Is Joe Flacco Elite? He Is When He Plays In Gillette Stadium
By Matt Dolloff, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- The last three games Joe Flacco and the Ravens have played in Gillette Stadium have been playoff games. That's no coincidence.
Of course, that's a testament to the Patriots' consistency in taking care of business so they get to host those games. But in many seasons for the Patriots in the Tom Brady and Bill Belichick era, the Ravens have been their toughest out. Quarterback Joe Flacco deserves some of the credit for that.
Sure, in the big picture, Flacco will not be remembered in the same stratosphere as Brady. He's probably several stratospheres away. He will be remembered similarly to another New England nemesis, Eli Manning: a decent quarterback who was capable of going on unstoppable runs but could not consistently string good seasons together. However, also like Eli, Flacco has shown a knack for elevating his play in the playoffs and in formidable matchups - particularly against the Patriots.
Flacco has certainly elevated himself most of the time he's played at Gillette Stadium in his career. The question of whether Flacco is "elite," a.k.a. The Great Debate Of Our Time, is easy to dismiss - but you have to notch one in the "win" column for how he's performed in Foxboro against Brady and Belichick.
Flacco's six career games at Gillette Stadium have been mostly impressive, even though the Patriots have won four of those games. He didn't do much of anything in the 2009 Wild Card game with only 10 pass attempts, but that was also arguably the ugliest loss of the Belichick era. The Ravens are utterly unafraid of playing in Foxboro - a dangerous outlier in a league awash with teams that soil themselves at the mere sight of Brady and Belichick - and Flacco has long absorbed that fearless mentality.
Brady has beaten so many other QBs, many of them better than Flacco will ever be, that it's not totally fair to judge by only the wins and losses. Beating Brady has always been tough business. But regardless of who ends up on the winning side of the scoreboard on Monday night, Flacco is an opposing QB to take as seriously as any in the league. It's easy to understand why: history.
In the five other games since his rookie year at Gillette, Flacco has been 125-for-199 (62.8 percent) passing with 1,387 passing yards, 13 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions. The numbers may not exactly wow you on paper, but Flacco has certainly passed the eye test when he steps into the Foxboro lion's den, especially in the past three games - again, all playoff games.
You'll remember two of those games fondly, and the other not so much. Last time Flacco played in Gillette was, of course, the Patriots' thrilling 2014 Divisional Playoff win. There was so much from that game that had nothing to do with Flacco - Brady's multiple comebacks, Julian Edelman's double-pass, the Patriots' deceptive formations - but halfway through that game, and for much of the third quarter, the story was Flacco and his stunning dismantling of the Patriots defense.
After a season in which Darrelle Revis and the rest of the Patriots secondary stymied most opposing quarterbacks and receivers, Flacco spent the first 35 minutes of the game shredding the Patriots to the tune of 22-for-29 (75.9 percent) passing, 231 yards, 4 touchdowns, and no interceptions. It was mainly Flacco's first-half dominance that gave the Ravens two separate 14-point leads - which they would, of course, relinquish by the end of the game.
Though that 2014 classic turned out to be just a scare (and it was a big one), 2012 was a different story. The Patriots were just one of four hapless Flacco victims en route to his transcendent run to the Ravens' win in Super Bowl XLVII, in which Flacco earned MVP honors. But, regardless of the talent disparities on the teams' defenses in that game, Flacco unequivocally outplayed Tom Brady on his own field in the 2012 AFC Championship Game and no one will ever take that away from him.
He wasn't very efficient (21-for-36 passing), but more importantly, Flacco tossed three touchdown passes against no interceptions while Brady threw just one touchdown and two picks. Flacco stomped on New England's throat that night and came damn close to doing the same thing two years later.
Flacco also came excruciatingly close to ending the Patriots' season in the 2011 AFC Championship Game (in which Brady himself said he "sucked pretty bad" in his own right) when he nearly threw a game-winning touchdown pass at the end and lost his chance to play in Super Bowl XLVI because of a historically bad missed field goal. Flacco put the ball right in Lee Evans' hands for a good second before he dropped the ball (or had it knocked out, depending on your perspective). But the non-touchdown certainly wasn't Flacco's fault.
Nitpick and make excuses all you want for the results of these games and others, but the stone-cold truth is that Flacco is simply a different quarterback when he plays in Foxboro - and Monday night's showdown ought to have a playoff-like atmosphere as a result.
One of the biggest mistakes that media folks like myself and many fans around these parts have made is to overlook or underestimate the Patriots' opponents, especially quarterbacks. The Ravens have long earned the right to be respected every time they enter Gillette Stadium, and their quarterback is no different. Flacco may not be "elite" in the grand scheme of things, but in terms of an opposing quarterback squaring off with Brady in Foxboro, he's earned that label.
Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Have a news tip or comment for Matt? Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.