Consistency Is Key

I admit I was cursing Joe out pretty hard after yesterday's loss to the Bills. Buffalo's secondary was missing four of their top defensive backs and they got torn apart last week by Jets rookie Geno Smith who threw for 331 yards and 2 touchdowns in the Jets' win over Buffalo. Granted, the Bills have a strong defensive line and everyone knows what Mario Williams is capable of when he steps on the field (he had a sack yesterday), but Joe Flacco should have done better than he did. Joe Flacco is a better quarterback than Geno Smith.

I'm not writing the guy off entirely, but I do think it's high time he show his role as a leader on the team and find that strong arm he had in last year's postseason. He connected with Torrey Smith for 74 yards and managed to finish the game with 347 passing yards and 2 touchdowns. But his numbers were overshadowed by his 5 interceptions, which set the Ravens back. His last interception was perhaps the most painful because it came with just over a minute left. Had he been able to pick up another 20 yards or so the Ravens would have been in a position to tie the game.

The problem with Joe has always been consistency, and we've seen that in every single game so far this season. When he's on, he's on, but when he's not it's hard for the Ravens to get a win. Flacco needs to find a way to harness his talent so that the offense can count on his play week in and week out. Today would have gone a lot differently had Flacco thrown just 2 or even 3 interceptions.

I would like to cite injuries and a poor Ravens' running game as excuses for Flacco's play, but he knows that it's no one's fault but his own. He accepted blame for the loss and admitted that the Bills didn't do anything to surprise him either. For the sake of being candid I will refrain from mentioning Flacco's contract, but he knows just as well as the rest of us the pressure $120,000,000 puts on a player.