A rejuvenated Joe Flacco:
If this truly is Joe Flacco’s swan song in Baltimore, he’s going out with a bang. Flacco is on fire this season, completing 63.6% of his passes with six touchdowns to just two interceptions. Flacco’s 889 passing yards set him on a current pace for over 4,700-yards, which would beat his career high by over 400-yards. But stats aren’t everything. Thankfully, Flacco’s body-of-work is showing up on tape, too.
Joe Flacco’s ball-placement and confidence in making throws is better now than at any point in his career. Just take Flacco’s 2012 playoff performance and raise his completion percentage, that’s legitimately the level of play he’s performed at in 2018. Plenty of factors can explain his performance, but none can explain the confidence and the swagger he has in 2018.
A connection has finally been established between Joe Flacco and an Offensive Coordinator, this time in Marty Mornhinweg, which has allowed the two to mesh and create an offensive suited aroudn each other’s strengths. Meanwhile, the support at wide receiver Flacco has received (no pun intended) is easily the best he’s gotten in his career. All the hype this off-season surrounded Michael Crabtree, and rightfully so as he’s been a solid possession receiver, but the real star of the show has been John Brown. We can’t forget about Willie Snead’s importance to this offense, either.
At the end of the day, you can surround a quarterback with all the weapons in the world and he may never be able to accomplish anything worthwhile. “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.” The Ravens have given Joe Flacco the tools to be successful, and thus far he’s taken complete advantage. For the first time in a while, the Ravens offense looks to be firing on all cylinders, and a large portion of their success falls on to the play of their quarterback.