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

[Purpleguy]

Here's the question...do we even get to, much less win the Superbowl without Joe Flacco? Do we enjoy the success we've had over the past five years without Flacco? The guy has done nothing but win since he got here, and that was while being handcuffed by Cam.

I hear all of this talk about hometown discounts and I laugh. People even bring in the costs associated with moving to another city. Trust me, unless he plays for the Jets or Giants, those moving costs will be mitigated by tax savings. Ray Lewis didn't take a hometown discount, ever. Neither did Suggs, Reed, Rice, Heap, etc.. Why should Joe? Both sides gambled last offseason by not getting the extension done. Joe won.

He isn't going to cripple the team. Yes, there will always be some sort of damage with such a high payed player, but that damage wouldn't be as bad as not signing him. I don't know when it becomes cap friendly to cut or restructure Rice, but I see that happening. The guy is ridiculously overpaid and is a non-factor come playoff time. He's making more than Arian Foster and he's only good in open space.

[iggyman555]

solve world hunger and the us economy

[Purpleguy]

Also there is no way you can compare this situation to Manning getting released in Indy. Manning is at the end of his career, was coming off a potential career ending injury, and the Colts had just won the "suck for Luck" sweepstakes, so they had a viable path to start fresh. It paid off for them. I don't think the Colts would have gotten any farther than they did, with or without Manning, and in two years they would be in the same boat with the potential of no Luck sitting out there.

Joe is in the prime of his career. He has never missed a game, and there is no can't miss QB in this whole draft, much less the 32nd pick. We would be filling in with stop gap guys like Alex Smith. It would be the pre 2009 Ravens all over again, except without the dominant defense. It's just not an option.

[StingerNLG]

Listening to the Norris and Davis show this morning made me ill. People actually were calling in saying take the 2 1st round picks because Flacco isn't that good, and put Tyrod Taylor in there and run the pistol. I'm dead serious.

It is amazing to me that after over a decade of absolute suck at the QB position, we have our long term WINNING franchise QB who should have had two rings by now, and people are ready to ditch him because he hasn't thrown for 4,000 yards yet.

[bmorecareful]

Listening to the Norris and Davis show this morning made me ill. People actually were calling in saying take the 2 1st round picks because Flacco isn't that good, and put Tyrod Taylor in there and run the pistol. I'm dead serious.

It is amazing to me that after over a decade of absolute suck at the QB position, we have our long term WINNING franchise QB who should have had two rings by now, and people are ready to ditch him because he hasn't thrown for 4,000 yards yet.

This is the problem. I get that we shouldn't listen to SI and PFT and all that. But not only is the under-informed national media running with that whole story, it's STILL hanging around with a lot of true Ravens fans.

I'll admit I doubted Flacco this year, particularly after the Denver home loss when I overreacted badly to his INT. I said at the time that guys with truly elite, top-5 level upside would have the mental acuity to never make that play. But that was an overreaction that I recognize now, and I was wrong at the time and after the fact. Any doubts I may have had are fully erased now.

And yet go to any bar in Baltimore and pick 10 die-hard Ravens fans. Even if all of them are well-informed and football-smart... you're going to have 3 or 4 of them who aren't convinced by Flacco, still don't think he's really all that great, and wouldn't be too sad to see him walk. You're not seeing them right now on this board because they're outnumbered and don't want to admit they're wrong, but they ARE out there.

[Ravenswintitle]

Listening to the Norris and Davis show this morning made me ill. People actually were calling in saying take the 2 1st round picks because Flacco isn't that good, and put Tyrod Taylor in there and run the pistol. I'm dead serious.

It is amazing to me that after over a decade of absolute suck at the QB position, we have our long term WINNING franchise QB who should have had two rings by now, and people are ready to ditch him because he hasn't thrown for 4,000 yards yet.

OMG I thought it was just media trying to incite - geez

[pslholder96]

Not saying we have drafted that bad, but we've been picking high pretty much every year since 2008, and it makes it hard to find REAL difference makers or stars, we haven't found many of them over the years.

Michael Oher is average to solid as a RT, not exactly an amazing pick here.

Paul Kruger has only just emerged into a good pass rusher, and will already be one of our players we've developed nicely that has to go for cap reasons

Webb is a stud but has had two ACL injuries already

Cody and Kindle have been busts

Torrey Smith is good, but hasn't exactly been a number 1 receiver superstar, Jimmy Smith is still up in the air.

Upshaw is pretty much Jarrett Johnson, which is great, but you need more in the front 7 than an edge setting OLB, KO is probably going to be a superstar, Pierce is going to be very good without any setbacks.

So thats pretty solid when you look at it, but its not enough to sacrifice your older players who help you make play offs and win SBs to a 20 + million dollar deal on one player, no matter how good he is.

If you draft well (like the ravens have done in the past) you can overcome an expensive contract given to any one player.

[pslholder96]

I guess living in a small market causes one's mind to go small not to mention suffering amnesia
In all seriousness I would love to see the % of fans who were too young to remember all the quarterbacks we went through. I've got to believe these are the ones calling into the talk shows and posting here. As a fansbase we've become very insecure with our quarterback play but if Joe Flacco doesn't make us secure then who will??

[mmi16]

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.

I get the impression that Joe could throw 40 TD's on 20 attempts and some people on this board and around town would want Troy Smith or Tyrod Taylor to be the starter.

[BMann]

Listening to the Norris and Davis show this morning made me ill. People actually were calling in saying take the 2 1st round picks because Flacco isn't that good, and put Tyrod Taylor in there and run the pistol. I'm dead serious.

It is amazing to me that after over a decade of absolute suck at the QB position, we have our long term WINNING franchise QB who should have had two rings by now, and people are ready to ditch him because he hasn't thrown for 4,000 yards yet.

LMFAO! Do fans really think Super Bowl MVP QBs grow on trees?!? I have one word for these Ravens fans who say Let Joe Walk:

Scottmitchellstoneycasetonybankstrentdilferelvisgrbacchrisredmankylebolleranthonywrightjeffblakestevemcnairtroysmith

Please to be identifying the Super Bowl MVPs among that dung heap. I'll wait....

[Purpleguy]

LMFAO! Do fans really think Super Bowl MVP QBs grow on trees?!? I have one word for these Ravens fans who say Let Joe Walk:

Scottmitchellstoneycasetonybankstrentdilferelvisgrbacchrisredmankylebolleranthonywrightjeffblakestevemcnairtroysmith

Please to be identifying the Super Bowl MVPs among that dung heap. I'll wait....

Let's not forget before them:

vinnytesteverdeericzeirjimharbaugh

[Strange Bru]

I don't know about everybody else in Baltimore, but this is the QB we have been wishing for for the past 17 years. The only way to get people to realize how good he is, is for him to play somewhere else. What I mean is that so many national media reporters don't acknowledge any success that Baltimore teams exhibit. There were media people that didn't like Cal Ripken breaking 2131 consecutive games. Ray Lewis has a great career in Baltimore and all a lot of these media types focus on is over a decade old, but never mention anything that Roethlisberger did within 5 years. Donte Stallworth wasn't even with the team with the tragedy he caused, but the Ravens give him a second chance and we're the bad guys, he plays in Washington the next year and not even a peep. It's not right, but it is what it is. Ray Rice should take his anti-bullying campaign to ESPN.

As for the local people who want Joe out the door, they don't remember when the Ravens drafted Derek Anderson then cut him and he signs with the Browns and goes to the Pro-Bowl. That was like someone ripping your arm off and then beating you with it. Derek didn't do anything the next year, but if he had we all would be bitching about how we had our QB and let him slip through our fingers. Well, that is what we will be doing for the next 10 years if we let Joe slip away. We have a SB winning QB, why would you want to give him the bum's rush out of town? I know the Ravens did that with Trent Dilfer, but Joe Flacco is a much better QB.

[LukeDaniel]

I think you're confusing two issues.

e.

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.

You're operating under the assumption that paying $22 million a year will drive this team into mediocrity, which I don't see as the case. I see not paying him and having to go in 2013 with a Ryan Fitzpatrick/Alex Smith/rookie as far more likely to push in that direction. This 2013 team is already shaping up to be offense-driven. Expecting our defense to be the dominating type of the past---one that could still produce great results even with an Alex Smith type QB---is unrealistic given the imminent turnover on D.

[callahan09]

LMFAO! Do fans really think Super Bowl MVP QBs grow on trees?!? I have one word for these Ravens fans who say Let Joe Walk:

Scottmitchellstoneycasetonybankstrentdilferelvisgrbacchrisredmankylebolleranthonywrightjeffblakestevemcnairtroysmith

Please to be identifying the Super Bowl MVPs among that dung heap. I'll wait....

True, true. You know, Joe Flacco is just the 20th quarterback ever to win the Super Bowl MVP award. The list is as follows (* denotes Hall of Fame, # in parentheses means they won it multiple times):

1. Bart Starr* (2)
2. Joe Namath*
3. Len Dawson*
4. Roger Staubach*
5. Terry Bradshaw* (2)
6. Jim Plunkett
7. Joe Montana* (3)
8. Phil Simms
9. Doug Williams
10. Mark Rypien
11. Troy Aikman*
12. Steve Young*
13. John Elway*
14. Kurt Warner
15. Tom Brady (2)
16. Peyton Manning
17. Eli Manning (2)
18. Drew Brees
19. Aaron Rodgers
20. Joe Flacco

Almost all of these guys are Hall of Famers, with the exception of Jim Plunkett, Phil Simms, Doug Williams, and Mark Rypien. Kurt Warner, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Drew Brees are absolute 100% locks once they're eligible. Aaron Rodgers will almost certainly be if he has even just a few more years with the kind of success he has had so far. Eli Manning is certainly in the conversation. I believe he's already cemented himself, but not everybody agrees. Point being, any QB who earns a Super Bowl MVP award is in some extremely pleasant and exclusive company!

[esmd]

Listening to the Norris and Davis show this morning made me ill. People actually were calling in saying take the 2 1st round picks because Flacco isn't that good, and put Tyrod Taylor in there and run the pistol. I'm dead serious.

It is amazing to me that after over a decade of absolute suck at the QB position, we have our long term WINNING franchise QB who should have had two rings by now, and people are ready to ditch him because he hasn't thrown for 4,000 yards yet.

Ppl are flat out idiots. That's all I can say. I filter them out of my consciousness.

[NCRAVEN]

Listening to the Norris and Davis show this morning made me ill. People actually were calling in saying take the 2 1st round picks because Flacco isn't that good, and put Tyrod Taylor in there and run the pistol. I'm dead serious.

It is amazing to me that after over a decade of absolute suck at the QB position, we have our long term WINNING franchise QB who should have had two rings by now, and people are ready to ditch him because he hasn't thrown for 4,000 yards yet.

Don't let 'em get to ya. These are probably the same people planning on winning the lottery as their retirement plan.

[The Excellector]

Steve Bisciotti already referred to this idea that paying Joe Flacco mega-bucks will cripple their ability to build a team around him, a "crock". What evidence is there that paying Joe Flacco 20 million per year would hinder them significantly?

Did it stop the Patriots from winning division title after division title, even after they got caught cheating? Did it stop Peyton Manning from all of those consecutive 12 win seasons? Would the Saints have even won the Super Bowl without Drew Brees?

You aren't winning a SB in this era without a high quality QB. Pay him. Draft well, that's what Ozzie does. Keep it moving.

[lovefootball]

Listening to the Norris and Davis show this morning made me ill. People actually were calling in saying take the 2 1st round picks because Flacco isn't that good, and put Tyrod Taylor in there and run the pistol. I'm dead serious.

It is amazing to me that after over a decade of absolute suck at the QB position, we have our long term WINNING franchise QB who should have had two rings by now, and people are ready to ditch him because he hasn't thrown for 4,000 yards yet.

People calling in to voice their opinions, wonder what they really know and who spends the day calling in to radio shows. How many people on Russell Street Report do that? I don't listen to any sports show or even know who has a sports show. People making money doing sports shows are like rush limbaugh aren't they. Rating and people voicing crazy statements make those shows popular I guess. Joe's going to get paid big by the Ravens and then the haters will have more shit to spew. I love it. Joe has earned his money and the haters are in denial because they wanted him to fail. Didn't happen , Ravens win the SB behind Flacco and have a very bright future with Flacco. Haters also hate that,knowing the Ravens wil be dominate for years to come.

[JAB1985]

Listening to the Norris and Davis show this morning made me ill. People actually were calling in saying take the 2 1st round picks because Flacco isn't that good, and put Tyrod Taylor in there and run the pistol. I'm dead serious.

It is amazing to me that after over a decade of absolute suck at the QB position, we have our long term WINNING franchise QB who should have had two rings by now, and people are ready to ditch him because he hasn't thrown for 4,000 yards yet.

this is why when people point me to 105.7 instead of ESPN radio i just laugh. ESPN is horrible, but theres something worse to me about actual fans throwing out this nonsense.

[Paintballguy]

I flipped on 105.7 yesterday on my way home from work (dumb move I know). The first thing I hear is some idiot caller saying to sign Flacco to a deal (only smart comment he made), but then he wanted to sit Flacco on obvious run downs and have another QB who just came in the game for run plays. Then, bring Flacco in for passes. It was quite possibly the dumbest thing I've heard.