We all know the many reasons why our franchise quarterback flies under the radar. He doesn't put up fantasy football caliber stats. Not that it makes sense to care in a sport that winning trumps all, and Flacco has the most wins AND the best stats in the playoffs of any Quarterback in the NFL over the past 7 years.
But he hasn't put up 4000 yards, so for some reason people consider him mediocre. I am pretty sure he doesn't mind flying under the radar; it probably bothers us Ravens fans more than it bothers him. We don't like people ragging on our proven, top-notch, winning QB.
The past 2 years, Flacco has come within 100 yards of the seeming magic number of 4000 yards. There is no explanation for the obsession with the number 4000. It doesn't automatically make you a better QB because you accumulated those extra few yards a week.
In Flacco's case, he has not gotten the increased attempts of lower caliber QB's like Andrew Luck, Matt Ryan, Tony Romo or Matt Stafford. These QB's not only average more attempts per season (between 35 and 100 extra attempts), but have also consistently had better receiving weapons. They also play from behind alot more often, which means they are given more chances to go for the kill shots and not play it safe.
Most of the 'elite' QB's were not dropping 4000 yards on a regular basis in their early formative years. But around the 7th or 8th year is when it becomes expected, and Flacco has fallen just short the past 2 years. A contributing factor this past season why Joe fell short of 4000 yards in 2014 was dropped passes. Flacco had the highest yardage on dropped passes, and still only fell 14 yards short of the magical 4000 yards:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Joe Flacco had the most yards lost due to dropped passes at 472 yards, 82 yards more than second place. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ravens?src=hash">#Ravens</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NFL?src=hash">#NFL</a> <a href="http://t.co/Jf7wGXq8z8">pic.twitter.com/Jf7wGXq8z8</a></p>— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) <a href="https://twitter.com/PFF/status/614210651175694336">June 25, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Although the Ravens are a run first team, this would seem to be the year Flacco gets over that hump. With a more pass friendly (happy?) offensive coordinator, the stage would seem to be set for him to eclipse the magical number. I doubt Joe cares. As fans, we shouldn't care either- we know exactly what Joe is. He will be the same quarterback whether he breaks this meaningless barrier or not. But at least it will give the idiots in the media and other fan bases one less thing to whine about when discussing him.