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Now that Joe Flacco has won on the ultimate stage, has he joined an exclusive club?

Where do these guy's gather and share incredible stories of football greatness? Is there an exclusive Country Club in a secret location? On the rare occasion when they bring in guests or family members (by vote only), must they be blindfolded and travel in black non descript vans with no windows? What do they talk about? Are there chuckles as they joke and scoff about the lesser of their colleagues? Do they dine on fine caviar and smoke cigars as they secretly talk behind the backs of the peasant Quarterbacks like Sanchez , Schaub, and Cutler, just to name a few? Do they talk behind each others backs only to greet those that they secretly loath with a warm smile? Just what do these elite Quarterbacks do?

Is our quarterback now a member of this club? Will it change him, and if so how? I can only hope that the answer is no. Or more like, NOOOoooooo!

Of course, this is all in good fun, but I write it to make a point; What I love about our Quarterback, is that he could win ten Super Bowls, and would never stand a chance of being considered for this exclusive club, at least not on his personality. This is what makes Joe, Joe. It's his even keeled, non-emotional, and forgetful (to our benefit) qualities that make him the winning player that he is. In truth, we couldn't have won this championship with this Ravens incarnation, in the absence of these qualities. He actually put this entire team on his back and delivered.

When the playoffs started there was something different about these Ravens. Call it destiny if you want, coupled with a little luck, and there's nothing wrong with that. There was something that went beyond Xs and Os; there was an X factor that could not be put into words because there were not words to describe it. During those games, when things looked dire, I personally felt something that went beyond the speculation that "we still could pull this off". It was more like I knew that we would win each of those games. During the Super Bowl, when things started to look like they might go San Fran's way, my friend said, "we're gonna blow it", and I just wouldn't hear that. Somehow I knew that we were going to win that game no matter what. And during each of those games, there was Joe, flying in the face of every one of his critics by delivering exactly the opposite of what they would have expected. As the experts anxiously waited for the "bad Joe Flacco" to show up and blow it, the good Joe, the one that says, "oh I really don't care about that kinda stuff", continued to smile on the sideline no matter what, without so much as a bead of sweat, only to put on his helmet and continue to deliver what Anquan calls candy, consistently enough to win when it counted. But we knew a different Joe in Baltimore, didn't we? It's the same guy we've known all along. Yes we've doubted him from time to time, and we've been frustrated. But look what he can do behind a functioning offensive line. Look what he can do when the heart of the whole team is beating as one, when unleashed from the restraints of an egotistical Offensive Coordinator.

Is Joe Flacco elite? If by that, you mean is he like Manning and Brady, those guys he had to beat to win a championship, I would say no, I'll take ordinary Joe, and I wouldn't want him any other way.