When Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker LaMarr Woodley was quoted saying that the Baltimore Ravens would never win a Super Bowl in QB Joe Flacco's lifetime, most people expected Flacco to just shrug it off with a nice, non-confrontational comment that would bore most people to sleep. Meet the "new Joe Flacco," who has begun to come out of his shell, take control of the offense and not be afraid to stand up for himself and his team.

From ProFootballTalk.com, in an interview on WBAL Radio by way of Baltimore Ravens.com, Flacco said this to say about Woodley's abrasive comments:

"[Woodley] obviously doesn’t know what he’s talking about.  At some level I don’t care [what Woodley says] because what does that really mean? But there is another level where it does kind of piss you off a little bit,"

Flacco has increasingly began to speak his mind, which initially showed up in his desire to get a new contract signed, then reappeared in his displeasure over the firing of Quarterback Coach Jim Zorn and now this. In addition, when I was at Training camp last summer and the offense was going up against the defense in goal line drills, Flacco surprised me with his impatience. Lining up for the snap, safety Tom Zbikowski was talking trash, saying, in no uncertain terms, that the offense wouldn't score. As Joe knelt under center, he stood up pointed at Zbi and yelled, "shut the f*** up, Zbi!"

Way to take control, Joe!