Honest Thoughts about Flacco's Contract in 2013?

[cec327]

I had no problem with his contract. What I was pissed about was dumping Boldins over two million a year. Ability and attitude they did not replace until SSSr. Then Pita became a black hole for money because of a freak injury, three times.

Agree. Couldn't believe that they let Bolden go.

[Ravenswintitle]

He was hurt pretty badly though in the Lions game prior to the Pats game and had to wear a brace and could obviously barely move around.

First it was they would’ve won if Joe played now it’s well he was hurt. He threw almost 40 passes. Played the next week too in a loss

[saintmatthew]

First it was they would’ve won if Joe played now it’s well he was hurt. He threw almost 40 passes. Played the next week too in a loss

He shouldn’t have played at all. He was a mess and just kept getting clobbered in those two games.


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[Trackmaster]

what season are you talking about? Joe did play against Pats and they crushed the Ravens.

I think that PerpetuallyBored was talking about a healthy Joe. I don't really think that Joe was severely hurt to me knowledge though, the poster may have had his years confused. Even if we had Peyton Manning, we weren't winning the 2013 game against the Patriots. It was a brutal beatdown. It looked like a D1-A school playing an annual guarantee game against a D1-AA school.

But I do agree that it was amazing that we got to 8-6. I believe that we ended the season with a strongly negative point differential, and we looked pathetic against good teams the entire season.

[PerpetuallyBored74]

what season are you talking about? Joe did play against Pats and they crushed the Ravens.

In 2013 if Joe had been healthy the Pats wouldn't have crushed them, though I do think they'd have beaten them. I just think the Ravens would have made it close, with Joe playing well, so they would have gone into the Bengals game with both more confidence and a healthy Joe, winning that one and salvaging their season by getting back into the playoffs.

[PerpetuallyBored74]

I think that PerpetuallyBored was talking about a healthy Joe. I don't really think that Joe was severely hurt to me knowledge though, the poster may have had his years confused. Even if we had Peyton Manning, we weren't winning the 2013 game against the Patriots. It was a brutal beatdown. It looked like a D1-A school playing an annual guarantee game against a D1-AA school.

But I do agree that it was amazing that we got to 8-6. I believe that we ended the season with a strongly negative point differential, and we looked pathetic against good teams the entire season.

Joe had a sprained MCL in his knee, so severe enough.
I can't recall any QB playing well with an injured knee.

[Corey]

Joe had a sprained MCL in his knee, so severe enough.
I can't recall any QB playing well with an injured knee.

Yeah, I think that injury was more significant than many believe. I think the only reason he played was because they were not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs and the Ravens didn't fully trust Tyrod. He was a sitting duck with that bulky ass brace on. He wasn't moving right at all.

[Rygar64]

Yeah, I think that injury was more significant than many believe. I think the only reason he played was because they were not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs and the Ravens didn't fully trust Tyrod. He was a sitting duck with that bulky ass brace on. He wasn't moving right at all.

And not to beat another dead horse, but it's another one of those times where the staff downplaying an injury causes a narrative to develop around a player that becomes harder and harder to shake...especially when the team has bad seasons. In Joe's case, it's hard to find a fan that questions his toughness but his performances and level of dedication to his craft do get questioned a lot without much regard given to how often he's played injured. It's a strange disconnect that I just don't understand. Granted, there have been times when he's healthy and played like shit, so I guess it can all blur together after 10 years.

[ERey]

It wasn't a bad deal. It's what a franchise QB costs - especially one that took you to 5 post seasons, 3 Championship Games and was a Super Bowl MVP. The issue was once Flacco won in 2012 the team's best players were aging and the team was already up against the cap. Not to mention some bad drafts (Elam, Brown). It was the right decision at the wrong time. Imagine if they find drafted Joe in 2003 instead of Boller.

[moviemaniacx]

Patriots would've crushed us regardless of Joe's health. I remember after the game, I think it was Brandon Spikes who came out and said they knew which plays the Ravens were going to run nearly the entire game. He said they would yell "Bus bus bus" if it was a run play and "Plane plane plane" if it was a pass play. I can't find any details or sources but I remember something like that.

I feel like Belichick circled that game on the calendar and was determined to embarrass us, partly because of our beatdown of them in the 2012 AFCCG.

[Trackmaster]

It wasn't a bad deal. It's what a franchise QB costs - especially one that took you to 5 post seasons, 3 Championship Games and was a Super Bowl MVP. The issue was once Flacco won in 2012 the team's best players were aging and the team was already up against the cap. Not to mention some bad drafts (Elam, Brown). It was the right decision at the wrong time. Imagine if they find drafted Joe in 2003 instead of Boller.

Well, I think that it may have been a justifiable, fair decision based on the cirumstances, but technically, it was the "wrong" decision. But there's a whole philosophic debate about a priori vs. a posteriori decisions. During his tenure since 2013, he's had played as one of the highest paid player's in the game, and has by far been the highest paid Ravens. He's put up terrible numbers in a few seasons, respectable numbers in 2014, and debatably respectable numbers in 2016. Since people on here seem to obsess over the team's success, like its any indicator of one player's ability: the Ravens have had a losing record over six seasons, haven't won a single division, only went to the play-offs once, only one play-off win, and have suffered several late season choke-jobs in situations where play-off berths have been in reach.

I'd call that a piss poor result. Maybe things would have been worse in a different direction, but so what? I'd rather that we just had a few really bad seasons, cleared cap space, accumulated draft picks, and addressed the QB earlier. It would have been as unsatisfying as 6 mediocre seasons but our team probably would be in better shape going forward.

But, I'm probably one of the few people on the board (and ironically, I'm not even much a Flacco hater) who actually entertained the idea of not signing Flacco. I was on the fence about in 2013, I didn't think that it was a necessity, and I hated the contract. Ultimately, I probably would have used the franchise tag since it was only $14.6 mil back then. I find it very odd that we gave a largely unproven QB even more than the franchise tag per year. If another team wanted to give us two first round draft picks for him and clear the contract off the books, be our guest (although a problem with this is that the QB class was so weak, I could have seen us taking Geno Smith and completely wasting one of those first round picks).

[cjandrze]

[QUOTE=Trackmaster;1474106] I find it very odd that we gave a largely unproven QB even more than the franchise tag per year.
QUOTE]

5 years in the league
5 playoff appearances
2 AFCCG appearances
1 SB win, SB MVP, top 3 playoff performance ever.

I don't understand the unproven aspect of your argument.

Also, everything else in your post is about how he performed after 2013. Hindsight is 20/20.

I do think the extension in 2015 was a poor choice though, due to the post 2013 performances.