Is there ANYTHING Joe Flacco can do to convince the world he's a truly great player?

[bmorecareful]

Joe Flacco just had the best playoff run any QB has had since at least Joe Montana's 1989 and possibly of all time. He is coming off a Super Bowl championship and Super Bowl MVP at the ripe age of 28, the prime of most quarterback's careers.

And yet all around Baltimore, there is a significant portion of the fanbase that is clamoring for the Ravens to not re-sign Joe Flacco, or to only re-sign him if he comes way down from his asking price. A number of posters on this board are openly questioning his desire to win by saying that if he holds firm on his contract demands, he is "forcing" the FO to downgrade the team around him, thus hurting their chance of winning.

Those people conclude that Flacco should take a hometown discount to "stay in Baltimore and win games" instead of going to a place like Cleveland where they assume he won't win as much (ignoring the fact that he could easily carry a win differential of 5 or 6 games from Baltimore to Cleveland, more than enough to knock the former far out of the playoffs and the latter into the playoffs.) "If he won't do that, maybe we're better off without him," they say. Nobody said this to Haloti Ngata, Terrell Suggs, or Ray Rice, who together consume a cool 25% of the team's salary cap in 2013--a percentage it is unlikely Flacco's projected annual cap hit would ever even approach.

The national media has now picked up on this and the prevailing sentiment of the "football wonks" seems to be that maybe the Ravens should just go and put the non-exclusive franchise tag on Flacco, let another team sign him, and take their 2 first round picks to maybe get an Alex Smith, Matt Flynn, or... whoever... and go on their merry way. My jaw is on the floor that this is even a concept rational minds entertain.

So my question is... what will it take to convince people that Flacco belongs on this team? What will it take for the fanbase and national media to completely buy into Joe Flacco as the Ravens' most important player, a player worthy of being paid like the best at his position? (Keeping in mind that Ozzie in his career signed contracts that made Haloti Ngata the game's highest-paid DT, Terrell Suggs the game's highest-paid DE, Ray Lewis the game's highest-paid ILB, Ed Reed the game's highest-paid FS, etc...)

Is there even anything that can do that? The best or 2nd best playoff run of all time couldn't do it. I suspect a 4,000 yard, 30 TD season wouldn't, not in a time when 5,000 yard, 40 TD seasons are no longer eye-popping. I suspect another championship wouldn't. So what would? Is there any event or series of events that could possibly happen that would convince the world that Joe Flacco is a truly great player?

[HoustonRaven]

I think you're confusing two issues.

Just because some fans don't want to sign a QB to such a deal that would handcuff the team for years to come doesn't mean they don't want to keep Joe.

Let's say Joe says he wants $22 Million a year and won't budge. I'd fly to Bmore and pack his bags for him. Not because I think he's a bad QB, but because such a deal would cash strap the team to mediocrity.

[Paintballguy]

It's clear to me that people just hate on Flacco for no apparent reason. I had an argument before the Denver game in my office about Flacco. I stated that he's a clutch QB and just wins while citing all his playoff stats from the past 2 years. People basically laughed at me. Then, Flacco goes on this historic record breaking playoff run culminating with a SB MVP trophy. I don't get what Flacco has to do to prove that he's a really good QB.

[dscola31]

This is my issue as well. We have been neglecting the offensive line, wide receivers, and skill position players as we've paid the defenders top dollar. Flacco has made chicken soup out of chicken shit for too long. He deserves what he can get. In 17 years, he is the only QB to be considered even average. Yet as great as he is, he's still questioned by media and fans. Unreal.

[kronusthebonus]

People just assume that if you don't throw for 5000 yards and 35+ touchdowns you aren't a good quarterback. Plain and simple.

[Jeremiah W]

I remember reading a lot of the same stuff about Suggs, Nagta and Rice. People think they are good, but not great or worth top of the market money because it will cripple the cap or whatever.

Getting the fans to fret about the team spending is one of the smartest things the NFL ever did. What the players make should be none of our buisiness. It is hard enough to just figure out who is pretty good and who is great.

Joe is great. His record speaks for itself. All the opinions on him do not change the facts of all the 1st guy in history to do this, most wins in history and so on.

[Dirt1]

At the end of the day, you are worth what someone is willing to pay you. If the Ravens put the non-exclusive franchise tag on Flacco, and have the highest offer, then that is what Flacco is worth at this point in time. I think Ozzie has a good feel for what other teams are willing to pay for Flacco.

[JAB1985]

I think you're confusing two issues.

Just because some fans don't want to sign a QB to such a deal that would handcuff the team for years to come doesn't mean they don't want to keep Joe.

Let's say Joe says he wants $22 Million a year and won't budge. I'd fly to Bmore and pack his bags for him. Not because I think he's a bad QB, but because such a deal would cash strap the team to mediocrity.

curious but did you have the same thoughts about Ray Rice and his contract demands of being top 5 or "more than Peterson"?

[redmike34]

I've recently had cause to reconsider my opinion on this topic...

I think the bottom line is this: A good QB is the one thing that you can't do without in the NFL, and if you have one, he should definitely be the highest paid player on your roster. However, due to the salary cap it definitely is possible to pay a good QB too much money, because irrespective of how good he is, he's not going to play defense or carry the offense ALL the time. So, somewhere in there is a fine line... let's just hope Ozzie nails it.

[Jeremiah W]

I think you're confusing two issues.

Just because some fans don't want to sign a QB to such a deal that would handcuff the team for years to come doesn't mean they don't want to keep Joe.

Let's say Joe says he wants $22 Million a year and won't budge. I'd fly to Bmore and pack his bags for him. Not because I think he's a bad QB, but because such a deal would cash strap the team to mediocrity.

Even though there is a real chance that could happen, it is a chance you have to take. At the end of the day a disapointing season or two is not the end of the world. Oz is always worried about repeating the 2001 cap purge, but for what? Who did we lose off that team that turned out to be a major loss? There was a down year that was still competitive, and then we had a good young team to build around again. They made the mistake of picking the wrong QB to draft and develop, but McNair proved that the rest of the roster was ready to compete for a ring. So the window really never closed, we had one bad year and then an inconsistant era with a bad QB. There was never any real salary cap hell. We just had to let some vets go maybe a year or two before they were washed up.

[HoustonRaven]

curious but did you have the same thoughts about Ray Rice and his contract demands of being top 5 or "more than Peterson"?

Absolutely I did.

And there were others in agreement who were getting flamed on the boards for thinking it.

In the age of the cap, no player is worth mortgaging the future success of the team.

[NCRAVEN]

"Is there ANYTHING Joe Flacco can do to convince the world he's a truly great player?"

Yes. Put up great fantasy football stats so ESPN will start saying he's a good QB and the useful idiots (aka viewers) will change their mind.

Let's face it, their are far more casual fans and fantasy football fans than there are people like us who watch games with mindset of looking for more than big stats. ESPN and others are just marketing to the idiots who tune in to find out who they should play.

I just did a playoff fantasy football league. Out of 40 teams, I was the only one to pick Flacco. Know who the highest scoring player in the league was? IF you guessed Joe Flacco, you're a winner, just like Flacco.

If people don't think he's a good QB, FUCK EM. He just led the offense of a Superbowl winning team. I am good for a few years.