While negotiating with the Baltimore Ravens of late and trying to seal the deal on a long-term extension for client Joe Flacco, agent Joe Linta opined that Flacco is one of the top five quarterbacks in the NFL. Linta used the questionable method of Quarterback Wins Analysis to make his case, citing Flacco's 44-20 regular-season "record" as proof. One wonders just how many of those wins flacco would have posted without Ray Rice, Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, and one of the best overall teams in the NFL, but we digress, because Flacco doesnt want to hear it.
When recently asked by Baltimore radio station WNST to rate himself in the pantheon of NFL quarterbacks, Flacco put it right out there -- he thinks he's the very best.
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"Without a doubt. What do you expect me to say?" he queried. "I assume everybody thinks they're a top-five quarterback. I mean, I think I'm the best. I don't think I'm top-five, I think I'm the best. I don't think I'd be very successful at my job if I didn't feel that way. I mean, c'mon? That's not really too tough of a question. But that doesn't mean that things are gonna work out that way. It just means that that's the way it is, that's the way I feel it is, and that's the way I feel it should be."
Flacco's also totally on board with the whole "QB wins" thing, as you'd expect him to be. After all, it's a bit easier to explain that you un-specifically�won a bunch of games that it is to break down specific anamolies. Example: In Flacco's four-year NFL career, the Ravens have won 11 regular-season and two postseason games in which their elite quarterback has failed to throw a touchdown pass. So, yeah -- better for Joe Cool to put the stats on the back burner.
"I dunno, because people do put winning into the consideration a lot of times," he said. "It just happens to not be with us. But hey, I wanna throw for 40 touchdowns a year and I wanna throw for 6,000 yards a year. I really do. And I wanna be given the ability to do that. ? You know what kind of team we need to be is we need to be a Super Bowl champion team. And in order to get there, we need to do the things that are gonna really get us there.
"And hey, we might lose one or two games because we're being really super aggressive, but you know what? That's what's gonna get us to the Super Bowl. And that's what's gonna win it for us. And I love winning, and I'm gonna continue to win no matter what my numbers are. I don't care if I throw for 2,000 yards a year. I wanna throw for 5 or 6,000 yards a year, because I think that's what's best for our team."
In the end, though, Flacco's cool with the negotiating process; he knows that while he is improving as a quarterback, there also aren't many better security blankets than Baltimore when you're having a bad day in the air. It's certainly a good place to be while Flacco continues the process of actually becoming as good as he thinks he is ... if that's possible.
"We talk about it, but I leave it to [Joe Linta]," Flacco said. "And it either gets done or it�doesn't. I'm not really too involved in the process besides letting [Linta] know how I feel and letting him take care of that, and letting the Baltimore Ravens take care of their side. And that's really my involvement. It's not about the money, it's about what you as a player feel that you deserve. And at the end of the day, they'll take care of it and I'll be waiting."
(H/T: Sports Radio Interviews)
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