Jamison Hensley:Joe Flacco shouldn't be on the 'bad contract' list. Here's why ..

[polamalubeast]

Joe Flacco continues to be the face of bad contracts for quarterbacks, and it's just wrong to continue this narrative.

When Grantland named the starter for the Baltimore Ravens its choice at quarterback on the All-Bad Contracts Team, it was another instance of forgetting the deals signed by Tony Romo and Jay Cutler since. If Flacco's contract is the worst, how would you describe the bigger contracts given to two quarterbacks who haven't accomplished as much as Flacco?

In terms of guaranteed money, Romo ($55 million) and Cutler ($54 million) top Flacco's $51 million. And, to put this in perspective, the Ravens rewarded Flacco with his big deal after he was the Super Bowl's Most Valuable Player. Romo and Cutler were given this type of money after failing to lead their teams to the playoffs.


Flacco's 62 regular-season wins are the most by a starting quarterback in his first six seasons in NFL history. Before you say he was the beneficiary of playing on great teams, 35 of those wins came when Flacco produced a passer rating of at least 95.

In comparison, since Flacco entered the league in 2008, Cutler has 47 wins and Romo has 44. In Cutler's eight seasons, he has finished with a winning record as a starter three times.

Where Flacco separates himself is in the playoffs. While many remember Flacco's Montana-like Super Bowl run two years ago, he has been a hot quarterback in the postseason beyond that.

In his past three playoff seasons (2010-2012), Flacco has a 6-2 record with a 105 passer rating. He has averaged 251 passing yards per game with 18 touchdowns and two interceptions. He also came within a Lee Evans dropped pass from leading the Ravens to back-to-back Super Bowl appearances.



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http://espn.go.com/blog/baltimore-ra...-contract-list

[X-Terminator]

Homer Hensley defending Moonball Joe's awful contract given to him because of one fluke run to a championship? Wow, that's like...no surprise at all!

Just because more money was given to a perennial choke artist (Romo) and an overrated never-was (Cutler) doesn't make Moonball Joe's contract any less awful, Homer. We all saw the "real" Joke Flacco last season when he didn't have Anquan Boldin bailing him out every week. He's not worth the money, and he's going to continue to prove that he isn't worth the money.

[steelreserve]

Cutler and Romo getting lucrative deals doesn't take you off the bad-contract list. It just puts them on the even-worse contract list. I love some of the other arguments he makes, too.

Where Flacco separates himself is in the playoffs. While many remember Flacco's Montana-like Super Bowl run two years ago, he has been a hot quarterback in the postseason beyond that.

Dude, are you shitting me? Montana didn't win by throwing the ball straight up in the air and hoping he got lucky. He got it be being, you know ... good.

"... came within a Lee Evans dropped pass from leading the Ravens to back-to-back Super Bowl Appearances." Man, they won't ever let that go. I remember when that game happened, people were already saying, "Well, they lost, but now nobody can say anything about Joe Flacco not being clutch anymore. He really silenced his critics." Uh -- no. They LOST. There's nothing clutch about a great comeback drive that didn't make it, just your team NOT going to the Super Bowl. You know what's clutch? WINNING THE GAME.

In his past three playoff seasons (2010-2012), Flacco has a 6-2 record with a 105 passer rating.

So, in other words, besides his lucky 2012 postseason, he's 2-2? Or better yet, for his career in the postseason before 2012, he throws for about 170 yards a game, more interceptions than touchdowns, and a 66 passer rating. With five games in the low 60s and below, including one with a passer rating of 18.2 and another of 10.0? The definition of unreliable.

Seriously, he's like the white Willie Parker playing quarterback. Does nothing but disappoint you when it matters over and over, then once in a while one of his wild swings actually connects. I guess every player like that gets lucky once in his career.

[polamalubeast]

Flacco was great in 2012 postseason and nobody can say otherwise....The ravens were not a great team in 2012, Flacco was the reason why the Ravens won.....You can not be 11 TD 0 INT and just be lucky


His contract is bad and Flacco was bad in 2013, but I'm tired of hearing that Flacco was lucky in 2012....This is completely ridiculous, since its postseason run was historic....The word lucky is probably due to the hail mary against the Broncos, but it was not his fault if the ravens would have lost this game....In fact, Flacco had a great game against Denver, even before his hail mary

[Edman]

Just because more money was given to a perennial choke artist (Romo) and an overrated never-was (Cutler) doesn't make Moonball Joe's contract any less awful, Homer.

Joe Flacco was paid for four great postseason games out of what has been a very average career carried by Ray Rice and the supporting cast around him, especially Anquan Boldin and the Ravens Defense. How did Joe follow up his fantastic postseason with his brand spanking new contract?

He not only didn't replicate his season, but he had his worst season yet with a great campaign of 19 TD's and 22 INT's, and the Ravens missed the playoffs at 8-8, finishing BEHIND the previously 0-4 Steelers.

I'll tell you what. Winning that Super Bowl was the best thing to ever happen to Joe, and the rest of the NFL. Now the Ravens are stuck with him.

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Seriously, he's like the white Willie Parker playing quarterback. Does nothing but disappoint you when it matters over and over, then once in a while one of his wild swings actually connects. I guess every player like that gets lucky once in his career.

Once upon a time, a certain guy named Mark Rypien was one of the best QB's in the league.

Who's Mark Rypien? Exactly.

See Also: Desmond Howard, Larry Brown, Timmy Smith, Dexter Jackson. Joes that have had their days in the sunshine, but would you honestly call them great players? Joe Flacco is one of those guys. He's a much less crappy version of Tim Tebow.

[polamalubeast]

Joe Flacco was paid for four great games out of what has been a mostly average career. How did Joe follow up his fantastic postseason with his brand spanking new contract?

He not only didn't replicate his season, but he had his worst season yet with a great campaign of 19 TD's and 22 INT's, and the Ravens missed the playoffs at 8-8, finishing BEHIND the previously 0-4 Steelers.

I'll tell you what. Winning that Super Bowl was the best thing to ever happen to Joe, and the rest of the NFL. Now the Ravens are stuck with him.

I think Flacco will bounce back this year with Kubiak as OC.....Flacco is not an elite QB, but he has a good career that he has proven he can be hot at the right time and the Ravens can win with him

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Joe Flacco was paid for four great games out of what has been a mostly average career. How did Joe follow up his fantastic postseason with his brand spanking new contract?

He not only didn't replicate his season, but he had his worst season yet with a great campaign of 19 TD's and 22 INT's, and the Ravens missed the playoffs at 8-8, finishing BEHIND the previously 0-4 Steelers.

I'll tell you what. Winning that Super Bowl was the best thing to ever happen to Joe, and the rest of the NFL. Now the Ravens are stuck with him.

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Once upon a time, a certain guy named Mark Rypien was one of the best QB's in the league.

Who's Mark Rypien? Exactly.

See Also: Desmond Howard, Larry Brown, Timmy Smith, Dexter Jackson. Joes that have had their days in the sunshine, but would you honestly call them great players? Joe Flacco is one of those guys. He's a much less crappy version of Tim Tebow.

Flacco has by far a better career than all the players you've named and this is not even close....Eli Manning is maybe a better comparaison

[fansince'76]

Where Flacco separates himself is in the playoffs. While many remember Flacco's Montana-like Super Bowl run two years ago, he has been a hot quarterback in the postseason beyond that.

Please. They were a Rahim Moore brain fart away from not even making it out of Denver in the Divisional round 2 years ago.

[Craic]

Once upon a time, a certain guy named Mark Rypien was one of the best QB's in the league.

Who's Mark Rypien? Exactly.

Mark Rypien: Quarterback. Began his career at Westview elementary school in Spokane WA, and had a witch named Mrs. Sullivan as his third grade teacher. From the looks of it, she actually liked him. Later, he attended Salk Junior Highschool, and the Shadle Park highschool, home of the Highlanders where he had a distinguished career as a quarterback. From highschool, he went to Washington State University and became one of a number of quarterbacks in the 80s and early 90s from the Palouse-region school to gain national recognition and later, be drafted into the NFL. He was part of a three player tandem known as RPM—an obvious take on tachometers and high output engines. And that he did, finally earning himself a spot on the NFL roster and later, a SB ring with the Washington Redskins.

Huh, maybe that question wasn't directed at me. (and yeah, all of that done from memory)

[st33lersguy]

Flacco has not had a QB rating at or above 90 or a completion percentage at or above 60 in 3 years. Other than his postseason run he has been fairly pedestrian which as fansince76 said would have been cut short but for Rahim Moore being unable to stay on his own 2 feet. Also Flacco lovers love to point to the 2011 AFC championship game and how he outplayed Brady while conveniently forgetting how putrid New England's defense (especially secondary which sometimes used no. 4 or 5 wrs as dbs) was that year and the fact that Flacco was armed not only with a much better running game, but also a defense that was probably 100 times better.

[steelreserve]

Flacco was great in 2012 postseason and nobody can say otherwise....The ravens were not a great team in 2012, Flacco was the reason why the Ravens won.....You can not be 11 TD 0 INT and just be lucky


His contract is bad and Flacco was bad in 2013, but I'm tired of hearing that Flacco was lucky in 2012....This is completely ridiculous, since its postseason run was historic....The word lucky is probably due to the hail mary against the Broncos, but it was not his fault if the ravens would have lost this game....In fact, Flacco had a great game against Denver, even before his hail mary

No, it wasn't just lucky, but it wasn't great. It was good AND lucky. People put together all kinds of crazy 4-game streaks; anything can happen with that sample size. His just came at the best possible time.

I'd venture to say, however, that in 2012, Anquan Boldin probably had the better postsesaon. He bailed out Moonball Joe so many times it's ridiculous. That, and Flacco benefited from two of the most horrible DB fuck-ups in postseason history - the one in the Denver game, and the other when he set the Super Bowl record for highest moonball ever, and the entire 49ers secondary fell down to hand them their last score before halftime. Not to mention there was a 108-yard kick return thrown in, and a last-gasp save by his defense at the goal line in the same game. Those were all like 1% chances except for the goal-line stand, and if any one of them doesn't go his way, or if Boldin didn't make any of about half a dozen circus catches, they don't win the Super Bowl that year. No, come to think of it, it was more lucky than anything else, probably the biggest individual run of luck since about Super Bowl III.

[tube517]

Considering the author of this article, I won't even bother. Next.

[zulater]

I have to give credit to Jamison. Pretty impressive typing that many words with his head so far up Flacco's ass.

[Edman]

When you win a Super Bowl and people still question wether you are any good or not, you're probably not that great.

Even the BSPN media, who ADORES less-successful QB's like Tony Romo, Jay Cutler, and Matt Ryan are still up in the air about Flacco. There's a reason why.

Freak Streaks happen all the time in sports. Flacco may have had a "Montana-like" postseason, but would you honestly put him in Joe Montana's Class?

[polamalubeast]

When you win a Super Bowl and people still question wether you are any good or not, you're probably not that great.

Even the BSPN media, who ADORES less-successful QB's like Tony Romo, Jay Cutler, and Matt Ryan are still up in the air about Flacco. There's a reason why.

Freak Streaks happen all the time in sports. Flacco may have had a "Montana-like" postseason, but would you honestly put him in Joe Montana's Class?

of course not,but it not change his 2012 postseason

Eli Manning was awful last year,but it not change his entire 2011 season....He was amazing in 2011

[ALLD]

Flacco was great in 2012 postseason and nobody can say otherwise....The ravens were not a great team in 2012, Flacco was the reason why the Ravens won.....You can not be 11 TD 0 INT and just be lucky


His contract is bad and Flacco was bad in 2013, but I'm tired of hearing that Flacco was lucky in 2012....This is completely ridiculous, since its postseason run was historic....The word lucky is probably due to the hail mary against the Broncos, but it was not his fault if the ravens would have lost this game....In fact, Flacco had a great game against Denver, even before his hail mary

I thought they were more favored by the league to win because Knife Lewis was retiring?