The Baltimore Ravens have signed QB Joe Flacco to a six-year contract, general manager/executive vice president Ozzie Newsome announced Monday afternoon.
“We just returned from the Combine, and I remember the days of going there and studying and hoping that one of the quarterbacks could be our guy. ‘Could so-and-so be our third-round Joe Montana or our sixth-round Tom Brady?’ We’ve been out in that desert before,” Newsome recalled. “That all changed when we drafted Joe in 2008, and now we’ve secured him for many more years. Joe’s a Raven in his style of play, the way he works and prepares, and the way he lives his life. He’s a significant reason we’ve been to the playoffs five years in a row, played in three AFC Championship games, and now, we are the Super Bowl champs with Joe as MVP.
“We appreciate the way Joe handled these negotiations, and that includes his agent Joe Linta,” Newsome added.
Head coach John Harbaugh reacted to the Flacco signing by saying: “I’m very happy for Joe, his family and our fans. He has been our quarterback since Day One, and we’ve had confidence in him since the beginning. Joe is a tremendous competitor and highly motivated to be the best. He’s a leader for us and a great teammate. He understands that we have more to accomplish, and we intend to do that. Having Joe with us certainly gives a better opportunity to succeed.”
Flacco, 28, is a five-year veteran who was named the MVP of Super Bowl XLVII after helping the Ravens to their second World Championship in franchise history. With Flacco, the Ravens are the only NFL club to secure a postseason berth in each of the last five seasons (2008-12), winning at least one playoff game in each of those years.
Starting all 80 regular season games of his NFL career, Flacco has completed 1,507 of 2,489 passes for 17,633 yards, 102 touchdowns and 56 interceptions since being selected by Baltimore with the 18th-overall pick in the 2008 Draft. His 63 total wins (including playoffs) since entering the league rank as the NFL’s most among all quarterbacks.
Flacco is the first starting quarterback in NFL history (since the 1970 merger) to make the playoffs in each of his first five seasons, compiling nine playoff victories, which tie (Tom Brady) for the most among quarterbacks in the first five seasons of a career.
With a three-touchdown performance in Super Bowl XLVII, Flacco threw 11 touchdown passes during the 2012 postseason, tying the NFL single-postseason record shared by Joe Montana (1989) and Kurt Warner (2008). Flacco and Montana did not throw an interception during those respective postseasons.
Below are several notes/highlights in Flacco’s career
Flacco is the Ravens’ all-time leading passer in yards (17,633), TD passes (102), completions (1,507) and attempts (2,489) and is second in completion percentage (60.5).
In 2012, Flacco was named to USA Today’s All-Joe Team (players who are critical to their team, but don’t receive Pro Bowl nods) after posting career highs in passing yards (3,817 – second in franchise history: Vinny Testaverde, 4,177 in 1996) and completions (317 – second most in franchise history: Testaverde, 325 in 1996), while throwing 22 TD passes.
In 2012, the Ravens scored the most points (398) in franchise history and posted the second-most total yards (5,640) in team history (5,723 in 1996). Flacco also rushed for a career-high 3 TDs.
Flacco’s 63 wins (including playoffs) are the most by an NFL starting QB since 2008, when he entered the league.
Among all NFL quarterbacks since 2008, Flacco has produced an NFL-high 27 total road wins (including playoffs). Eli Manning and Aaron Rodgers are second with 24 road wins during that span.
Having never missed a contest, Flacco has started every game of his career, with his 93 NFL starts (including playoffs) the most to begin a career by a QB in NFL history.
Became the second QB in NFL postseason history (Joe Montana – 1989) to throw 11 TDs and 0 INTs in 2012.
Flacco is the only starting quarterback in NFL history (since the 1970 merger) to win a playoff game in each of his first five seasons (2008-12).
Set the Ravens’ single-season record for completion percentage (63.1) in 2009 and QB rating (93.6) in 2010, while his 25 passing TDs in 2010 and 3,817 passing yards in 2012 rank as the second most in Ravens single-season history.
Owns the Ravens’ franchise record for 300-yard passing games (13).
Became the first rookie QB in NFL history to win two playoff games; the second in the 2008 Divisional Playoff win at No. 1 seed Ten. (1/10/09).
The tandem of John Harbaugh and Flacco, which in 2008 set the NFL record for most wins ever (13, including playoffs) by a rookie head coach starting a rookie QB, now own the league mark for earning the playoffs in their first five seasons.
Flacco has led the Ravens to 33 career regular season wins at home, tied for the most among NFL starting quarterbacks since 2008 (Matt Ryan).
In each of the past four seasons (2009-12), Flacco and Aaron Rodgers are the only NFL quarterbacks to throw for at least 3,600 yards and 20 TDs while posting 12 INTs or less.
