when things frustrate him. He’s not shrinking in violet. He’s more pissed in purple.
Jon Ogden stomped, stormed and threw his helmet and mop top all around and we knew he cared.
Orlando Brown shoved people after the whistle because he was THAT emotional.
Chris McAlister would scream at the officials and get 15 extra yards.
Joe Flacco just doesn’t roll like that. And we’re all better for it (see, Lions, Detroit, day Billick lost control, etc.)
But I thought Wednesday’s press conference was perfect.
Unlike the idiots in the orange feather suits who called out Orioles fans to “beat the s**t outta Yankees fans” because they can’t win or trash talk the classiest player in the sport like Buck Showalter did with Derek Jeter, Joe Flacco yet again acted like a grown up on Wednesday.
He took responsibility, accountability and displayed his self-confidence in what kind of player he expects to be. He holds himself to a higher standard than YOU do.
I like that. I like that a lot.
And to me, there’s nothing to NOT like about Joe Flacco.
His is what he is: an ordinary Joe.
He’s become a sought-after (yet uninspiring) local pitch man. I know for a fact he’s changing the way he’s going to be marketed in Baltimore moving forward. He’s squeaky clean. The Ravens will never have to worry about him getting arrested after midnight or showing up on the morning news.
He’s the first guy to do charity work and appearances and I’ve seen him be really super joyful with fans at events. His personality is quirky for sure (aren’t we all?) but I’ve never spent five minutes with him that I didn’t enjoy because he really has no pretentiousness at all. He’s almost goofy in his “normalness.”
I like Joe Flacco. His teammates like him, too. And I don’t really hear whispers from anyone who is concerned with his makeup or ability to win football games. None of them take three years of playoff football for granted, that’s for sure.
He came back and beat Pittsburgh on the road last year. He played through what we later learned was an excruciatingly painful January 18 months ago. He has NEVER missed a start – so much so that I bet you’d struggle to even name the backups and 3rd stringers since he’s been here. They’ve been literally “invisible.”
As training camp opens, he’s our guy. He’s Baltimore’s current best-hope version of Johnny Unitas, who despite his “legend” spent the entire 1960’s with the best team in the NFL that never won the championship. It’s funny that I always hear about 1958 and 1959 but I never hear about how the Colts got eliminated 10 straight years after that.
Flacco even comes with a built-in grudge for all things Pittsburgh, just like Unitas. They even threw him OUTTA Pittsburgh – seven years ago in college with the Pitt Panthers – and he’s always got an innate axe to grind with “yins and ‘dat.”
He’s the best quarterback we’ve had in Baltimore since Unitas. Just think about – three years of road playoff wins and runs and excitement. We’re really pretty freaking spoiled, actually.
In lots of other NFL places they suffer the same indignity we do in Baltimore with the crappy baseball team that is hopeless.
We don’t have that problem here. We’re going to have a real purple season beginning today and Joe Flacco is going to be the biggest part of whether we have a Festivus and/or win the Super Bowl.
He gets it. I know he does because he told me so yesterday.
And that’s all I needed to hear.
Joe Flacco wants to win more than any man in this city.
Music to my ears!
