Yesterday news broke that there was a chance that the Ravens and Joe Flacco could come to terms on a long term contract by the time training camp rolls around; a “75% chance” to be exact. I’m sure most fans were excited to hear this, as was I. But when a report comes out like this, it’s important not to trust it blindly.
You see, teams will sometimes leak this information in order to sort of “put the ball in the players court”, so that if a deal doesn’t get done the player (Joe Flacco in this case) might look bad. Well, Flacco’s agent, Joe Linta joined Drew Forrester this morning to address the chances that Joe Flacco signs before training camp. He said rather sarcastically (in regards to the ‘75% chance’), ““That was news to me. That’s good. That’s a good number”. Quite simply put, there is no timetable on when it will get done.
Ravens fans shouldn’t really expect a deal to get done in the near future. In negotiations like this (where there is no timetable, unlike Ray Rice) the two parties will usually talk things over for a while. “You want to understand what their sides hot button, important issues are. They have to understand ours. We shake hands. We hug and we go at it. It’s not personal. It’s not the vitriol filled room that a lot of people might think,” Linta said.
Linta said Flacco really isn’t even worried about when it gets done which is very good news for the Ravens and fans. He said, “Money is secondary to him to the winning and the success he enjoys with the team.” This should make Ravens fans happy because the last thing we need is another player who’s mind is not on football when it should be (ahem…Ed Reed). Flacco is focused on winning games like he has done throughout his career. “His primary focus is to go out and play the game and win for the town and himself…He has a real affinity for this town,” said Linta.
Quite frankly, Ravens fans are lucky to have a player who generally cares about the city, wants to win for everyone and who is a top flight quarterback. Flacco takes so much undeserved criticism from people, including a large majority home town fans. It always amazes me how fans around here can criticize the best QB we have ever had here by a long shot. When did people become so spoiled?
Linta believes that it is due in large part to some of the mainstream media. He says, “There are people in the media who don’t watch the film so all they have to go on is statistics. There are a lot of guys that are on television that don’t know the difference between touchdown and goose down yet they are analyzing Joe Flacco’s performance. You have to laugh at that but they become influential to the public at large.”
And that’s just it. Flacco’s numbers obviously aren’t the best but if you actually watch him play. If you actually see what he does with the below average supporting cast (minus Ray Rice) around him, it’s hard to argue that he is not one of the best QB’s in the league.
Flacco also has a great deal of confidence in himself. Lack of confidence is often a downfall of some quarterbacks. Ravens fans, however, do not have to worry about this with Joe. Not to mention Joe’s calm attitude. “Nothing upsets him to the point where it deters his performance. That’s an amazing quality and one you really look for in a quarterback,” Linta said.
Joe is the perfect QB for this town. He cares about winning, he wants to stay here, he is focused on football rather than money and he is blue collar type of guy. What more could we ask for? Joe will lead us to the Promised Land, but he can’t do it alone. He needs your support. So stop criticizing his every move and just let him do his thing.
