Joe Flacco Gets First Start, Ravens Are Worse Than We Thought

It seems like a lot longer than two seasons since the Ravens ripped off 13 wins, won the AFC North, and earned a home playoff game. Gone are Brian Billick and Steve McNair, replaced by fresh faces -- both coaches and quarterbacks -- although Kyle Boller, like a rash, refuses to go away.

Except for last night. The sixth-year player is nursing a shoulder injury and was unable to fill in for starter Troy Smith, who was a late scratch because he ate some bad Chinese food*. Which meant that rookie first-rounder Joe Flacco, who, according to some people, is barely 10 pages into the playbook, got his first NFL start.

Surprisingly, it was a little rocky at times. Still, Flacco finished 18 of 37 for 152 yards and one touchdown, but head coach John Harbaugh was reserved in his post-game comments.

"Joe did OK in there without much preparation this week," coach John Harbaugh said. "He'll settle down as he plays more."

As the Baltimore Sun's Jamison Hensley writes, this was supposed to be the preseason game where Smith staked his claim to the starting quarterback job. Instead, events conspired against him and Flacco found himself under center when the game started.

Hensley's colleague, David Steele, still has plenty of questions about the Ravens' next QB, but places most of the blame on the 10 other guys on offense. All fair points, for sure, but I'm pretty sure this is somehow all Brian Billick's fault.

* Speculation on the Chinese food, but Smith was unable to play because of a tummy ache. Maybe he ate too many pre-game jelly beans.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

8-24-2008 @ 2:23PM

JWills said...

What's with the headline? The Ravens D was without all their starters in the secondary and Flacco did OK considering a) he's a rookie with no experience b) he didn't even expect to play until the fourth quarter c) he has an OL that is constantly being shuffled. At least he didn't throw a pick or lose a fumble. And he looked poised and comfortable in the pocket in the second half, so Fanhouse can kiss Baltimore's ass.

8-28-2008 @ 1:31PM

jvsiii3 said...

Maybe this could be a ruse on the part of the Ravens coaching staff. Maybe they wanted Flacco in all along. Not having seen the game but looking at his stats I think he looked pretty darn good.

I hope they don't make the mistake of putting a rookie in as starter and he gets the snot beat out of him and never recovers his promising young career.

The O line sucks. The coaching staff is new. Do they even have a decent receiver? That would be PAR for the course if this new staff did that?

Brian Billick would not do that. We don't know what kind of pressure he was under. Try meeting the man like I have (albeit breifly) and then tell me what you think. He ripped the press in retaliation of what they were doing to him.

WHO won a super bowl? Let's see how they fair over the same tenure that Billick had and then compare. His defense got old and they never had a decent aka healthy QB. I think that in a year or so everyone will start looking at the Ravens brass and the mistatkes they've made. Then more heads will roll.

Unless Troy or Joe step up. Which I'd really like to see. I hate when college talents that are good kids never come full circle in the pros.

And this is all coming from a Jets fan.