Joe Flacco Out For The Season

Just minutes after a hard fought win vs St Louis Rams. The Baltimore Ravens got some sad news, head coach John Harbaugh confirmed in his post game press conference that quarterback Joe Flacco will be out for the season after he suffered a torn ACL and possible MCL. Flacco was hurt on the game winning drive leading to a field goal when a teammate was driven into the back of his knee. Baltimore won the game with a last second field goal, making the final score 16-13 improving to 3-7 record on the season.

In 9 games this season, Flacco has thrown for 2,492 yards, 13 touchdowns, 10 interceptions ,with a passer rating of 84.6. With really no wide receivers this season, Flacco has been decent working with receivers who are relative unknowns and inexperiences players.  In a disappointing season for the team, where people expected the team to compete for AFC North. It took a wrong turn, with the team having a losing record of 3-7. Even with a losing record, Flacco was really the only bright spot of the offense.

Ever since drafting Flacco in 08, he has been an elite quarterback. He has a great arm, he can throw the deep ball well but Flacco can be inconsistent at times during the season. That is one problem with him, once the playoffs hit Flacco turns into a great quarterback having great numbers. Even though Flacco has his hot and cold streaks, he knows how to get the job done at the end of the day. Leading the team to the playoffs, and the Super Bowl in 2012 and winning it over San Francisco 49ers. When Flacco is on his game, he will throw for over 3,000 yards and over 20 touchdowns.

Losing your franchise quarterback due to injury, is always hard for a team to realize. Especially when the team is having the season that Baltimore is having. The team is nowhere near a playoff spot, this late into the season. The best thing to do right now is, lose most of the games left on the season hoping to getting a top five pick most likely the number one pick. Since the team is under a rebuild as it looks like right now. Ravens are going to be losing the most important piece of the offense. Its better for him to suffer the injury right now, in a losing season then getting hurt if the Ravens were in the middle the playoff hunt right now,

On Flacco side of things, getting a season ending injury stinks for any quarterback that is starting for any team. The thing that matters the most is, how Flacco rehabs depending on no setbacks. One thing that Ravens fans, do not want to worry about is this injury impacting on his play for next season. Once Flacco recovers from this injury, and the team surrounds him with a better team next season with better receivers. The team to be right back in the AFC North division race.

Next man up replacing Flacco is backup quarterback Matt Schaub. Who is a downgrade from Flacco, but he is not that bad since he has experience starting games with Houston Texans for a few seasons. A lot of people remember him for setting the NFL record, for throwing a pick six in four straight games  in  2013.  Even though Schaub is not the same quarterback he was in Houston, he is still a good backup. There is not a lot of pressure on him this season, due to the losing record. The only thing Schaub needs to do is move the offense down the field for a chance to put points on the board.