Joe Flacco has certainly received his fair share of criticisms during his career both on a local and a national level.
The Super Bowl XLVII MVP has been shredded by the likes of ESPN’s Skip Bayless and NFL Networks Heath Evans. Not that Flacco should be worried about these two clowns whose contributions to sports journalism are on par with Britney Spears’ advancements in music.
The point is that Joe The Quarterback doesn’t get his proper due, although the more qualified Ron Jaworski does his best to stave of the naysayers.
Here’s a closer look at Flacco’s accomplishments during his first five seasons as presented by guest blogger Luke Springer. ~ Tony Lombardi
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In hopes of illustrating how ridiculously underrated Joe Flacco has been thus far in his career, I am providing a 2-Part statistical breakdown of how he compares to all other QBs in modern-era NFL history. Parts I is presented below. Part II is shown HERE.
In order to be eligible for consideration, you have to be in the top 120 QBs in NFL history in passing yards and have completed 5 NFL seasons. This is also for all QBs who started their careers post 1960, which eliminates All-Time greats like Otto Graham, Sonny Jurgensen, Bart Starr and of course John Unitas.
For comparative purposes consider the following performances from some Other Hall of Fame inductees during their first 5 seasons:
Regular Season Wins (first 5 seasons)
Other Hall of Famers: (13) Troy Aikman-38, (14) Joe Namath-37, (22) Terry Bradshaw-32, (29) Bob Griese -29, (30) Joe Montana-28, Fran Tarkenton-23, Dan Fouts-12, Jim Kelly-10
Total Wins (first 5 seasons)
Other Hall of Famers: Namath (39), Terry Bradshaw (36), Montana (32)
Total TD Passes (first 5 seasons)
Other Hall of Famers: Namath (97), Tarkenton (96), Elway (85), Montana (78), Griese (77), Aikman (69), Bradshaw (48)
Total Passing Yards (first 5 seasons)
Other Hall of Famers: Aikman-13,627, Tarkenton-12,018, Montana-11,979, Griese-10,281, Fouts-7658, Bradshaw- 7524, Jim Kelly 6391, Steve Young 5468, Warren Moon-0, Roger Staubach-0