:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/46359398/usa-today-8323675.0.jpg)
One of the few things that Joe Flacco's detractors have against him is that Joe Flacco has yet to break the 4,000 yard mark.
And while this is currently true, his best season still had him 14 yards short of 4,000 at the end.
But that's a marginal miss. That's a dropped ball or maybe a few handoffs in a blowout. He should be able to surpass those numbers in 2015, and here's why.
1. He should have the best group of pass catchers he's ever had.
Joe Flacco has never had this much young talent around him in his career. Breshad Perriman, Maxx Williams, Javorius Allen, Nick Boyle and Darren Waller were drafted to add size and athleticism to a group that already has some talent with Steve Smith Sr., Marlon Brown, Kyle Juszczyk, Crockett Gillmore, Kamar Aiken, and Michael Campanaro.
This group has everything a passer could ask for: polished route runners, speedsters, natural hand catchers, physical guys ,and tons of height.
There will be plenty of mismatches for Joe to exploit this season.
2.There will be more passing.
Marc Trestman is an offensive coordinator who enjoys calling pass plays. Now I'm not saying that Joe Flacco will be like Andrew Luck or Aaron Rodgers and throw the ball 40-50 times in a game. The Ravens are still a run first team. But it wouldn't be unrealistic to expect the Ravens to throw the ball a little bit more often in Marc Trestman's offense.
3. Marc Trestman likes to use short passes as an extension of the run.
You've likely heard before how Matt Forte caught a lot of passes in Marc Trestmans' offense. And it will be similar here. Trestman likes to use passes and screens as extensions of the run game. The Ravens have running backs who are skilled pass catchers in Justin Forsett and Javorius Allen and one of the best pass catching fullbacks in Kyle Juszczyk. It also isn't unrealistic to expect Trestman to use screen passes to take advantage of the speed of guys like Steve Smith Sr., Breshad Perriman, and Michael Campanaro and allow them to maximize their yards after catch.
With all this talent on hand and Marc Trestman as offensive coordinator, Joe Flacco should have even better passing numbers this year than he did last year.