Ed Valentine of SB Nation-New York Region posted a story ranking the final four quarterbacks in the two conference championship games. The Baltimore Ravens (Joe Flacco) travel to the New England Patriots (Tom Brady) and the New York Giants (Eli Manning) head to the west cost to play the San Francisco 49ers (Alex Smith).
While most Ravens fans would understand to see Brady at the top of the list and Manning right after him, it's the order of the last two that should rile the feathers of those Baltimore fans who are "whacko-for-Flacco." Mind you, Valentine is the lead writer of SB Nation's New York Giants blog, Big Blue View.
Valentine puts Smith slightly ahead of Flacco, citing his regular season stats as well as his huge comeback in the 49ers win over the New Orleans Saints last Sunday as opposed to the struggles that Joe had in his team's 20-13 tough fought victory over the Houston Texans. He obviously ignored the fact that Flacco and his Ravens have beaten Smith and his Niners (Thanksgiving 2011) in a game where Joe clearly outplayed Smith. However, I took umbrage with his justification, responding in the comments section with this:
"Come on Ed! Even you should know that while Alex Smith put up his stats last week against a pretty awful Saints pass defense, Joe Flacco had to face the #2 ranked Texans "D" which would have done the same thing to Smith had he faced them. In addition, over the course of the 2011 regular season, while Flacco had to face two of the top defenses in the league (Steelers, Bengals) TWICE per season, Smith gets to play against some of the worst in the league TWICE in the NFC West (or NFC Worst)! "