NEW ORLEANS —
It is not often that a quarterback who sets a franchise-record with eight post-season wins and counting is not considered among the elites. In those games he has thrown eight touchdown passes and has yet to be intercepted.
Then again, none of them are Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco.
He helped guide the Ravens to their second Super Bowl appearance and outplayed future hall of famer Tom Brady in a 28-13 win over the New England Patriots, and Flacco is just 60 minutes away from football immortality.
According to ESPN Stats and Information, he gets the chance to join Phil Simms(1986), Joe Montana(1989), TroyAikman(1992), Steve Young (1994) and Drew Brees (2009) as the sixth quarterback to throw a minimum of eight touchdowns and no interceptions in a single post-season.
All five quarterbacks would also go on to win the Super Bowl and named the Super Bowl MVP.
For the many detractors and critics he has the chance to silence that group and make a statment regarding his football career if he plays well.
In only his fifth year out of the University of Delaware—via Pitt–the former Blue Hen has thrown for 853 yards and has defeated two of the best quarterbacks of this generation in Peyton Manning and Brady on the road.
This signifies a new birth of the next great quarterback in the NFL as Flacco is channeling his inner Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers, who would win Super Bowl XLV MVP, had one of the greatest post-season runs in NFL history as he would pass for 1,094 yards, nine touchdowns, throw two interceptions and complete 68.2 percent of his passes in helping lead the Green Bay Packers to their 13th NFL title.
Right now don’t bet against the hottest quarterback in the NFL playoffs. .
And yet, there still is a discussion among NFL fans that Flacco is not elite, which is close to being absurd considering that he has a career record of 54-26 and a record six road playoff wins.
Facts never lie, based on what Flacco has already acccomplished in just five years it is just the beginning for him. Last season if it weren’t for a Lee Evans dropped pass he’d be making his second straight in the Super Bowl.
On this day, perhaps the football gods are ready to smile down on Flacco after all.
Robert D. Cobb is the Founder/CEO/Senior Editor-In-Chief Of The Inscriber : Digital Magazine, for questions, comments and concerns email me at robcobb@theinscriber.com and follow the Inscriber : Digital Magazine on Twitter at @TheInscriber
Good, not great. He’s definitely not mediocre.