Joe Flacco’s ineptitude last Sunday against the Bengals has been the dominant topic of websites and sports talk radio across the Land of Pleasant Living. Early on the “Bench Flacco” lunatics were in full force but as the week progressed and decompression amongst fans set in, such irrational panic driven opinions slowly made their way to their proper burial grounds.
Our poll question on Ravens24x7.com from Sunday through Thursday asked, "Obviously struggling, should John Harbaugh have pulled Joe Flacco against the Bengals in favor of Mark Bulger?"
Early on “yes” had a comfortable lead over “no.” But as the week wore on Ravens fans cut No. 5 a little slack and in the end, 57% answered “no.”
The No’s are wrong.
Flacco should have been benched.
No not permanently but at least during the fourth quarter.
And don’t sit there and suggest that this isn’t baseball and that you can’t yank your starting quarterback in the same manner that Buck Showalter yanks Kevin Millwood in the fifth inning after serving up puss to opposing hitters.
Why not?
Why couldn’t John Harbaugh go to Flacco and say, “Look Joe, you just don’t have it today. In fact over the last 3 outings against the Bengals, you haven’t had it. We’ll study the game tape, break it down and figure it out. But for now, I’m going to let Marc Bulger take a shot at these guys and tomorrow we’ll start getting you ready for the Browns.”
What is wrong with that?
Wouldn’t the call for Bulger have improved the Ravens’ chances on Sunday? Didn’t Ozzie Newsome decide to bring Bulger to Baltimore for $3.8 million in order to be a competent back up – to spell Flacco when no one told him there’d be days like these?
Oh so you say that pulling Flacco would undermine his confidence going forward, eh?
To borrow from Chad Ochocinco, “Child please!”
If your starting quarterback has his little feelings hurt because he was pulled out when he stunk up the Ohio River area, is he really the franchise quarterback that you want to build your team around? Do you think your team’s future poster child is going to sulk when a little adversity sets in? And if so do you want a mentally soft guy like that guiding your team’s future.
Look I’ve never approached the level of a professional when it comes to athletics but I can tell you this…if I were benched I’d be embarrassed and determined never to let it happen again. And if in the process of that lesson my team actually won AND I’m now more determined, well double plus for the good guys then, right?
I don’t think Flacco is soft mentally despite the regular comparisons of him to a deer in headlights (which on Sunday was an insult to the deer). And I do think that given his mental make-up and Harbaugh’s management skills (see how Willis McGahee responded to his stay in the Harbaugh doghouse) everything would have been just fine if Flacco was taken out and maybe the Ravens are now staring at 2-0 instead of 1-1. Maybe that quick release of Bulger’s was the answer to the Bengals pass rush and closing skills of their DB’s.
But we’ll never know.
All is not lost. Harbaugh probably learned from his reluctance to give Flacco the hook and maybe next time his starting QB struggles immensely, his trigger finger will be a bit more twitchy.
Like say, against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
What’s our name?
Ravens!
Not Joe Flacco.
