Flacco Stakes Claim as Top AFC North QB

[Crash]

Clear as day that the calls by in large went in your favor. Just like in the Super Bowl vs Seattle. Man this is fun. U r so bitter u can't stand seeing purple still playing

Actually living in Denver it was easy to root for the Ravens yesterday.

It's their dimwitted fans I can't stand.

I don't post on Ravens boards. It's pathetic that you are even here.

According to u we were going to lose to the Colts and then get destroyed by the Broncos.

I picked the Ravens to win last week against Denver 5 minutes after they beat Indy.

Your worst nightmare would be a Ravens Superbowl win

Not really. My team has six of them. What would really suck is when ESPN/NFLN keeps fawning all over an accused murderer, an ex-con, and one of the biggest POS in the NFL.

[LevonKirkland99]

Clear as day that the calls by in large went in your favor. Just like in the Super Bowl vs Seattle. Man this is fun. U r so bitter u can't stand seeing purple still playing. According to u we were going to lose to the Colts and then get destroyed by the Broncos... Your worst nightmare would be a Ravens Superbowl win... Because then all hur weak smack about how great Ben is and bad Flacco is would be as weak as your argument pointing to a hand on the helmet to justify the bogus calls that changed that game.

Goodell loves the Ravens, its a known fact. But come back to chime in when the Ravens win the big one

[Real Deal Steel]

Well his ass won't be back then

[Speeed]

Flacco is the most over-rated under-rated QB in NFL history. That is obvious.

[jdehoff83]

Flacco is an average qb... he has really talented receivers behind him which make him look better im sorry but dude is not elite.. ravens been riding a golden horseshoe all fn season.. f the ravens and f flacco...

[JensK]

Flacco is not elite... Not even close! He is nowhere near the QB Ben is and I do not think you'll find many outside of Baltimore who would disagree. However, Flacco has found ways to get his team into 3 AFC Championship games (if memory serves), and he is getting Baltimore into the playoffs every year. So overrated as he may be, he is finding ways to at least not lose the games for Baltimore, which is more than we can say about Ben the last few years. For whatever reason.

[NeilPatrickBanana]

Flacco is not elite... Not even close! He is nowhere near the QB Ben is and I do not think you'll find many outside of Baltimore who would disagree. However, Flacco has found ways to get his team into 3 AFC Championship games (if memory serves), and he is getting Baltimore into the playoffs every year. So overrated as he may be, he is finding ways to at least not lose the games for Baltimore, which is more than we can say about Ben the last few years. For whatever reason.

for what it's worth... last year he outplayed Brady in the AFC Champ game ... and yesterday he outplayed Peyton.

He's not elite, and he's not better than Ben.... but he continues to move in that direction. i think it's a bit disengenuis to say he's "nowhere near, not even close"

if he's not close... who is?

[JensK]

Well, in my defense I'll say that he outplayed a Payton Manning who is notoriously terrible in the playoffs. I thought Broncos would win, but not because of Manning. I've learned to expect nothing of him in January.

He did outplay Brady last year, but I mean.... thats one game. Which he ultimately lost.

Fun thing is, if you look at Flaccos post-season record, he only got one game over 100 passer rating, and that was against a horrible KC team.

The problem with my argument is, if I cannot deem him elite because of his lack of playoff production, how can I then claim to have Payton ranked as being an elite QB? And I honestly have no good reason for this... Its just one of those things where it makes sense to me.

[BlitzburghRockCity]

He has been much much better then Ben in the clutch the last few seasons and especially in the playoffs. Say what you want about the Ravens who I think are very very lucky, but their receivers such as Boldin,Smith,and Jones come up huge in the clutch and make plays for Flacco unlike the young money crew who drops balls and dont make plays. The Ravens as much as it kills me to say have shown a ton more heart and guts then the Steelers last year and especially this season and that is why they are one game away from playing in the Super Bowl...

The thing that sucks the most is that both teams, Steelers and Ratbirds, entered the season with question marks on the offensive line, secondary, and linebacker. Both had strengths at QB, WR, and RB. The Steelers went in the opposite direction and could not close out games. They lost their edge last year and never regained it this year.

I'm not ready to say that Flaccid is a better overall QB than Ben, there's no way just yet but he has stepped up his game in the clutch these last two seasons. It's up to Ben to regain that edge.

[NeilPatrickBanana]

Well, in my defense I'll say that he outplayed a Payton Manning who is notoriously terrible in the playoffs. I thought Broncos would win, but not because of Manning. I've learned to expect nothing of him in January.

He did outplay Brady last year, but I mean.... thats one game. Which he ultimately lost.

Fun thing is, if you look at Flaccos post-season record, he only got one game over 100 passer rating, and that was against a horrible KC team.

The problem with my argument is, if I cannot deem him elite because of his lack of playoff production, how can I then claim to have Payton ranked as being an elite QB? And I honestly have no good reason for this... Its just one of those things where it makes sense to me.

i know what you mean.

i think people treat losing in the playoffs as this black mark... it's not...in the free agent era, there are no dynasties. Everyone loses in the playoffs... if you are good enough to get there with regularity (peyton), then that's impressive enough IMO.

Ben has a great playoff record, because he's gone on a super bowl run, 3 out of 6 times. But he's also missed the playoffs 3 times... missing the playoffs is much worse than 1 and done, right?
Playoffs and Super Bowls have weight... but they aren't the only factor. Talent and consistency matter... so does potential. (in terms of "ranking" or "labeling" QBs)

As for Flacco... I think he's consistently "good". For everything Steelers fans do to make excuses for Ben (playcalling, oline, wrs, coaches, etc).... Flacco until very recently had one of the worst OCs in football (cam cameron is an epic moron, and steelers fans should thank him for our last super bowl trip). And his 2 WRs... they aren't super stars. Boldin is pretty much what Ben had in Ward for a lot of years. And Torrey Smith is just starting to learn how to do something other than running a deep fly patterns. Jacoby Jones is terrible.

And they are back in the AFC Championship game with a defense that was pretty average this year (17th total yards), and a running game that was just good (11th).

Flacco deserves to be recognized for what he's accomplished. just as steelers fans hate hearing that Ben is a game manager (he's not), Flacco has earned similar recognition.

(yup... i pretty much just lynched myself.... lol)