The Baltimore Ravens are Super Bowl champs and quarterback Joe Flacco, the MVP of the game, can certainly take a lot of credit for that. Flacco ended the playoffs going 73-of-126 (57.9%) passing for 1,140 yards with 11 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. Flacco had 20 pass plays that went for 20 yards or more in the four games and was very accurate with his deep throws as well.
If that is not enough, Flacco also showed his ability to extend plays during the playoffs in addition, particularly in the Super Bowl. He certainly understands the game and will now get paid for his efforts.
You can expect that the Ravens will place the franchise tag on Flacco in a few weeks in order to buy themselves some time to get a long term deal done with him. That deal, which could wind up being 6 years for $120 million, would make it a record breaker.
Does Flacco deserve that amount of money? Well, he has led the Ravens to the playoffs in each of his first five years in the league. He now boast a 9-4 career record in the playoffs, which could perhaps be even better had Lee Evans held on to the pass in the end zone, or had Billy Cundiff made the 32 yard field goal at the end of the 2011 AFC Championship game against the New England Patriots.
Is Flacco now considered an elite quarterback in the league? Is he in the same class as Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, or even Ben Roethlisberger for that matter? He has as many championships as both Manning and Rodgers does, but I still wouldn\’t call him an equal of all of the above just yet. He is close, however.
Flacco will, however, be paid like an elite quarterback this offseason, and as long as he remains healthy, he will give the Ravens a fighting chance each and every season moving forward, but isn\’t that what elite quarterbacks do?
