With the 2015 NFL Draft now over and Joe Flacco set to begin his eighth NFL season, today’s Flashback Friday takes a look at some of January Joe’s pre-draft hype, way back from early 2008. There were, predictably, mixed opinions regarding how successful Flacco would be in the NFL, with some critics posting downright laughable criticisms. Of course, hindsight is 20/20. But that doesn’t make these any less funny because people are still hating on the man for whatever reason.
This is one of my favorite comparisons: Tony Grossi, who is the Cleveland Browns analyst for ESPNCleveland.com, had this to say in his immediate assessment of the Ravens’ 2008 draft:
“By the time Flacco is ready to win -not just play – Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, and other Ravens star defensive players may be sitting in the NFL Network studio chairs.” – Grossi in The Cleveland Plain Dealer, dated April 29, 2008.
Here is what Tony had to say just TWO weeks ago when analyzing the Ravens’ 2015 draft:
“Rule of thumb: When you have an elite quarterback – face it, Joe Flacco is elite – you never lose sight of supporting him. The Ravens went out and got the fastest receiver in the draft and the top-ranked tight end.”
Hilarious. Nice little flip-flop action going on there. To his credit, Tony initially gave indications that Flacco would eventually become a winning QB, but he could not have been more wrong with respect to his early success. As we remember well, Joe game-managed the Ravens to an 11-5 record and the AFC Championship game his rookie year. Oh, and that Super Bowl MVP trophy also waves hello, Mr. Grossi.
Bob McGinn of the Milawaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel posted an article dated April 19, 2008 with the headline “For Flacco, pro success looks to be a tall order.” The first sentence of said article reads, “If Delaware’s Joe Flacco goes on to have a stellar career, he will have crossed the line of demarcation for successful quarterbacks in the National Football League.” McGinn goes on to state that Flacco should already be considered a bust because the NFL hasn’t had too many successful tall QBs. He even quoted a personnel director for an anonymous AFC team: “I’ve got a problem with Flacco. You know why? He’s 6-6. I don’t know why it is but history tells you they’re not going to be any good.”
Hmm. Cool story, babe. You get paid to project NFL success based purely on height measurements? Where do I apply?
I saved the best for last, however. The Joe Flacco-Matt Ryan debate has been a hot one in recent years. Falcons fans have been notorious Flacco haters, claiming that Matt Ryan’s one career playoff win makes him the better quarterback. The following comments come from a chat forum on the Atlanta Falcons official website [all sic’d]:
From FalconFan13: “I am going out on a limb and saying Flacco will have the best nfl career of this whole QB class if he gets a shot to start somewhere. The kid has the best Mechanics in the whole class and is very smart. Ryan has almost as good mechanics but the dude is about half retarded on some of the decisions he makes. How he got considered a top 10 pick or the best QB in this draft is beyond me.”
I wonder if this chap still feels this way. I’ll bet not. Matt Ryan is better. Flacco only wins because of his defense. Blah blah blah. A likely hypocrite.
Other gems included:
“What would you say if we could land Joe Flacco in the 1st 2 rounds? I’d be dancing in April.”
“Dennis Dixon>>>>>>>>>>>>Flacco, Ainge, Henne etc”
“Are you serious guys? If we draft flacco im gonna have to mail it in because we arent winning sh*t.”
Now, I realize that everyday folks on public forms tend to have overblown and completely ridiculous opinions, but these people broke just about every possible barrier when it comes to terrible internet posts.
So many internet GMs out there. So many wrong people. They never learn.
Happy Memorial Day, Ravens Nation.
