Joe Gets a Hall Pass
It’s interesting how some fans are so devoted, so enamored with a particular player, that they can’t see the truth about that player even when it’s staring them right in the face.
They are so steeped in their loyalty, so blinded by faith that they can’t or refuse to see a player’s shortcomings. Here in Baltimore we experience this phenomenon of sorts with Joe Flacco.
Flacco can make plays that few can. He can also make plays that you hope to never see again, and then shortly thereafter there’s that face that suggests vapor lock. Such was the case on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Flacco loyalists will deflect blame for the quarterback who carried the team to a title four seasons ago. It’s as if he’s earned a lifetime hall pass that frees him from blame. Instead they’ll blame Marty Mornhinweg for the play call and they’ll blame John Harbaugh for endorsing it, never mind the guy who threw the interception directly to a defender he claims he didn’t even see.
Maybe he was too excited about the statistical achievement of his third TD pass of the day.
Let’s remember that the Ravens had just used a timeout before the interception. And seemingly, like so many plays for the Ravens that follow a timeout, the one at the 6:21 mark of the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 27-26 win, was a disaster.
“Well, you can say it all you want but, I mean, to be honest with you, my thought was ‘shoot, Marty [Mornhinweg] is going to give me a third touchdown pass on the day.’ I was kind of happy about it at that point, I mean, being selfish, but you’ve got to just to take care of the football and it’s a non-issue.” ~ Joe Flacco responding to reporters on whether it would have been better to run it on first-and-10 from the 11-yard line
Now I’m sure that during the little sideline huddle before Flacco felt the spirit of The Season and presented the Eagles with a gift, there was some discussion amongst Joe, Marty and John about not forcing the throw. The last thing anyone wanted was a turnover. A potential playoff berth was at stake.
Flacco apologists will claim that Joe just did what he was told – that he executed the play called and that he has no leeway to exit a play pre-snap if it looks like a failure waiting to happen.
Think about that for a moment.
Would the Ravens have invested so much money in their franchise quarterback and not allow him to check out of a play? Does that make any sense? How does that benefit the Ravens or Harbaugh or Mornhinweg who are all, to some degree, sitting upon the proverbial hot seat?
And even if that’s true, what does it say about Joe Flacco?
That a guy who the coaching staff depends on for their livelihood can’t be trusted to change a play at the line of scrimmage? That the guy who commands $22.55M in cap space this season doesn’t know when to kill a play – after nearly 9 full seasons?
The rookie on the opposite side of the field checked out of plays several times during the game. A 9-year vet can’t do the same?
We’ve seen mind-numbing decisions by Flacco in the past. We saw it on Sunday. We’ve also seen him rebound from them and go on a roll. Maybe that will happen again this season, starting in Pittsburgh. Maybe Joe will further validate that hall pass. Maybe he’ll morph into January Joe again.
After all, all Joe does is win, right?
But even if he doesn’t on Sunday, it won’t be his fault.
