Joe Flacco is Not to Take All The Blame
Imagine being in a classroom ready to take a test. You are all prepared but your teacher has already graded your paper and has given you an F. You take that paper home, show your parents, and you get grounded.
Well Joe Flacco’s situation is much like that scenario above except the teacher is the Ravens’ offensive line and the parents are Ravens fans. Flacco is being held accountable for parts of the game that he can not control. As the ball is hiked and he steps back his fate is already determined. There is a defender in his face and he has absolutely no time to throw the ball. When he is able to throw the ball his receivers drop the pass as if they have stone hands. Now this is not to say that Flacco is the perfect quarterback because that is not what I am arguing here. But there have been a lot of fans calling for Joe’s head for quite a while and those calls have become even louder after yesterdays 26-9 loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers at M&T Bank Stadium.
Flacco can only work with by what he is given. Wide receiver Breshad Perriman has looked like everything but a player worthy of a first round draft pick, dropping passes left and right. Mike Wallace has looked like a copy of Torrey Smith without the ability to stretch the field and Jeremy Maclin has almost been obsolete the first four weeks of the season. Now again there have been some throws Flacco may have missed and completely botched, but Joe needs time to survey the field and acquire his reads and his offensive line is not allowing him to fulfill that need. Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg is also part of the problem. Not sticking to his word and running the rock as he stated he would in the off-season places more pressure on Joe than he already has.
Some people might argue that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady plays almost every season with no name receivers, outside of Gronkowski (and Brandin Cooks this season), and a less than average offensive line and has success. I have been part of that argument countless times. But they are missing two giant aspects of that argument. One: Brady has had the same offensive coordinator for six consecutive seasons. The offensive game plan has been consistent and Brady easily understands it. Two: It is TOM FREAKING BRADY! Arguably the greatest quarterback of all-time. Brady could make a wooden plank look good out on that field.
If you have watched the Ravens since they drafted Joe you realize that he is no Tom Brady. Flacco is not passing for 4,500 yards and 40 plus touchdowns a season. He is not that type of quarterback. Joe needs a run game and a solid defense in order to win. He does just enough on the offensive side of the ball to lead the Ravens to a W.
But when the offense can not sustain a drive, they put the defense on the field way, way to much which causes them to fatigue and allow the opposition to score. This leads to the Ravens having to play catch up, forcing the offense to become one dimensional and Joe can not carry this team by himself with a makeshift offensive line.
Some of the blame does deserve to be placed on Joe there is no doubt about that. But to say that he is the only and biggest problem is asinine. I did not hear any calls for his head when the Ravens were sitting at 2-0 now did I?
