When you think of Joe Flacco, you probably have a mental image of our fourth quarter hero marching down the field and putting the team on his back to win the game. It's something that he's done a lot in the past, and is most famous for the 'Mile High Miracle', one of the most clutch drives ever. And it's not just your brain thinking that. The stats back it up too, as Flacco is the ninth-best QB in the fourth quarter over the course of his career with an 89.0 passer rating.
However, he's been the opposite of that this year. 'Joe Cool' has been very unclutch. Flacco is the NFL's worst-rated passer in the fourth quarter through five weeks of the 2015 season, and those struggles continued in this week's defeat.
With the game on the line, Flacco managed to post a statline of 2/10 for 32 passing yards in the fourth quarter and overtime. What's even worse is that he wasn't able to resort to his best clutch asset, the deep bomb. Only one of his attempts in the final part of the game went over 5 yards. However, the blame doesn't fall squarely on Flacco's shoulders, as he was missing many playmakers (Gillmore, Smith, Perriman, etc.), and also lost Forsett in the fourth quarter. Considering that he was also pressured on six of his eleven dropbacks, it's a near miracle that he even completed two passes.
This week's contest wasn't the first time that Flacco was forced to try to win the game. In fact, it's something he's had to do in every single contest this year. If you'll recall the ball has been in Flacco's hands with the game on the line in each of the Ravens' five games. Unfortunately for the Ravens and Flacco, he's only come out on top once, two weeks ago against the Steelers.
Per ESPN's Jamison Hensley, Flacco has a passer rating of 56.0 in the fourth quarter, which ranks last among qualified quarterbacks. That's worse than Nick Foles and Marcus Mariota. Flacco also has completed an NFL-worst 46.8 percent of his passes (29-of-62) for 343 yards passing.
But it's not just Flacco. While the offense has sputtered at times, the defense has also failed to close out games. With the Ravens losing all of their games by six points or less, you know something is wrong with this team's fourth quarter mentality. Just think, with the Ravens' losses being decided by a total of 17 points combined, just a few plays could have significantly changed where the team stands right now.