravens have two wins or less five games into the season.

But until then, can you call this a controversy? QB controversy has long been that a difference of opinion can arise with either player getting the nod. But with the collection of unproven NFL quarterbacks in Baltimore, the greatest controversy won’t be who is the starter, but how long will it take until Joe Flacco comes in.