When it’s all said and done, Joe Flacco will most assuredly have a long list of accomplishments that he can look back at and be proud of. As a rookie, he became the first rookie quarterback to win 2 playoff games in a single season including a win on the road in Nashville against the No. 1 seed Titans. His presence has made the Ravens a relevant offensive force and taken some pressure off their historically strong defense. Earlier this month, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker LaMarr Woodley appeared on NFL Network and had some bold predictions about the Ravens’ signal-caller. When asked if Flacco is capable of taking his team to a Super Bowl, he replied:
“No, not at all because they have to go through one team — that’s the Pittsburgh Steelers in that AFC championship,” Woodley said. “So in order for them to get to the Super Bowl, they have to beat us, and we’re not gonna let that happen once we get that close. So that’s not gonna happen in this lifetime.”
Seeing that the Steelers have defeated Flacco and company twice already in the playoffs (en route to the making the Super Bowl both years), you have to at least listen to his argument. However, the Ravens always manage to field an above average defense year in and year out and always seem to be in the thick of things in the AFC playoff race. One would think that somewhere in their future lies another Super Bowl appearance. The past few Super Bowl winners were led by exceptional Pro Bowl quarterbacks (Rodgers, Brees, Roethlisberger) and Flacco is definitely one of the better quarterbacks in the league and may find himself in a similar position in a few years.
But seeing that his team is the Baltimore Ravens, Flacco may not have to develop into a Drew Brees or an Aaron Rodgers to win a Super Bowl. The common denominator of teams that reach the Super Bowl with non-Superstar quarterbacks is that they almost always have a ferocious defensive unit. This past year, Eli Manning lead the lead in interceptions with 25. That’s the same guy who quarterbacked the New York Giants to a Super Bowl championship over the previously undefeated Patriots in 2008. Rex Grossman took his Bears to a Super Bowl a few years earlier. The previous year the Steelers won the title despite an ugly performance from a young Ben Roethlisberger. The Baltimore Ravens won their only title ten years ago with Trent Dilfer as their quarterback. Even though the 2000 Ravens, 2007 Giants, 2006 Bears, 2005 Steelers didn’t have a Dan Marino on their team, they still found themselves in the Super Bowl vying for a championship.
If the Pittsburgh Steelers are really the last obstacle standing in the way of Joe Flacco and a Super Bowl, then Flacco should feel really confident about where he is in his career right now.
If a journeyman QB like Trent Dilfer can do it ..