With Baltimore’s Super Bowl win Sunday, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco has officially earned the title, “Elite NFL quarterback.” The thing is, I’m not exactly sure what this means. As far as I know, the guy has to be included in every TV analyst, reporter and common fan’s discussion of the league’s top signal callers.
An NFL championship seems to be the only real requirement for a QB to reach elite status, and it makes me wonder what would have happened if Baltimore hadn’t beaten San Francisco. Flacco proved he could lead a team to the Super Bowl, and he played phenomenally on the biggest stage (22-of-33 for 287 yards and 3 touchdowns, 0 interceptions). Hey you guys, that’s good enough for a QBR of 95.1!
But let’s say the 49ers scored on that final possession. Let’s say Colin Kaepernick hit Randy Moss in the back of the endzone for the go-ahead touchdown, giving the Ravens the ball back with less than two minutes to play. If Flacco doesn’t answer and lead Baltimore on a game-winning touchdown drive, does he immediately fall short of becoming an elite QB? Further, does Kaepernick take his place?
I know, I know, “A truly elite signal caller would march his team down the field…” blah, blah, blah. But I wonder how successful the rest of today’s “elite” quarterbacks would be in that situation. How many times out of 10 do their teams come out victorious? Three? Four? Even that might be too generous.
Based on the “Super Bowl” requirement—maybe that’s what we should call it, the NFL’s “Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks”—the top QBs in the NFL are Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Eli Manning, Flacco and Ben Roethlisberger, in some order (and that’s mine).
Your list might look completely different from mine. It could look like the one on the right-most column of this page, or it might (it just might!) include guys who haven’t won a championship yet. And as far as I’m concerned, there would be absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Regardless, Flacco’s inclusion on the commonly accepted list was entirely dependent upon the outcome of Sunday’s championship game. Either Baltimore would win and he’d become an elite QB, or San Francisco would come out on top and Flacco would simply be another above-average, Matt Ryan-type guy.
It’s a similar situation to when a little kid trips and falls on the sidewalk. He either shrieks in agony or he pops right back up and trots along, as though totally eating shit was all part of the plan. I swear, it’s one or the other every single time.
If you ask me, I think Flacco was one of the top quarterbacks in the league coming into this season. I’m not exactly sure where I would have ranked him on that list, as the one I provided earlier in this column is my first attempt. Nonetheless, he’s won 10 or more regular season games in four of his five seasons as Baltimore’s starter, and the Ravens have not only reached the postseason, but also won at least one playoff game in each of those five seasons.
Unless Flacco had a Mark Sanchez-butt fumble type of game in the Super Bowl, he’s on my list of elite NFL quarterbacks regardless of the game’s outcome. And I’m still not entirely sure what that means.
Do you think Joe Flacco is among the NFL’s elite quarterbacks? If Baltimore had lost the Super Bowl, would your answer be the same? Do you think the “elite” list is stupid? Let Vince know by sending him an email at sports@dailycardinal.com.
