Joe Flacco knows the Lamar Jackson questions will keep coming
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Joe Flacco stood at the microphone Friday afternoon as Baltimore’s starting quarterback, the face of the franchise, knowing everyone in front of him might not believe he would hold those titles much longer.
The 33-year-old has started every year since the Ravens drafted him in the first round of the 2008 draft, and his magical run in 2012 handed the franchise its second Super Bowl title. In April, the Ravens drafted a quarterback in the first round for the first time since Flacco when they traded up to take Louisville phenom Lamar Jackson, the youngest Heisman Trophy winner ever. Flacco reportedly didn’t reach out to Jackson for at least two weeks after the draft. Ever since, the grizzled gunslinger has faced scrutiny over how he’ll handle playing alongside a hungry rookie.
“I’m taking it as I always take it,” Flacco said after the second day of Ravens training camp. “I’m working hard. … Obviously everybody, whether they felt good or bad about [Lamar getting drafted], there was a certain feeling, and you can’t hide that.”
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The pressure only builds because last season Baltimore missed the playoffs for the third straight year. The success of the 2012 season — both for the team and for Flacco — has continued to slip further away in the rearview mirror, but Flacco said he’s nowhere near ready to finish his career. Safety Eric Weddle said he expects Flacco to have “a career year.”
One reporter told Flacco that his teammates said he seemed different this year, as if he had more passion. Was that new fire linked to Jackson’s arrival?
“Does it matter what I say?” Flacco said, grinning. “You guys will probably link it to Lamar anyway.”
Flacco seemed ready to swat away the question and leave it at that, but he continued. As he spoke, he appeared to be grappling with his teammates’ apparent perception that he seemed different. Earlier, Flacco said he approached every training camp with the same energy. Maybe it was different because he wasn’t battling injuries this time, he said, but he concluded the likeliest reason the reporter received that analysis was because he interviewed new players.
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Flacco’s relationship with those new players is crucial for the Ravens because, of the 19 wide receivers and tight ends on the training camp roster, 12 of them were acquired this offseason. Coach John Harbaugh said he expects his quarterback to handle that without any problems — “We’ll throw to whoever’s out there” — and said starting camp early gave the team time to jell. Flacco invited his new pass-catchers to camp a week early to give the unit more time to get on the same page, but still, in the question, Flacco seemed to feel misunderstood.
“What do you think when you hear my name?” he wondered. “You probably don’t think of someone very exciting. You probably try to pin my personality down to something I probably believe is really not it. A lot of players are surprised because they come in with a view of what my personality is, and then when they actually interact with me, they say, ‘This is a little different from I thought.’ It’d be interesting to hear who it’s coming from, because if it’s coming from some of the new guys, they just didn’t have a realistic view of what I’m really like.”
The offense Flacco pilots will reflect the changes in its personnel. The Ravens have added run-pass option plays, which Flacco said he liked because it stressed the defense and opened running lanes. He seemed less enthusiastic about the Ravens putting the speedy Jackson in the backfield alongside him, calling it “a big, red flag to the defense.”
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As Flacco’s time answering questions wrapped up, the interview circled back to how Jackson’s presence was affecting him. This time, Flacco was asked if he thought the questions about Jackson would ever get “annoying.” Flacco answered without hesitating.
“No, I don’t,” he said. “I think we’re going to win and we’re not going to hear about it.”
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