Hello, Old Friend

With Zach Wilson out until at least week 4, the New York Jets will start a familiar face at quarterback against the Ravens in the season opener.

Joe Flacco! How ya doin?

Believe it or not, only 10 players on the Ravens roster were here when Joe Flacco last quarterbacked for Baltimore, and two, maybe three of them, won’t even suit up. Gus Edwards and Tyus Bowser on PUP, and Ronnie Stanley who is practicing, but it is unclear if he’s going to be ready in three days for game action.

The others, Lamar Jackson of course, Mark Andrews, Chuck Clark, Marlon Humphrey, Patrick Ricard, Nick Boyle, and Justin Tucker.

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I’m sure that pre-game there will be some hugs and handshakes between Flacco and his Ravens brethren. But most of the team, couldn’t care less if it was Joe Flacco or Joe Namath over there. These guys are professionals and once that ball kicks off, they will have one thing on their mind. Winning. But one way or another, Flacco’s familiarity with the Ravens, and vice versa, won’t be a factor in this Sunday’s game.

Other than going up against Marlon Humphrey and Chuck Clark in practice for one and a half seasons, four years ago, Flacco must prepare for a secondary of Marcus Peters, Marcus Williams, a rookie Kyle Hamilton with little to no pro film out there. Furthermore, a new defensive coordinator in Mike MacDonald making his NFL debut as a DC, so you hope he shows Flacco and the Jets things that Don Martindale didn’t leave on tape.

The Ravens must prepare accordingly as well. There is less tape on Flacco, after all he only made one start in 2021. Could he surprise the Ravens this Sunday? While I have a soft spot for our old friend and Super Bowl champion, no. He will not be sneaking up on anyone, even the Ravens. Joe Flacco is 2-11 since leaving Baltimore. That includes a 2-6 stint in Denver and going 0-5 in two years with the Jets. If you consider that he lost his last three starts as Raven, he is 2-14 in his last 16 games. Wins are a team stat, but he’s still average Joe posting a QBR of 50.8 in 2019, 50.3 in 2020, and 43.5 last year.

There is one interesting stat of note on the line for Joe Flacco. If he ruins our Sunday and beats the Ravens, he’ll be only the 8^th QB in history to beat 31 of the 32 NFL franchises. Tom Brady is the only one who has beat all 32. The other franchise Flacco has yet to beat, is the Seahawks, whom the Jets play in week 17. Well, isn’t that convenient.

As long as the calendar doesn’t turn over to January between now and Sunday, I think the Ravens will take care of business. After this Sunday, go get em’ Joe!

Oh. Hi, C.J. Mosley. Didn’t see you there. Good, to see, you.

[Awkward pause]

If he hasn’t improved in coverage since his Baltimore departure, Ravens tight ends should be salivating for this matchup.

I’m feeling nostalgic, so I’ll close with my top 10 favorite Joe Flacco…things.

10. January 2009 – 2016…ish? Is Joe Flacco elite? Never has a quarterback been so polarizing within their own fan base, right? And you’re damn right he is elite! Ravens do the unheard of. Beat Tom Brady in a playoff game in New England, in a 33-14 rout. Flacco was 4-10 for 34 yards and an INT on the day. Elite! Playoff road wins galore! Elite! Maybe a small part of me misses all the overreactions to all the nothing things that irked Flacco haters. “He’s not emotional enough, he doesn’t care!” Jonny Unitas wasn’t emotional either. “All he does is sit on the bench after a bad drive instead of talk to the coaches and teammates!” You mean like every other quarterback caught on camera for five seconds?

9. September 2008. His first game. Joe Flacco had a 38-yard touchdown run. Lamar Jackson, eat your heart out.

8. August 2009. Reebok commercial (viral video?) of Flacco knocking clay pigeons out of the sky with footballs. Fake or not, just fun.

7. April 2012. Having the guts to tell the world he thinks he’s the best quarterback in the league, amid contract extension talks. While the numbers say otherwise, Flacco got the last laugh as he hoisted the Lombardi Trophy and won Super Bowl MVP 10 months later. Soon after he inked the largest contract in NFL history.

6. December 2013. Snow game vs. the Vikings. The wildest final two minutes of any NFL game in history starts and ends with Joe Flacco touchdown passes. The game winner coming with four-seconds left.

5. November 2011. Joe Flacco finds Torrey Smith for the game winning touchdown in Pittsburgh on Sunday Night Football. What I love about it is Torrey dropped a would-be touchdown pass right before this, and Joe went to him again. Flacco engineered a 92-yard touchdown drive in two minutes after the defense let a 10-point, 4th quarter lead evaporate.

4. October 2014. Joe Flacco, known for winning games but not fantasy points, throws five touchdown passes in the first 16:03 of game time against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. An NFL record for the fastest to do so. But…then he stopped. On pace for 16 TD passes after the first quarter, which would have broken the all-time record in a game by nine, he would finish the day with those five in a rout.

3. Never feeling like you didn’t have a chance in every single game he played. Sure, Flacco had one or two real stinkers each year. But you always felt like the Ravens had a shot to beat anyone when Flacco played. Such a relief after the Ravens had a decade of, bleh, at the quarterback position.

2. His overall toughness. During the 2009 season he played though a sprained ankle for a majority of the season. He always seemed to have something nagging. Ankle, back, a near decapitation by Kiko Alonso in 2017.  Flacco tore his ACL and MCL on the final drive of a 2015 game against the Rams. He hobbled through a couple more hand offs and ran up to spike the ball leading to a Justin Tucker game winning field goal. A football player, a warrior through and through.  

1. “January Joe”. All of it. Bottle that stuff up and sell it and you’ll be a billionaire. 5-0 in the wildcard round of the playoffs. 10-5 in the playoffs all time. Three of those five losses he played more than good enough to win, and other units failed the Ravens. I firmly believe Lee Evans and Billy Cundiff are the only reason Flacco isn’t a two-time champion. That 2011 Ravens team could have beat that garbage Giants team that won the worst Super Bowl I’ve ever seen. 2012, Mile High Miracle. Super Bowl champ, Super Bowl MVP. A postseason of efficiency and performance only matched by Joe Montana.

The NFL had a 16 year stretch where only Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and Ben Roethlisberger represented the AFC in the Super Bowl. The only Super Bowl in the middle of that time frame without a member of that trio…You know. Joe Flacco always ended up in good company.