Alex Smith might be available. Just sayin'...
Q, ripping me a new one for my semi-serious semi joke in 3,2....
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So tired of hearing how Joe Flacco is responsible for the Ravens winning %
The fact is that Joe has been consitently ranked in the 15-20 range (based on QB rating).
He has been bad on the road, and bad in the majority of the Ravens playoff games.
We can get to the playoffs with Joe, but I don't think he'll ever win the SB
and the bottom line is that as he takes a bigger chunk of the salary cap the talent around him will decline... and I think the Ravens will have trouble maintaining their recent success.
He (and the koolaid drinking fan base) needs to realize that he is not an elite QB, and if he negotiates an elite salary the Ravens will not be able to keep the talent around him that he needs to win
Big Ben won the superbowl in his second year
Eli Manning won the suberbowl in his third year
That's what Elite QB's do
although I choke on giving a single player credit for a team accomplishment.
Did Trent Dilfer win a Super Bowl?
The point is there are very few QB's who can carry a team (Brady, Peyton, Ben, Rogers...)
I don't think Flacco is going to carry you to a SB, so you better be able to afford premium talent (defensive) elsewhere to make the TEAM successful.
You should have choked more. QB's don't win SB's. Teams do. The "elite" E. Manning needed a miracle ball-to-helmet catch from a bit player to win the first time. Brady and P. Manning rode their running games and defenses to SB victories, and the two years the Patriots relied on Brady to win they lost to E. Manning and the Giants. Both Giants victories stemmed more from the dominance of their defensive lines in those years than the offensive prowess of their QB- and in both E. Manning's biggest plays involve heroic catches.
The opening salvo in the Ravens victory was a long touchdown pass from Dilfer to Stokely, something which never seems to get mentioned in recounts of that demolishment of the Giants by the Ravens.
The closest I've ever seen a QB come to winning a SB was Elway in the '80s. Those Broncos teams weren't bad, but they wouldn't have sniffed the SB without Elway. The Bengals and Browns both were better teams in those years.
The "elite" arguments are mostly garbage. Flacco's a good quarterback. He's not a great one. You don't need to be a great quarterback to win Super Bowls. Troy Aikman has three rings, and he wasn't great, imo. He was very good, however. Great players, and this includes QB's, make those around them better. P.Manning and Brady are both great. Roethlisberger is sort-of great: in certain situations he is. In others, not so much. He won his first SB handing the ball off to Bettis and Fast Willie. He's the best I've ever seen after getting hit by a defender. He's good otherwise. In situations where other QB's would be on the ground (including P.Manning and Brady), Roethlisberger is still able to make plays downfield.
Flacco has some of that ability to shake off would-be sackers, but not close to Roethlisberger. He's more like Daunte Culpepper: he's big enough you need to get a solid hit or grab on him, but he lacks the lower body strength of Roethlisberger to just tear out of the grasp or absorb and bounce off of hard hits. He has a stronger, more accurate arm than Roethlisberger, however, and when both have time to survey the field I think Flacco is the better QB.
You make my point for me... Ben did not win the superbowl, anymore than Joe Flacco won the New England game that Ray Rice ran for 200 yards... or last week when Ray Rice turned a checkdown into a 30 yard game.
It's a team game, if Joe Flacco gets a top 5 QB salary the team talent and record will decline, even Ben and Brady are struggling to get to the SB now that they consume a large % of theire teams cap.
Just think the Ravens need to be very careful in how much money they give to Flacco. Sorry if my opinion doensn't align with your view of the world.
Flacco contributed to the win in San Diego. The entire game wasn't just Rice running for 30 yards. He hit a number of big third downs before and after that play, and it wasn't his play that backed the Ravens up to 4th and 29.
But I agree with your point: the Ravens can't afford to overpay Flacco, and he's not going to be a top 5 QB if his contract freezes out getting and keeping good players.