I’m not a big Joe Flacco fan. I have posted a couple of items in the last few months dumping on him – outlining just how bad he’s been over the last two years. But I see that he’s now intending to work with his receivers in the offseason for the first time, and that’s a step in the right direction.
In the past, Flacco hasn’t been a fan in putting together informal passing workouts. Instead, just show up at training camp and put it together at that time.
But other quarterbacks believe that spending the extra time in the offseason pays off when trying to complete the clutch throws in the fall. Tom Brady, for example, likes to fly his guys out to Montana. In Julian Edelman’s book, he explains how he chose to live in Los Angeles when he was a young player trying to win a roster spot each year – allowing him to be on call for throwing work whenever Brady would call.
Earlier in the offseason, John Harbaugh indicated it’s something Flacco needs to do. And with the Ravens having signed a pair of new wide receivers, Michael Crabtree and John Brown, it’s more important than ever.
An article in The Baltimore Sun indicates Flacco will make it happen this year.
“There’s no doubt, that stuff is important and we’ll do it,” Flacco said. “I think sometimes those things are just as much or more about developing a relationship with those guys and developing that trust, and for those guys to see that I really like who they are as football players and for them to see hopefully they like who I am as a football player. I think when you can get that relationship going, that’s going to help your football team out a ton.”
Flacco has struggled enough recently that I won’t be surprised if the Ravens select a quarterback in the first or second round next week. But I will concede that he was probably affected last year by a back injury that kept him out all of August.
Not, for example, that Flacco’s numbers got a lot better later in the year. In the second half of the season, Flacco completed 64 percent of his passes, with 12 TDs and 5 interceptions. That’s not terrible.
Using standard fantasy scoring (4 for TD passes, 1 for every 20 yards), only 10 quarterbacks put up more passing production in the second half of last year.
| PASSING PRODUCTION IN FINAL EIGHT GAMES | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Pct | Yards | TD | Int | Points |
| Philip Rivers, LAC | 64.7% | 2,487 | 15 | 4 | 184.4 |
| Ben Roethlisberger, Pitt. | 67.1% | 2,189 | 18 | 5 | 181.5 |
| Matthew Stafford, Det. | 69.5% | 2,234 | 15 | 6 | 171.7 |
| Tom Brady, N.E. | 65.8% | 2,036 | 16 | 6 | 165.8 |
| Case Keenum, Minn. | 71.0% | 1,937 | 15 | 4 | 156.9 |
| Kirk Cousins, Wash. | 60.7% | 1,946 | 14 | 9 | 153.3 |
| Russell Wilson, Sea. | 60.4% | 1,678 | 17 | 5 | 151.9 |
| Jared Goff, LAR | 63.9% | 1,774 | 15 | 3 | 148.7 |
| Drew Brees, N.O. | 72.4% | 2,120 | 10 | 4 | 146.0 |
| Blake Bortles, Jac. | 60.9% | 2,030 | 11 | 8 | 145.5 |
| Joe Flacco, Balt. | 64.2% | 1,851 | 12 | 5 | 140.6 |
| Andy Dalton, Cin. | 57.3% | 1,581 | 14 | 4 | 135.1 |
| Alex Smith, K.C. | 65.9% | 1,861 | 10 | 5 | 133.1 |
| Matt Ryan, Atl. | 63.7% | 1,938 | 9 | 5 | 132.9 |
| Derek Carr, Oak. | 61.1% | 1,842 | 10 | 7 | 132.1 |
| Cam Newton, Car. | 54.6% | 1,461 | 12 | 5 | 121.1 |
| DeShone Kizer, Clev. | 54.8% | 1,750 | 8 | 11 | 119.5 |
| Carson Wentz, Phil. | 59.1% | 1,233 | 14 | 2 | 117.7 |
| Jameis Winston, T.B. | 67.2% | 1,584 | 9 | 5 | 115.2 |
| Marcus Mariota, Tenn. | 61.0% | 1,713 | 7 | 10 | 113.7 |
| Eli Manning, NYG | 60.0% | 1,648 | 7 | 7 | 110.4 |
| Jimmy Garoppolo, S.F. | 67.4% | 1,560 | 7 | 5 | 106.0 |
| Jacoby Brissett, Ind. | 57.2% | 1,456 | 8 | 3 | 104.8 |
| Mitchell Trubisky, Chi. | 63.2% | 1,681 | 5 | 5 | 104.1 |
| Jay Cutler, Mia. | 57.5% | 1,360 | 9 | 9 | 104.0 |
| Brett Hundley, G.B. | 61.6% | 1,347 | 8 | 8 | 99.4 |
| Dak Prescott, Dall. | 62.8% | 1,506 | 6 | 9 | 99.3 |
| Josh McCown, NYJ | 61.5% | 1,086 | 6 | 2 | 78.3 |
| Blaine Gabbert, Ariz. | 55.6% | 1,086 | 6 | 6 | 78.3 |
| Tyrod Taylor, Buff. | 59.2% | 1,171 | 4 | 2 | 74.6 |
| Tom Savage, Hou. | 59.6% | 1,131 | 4 | 6 | 72.6 |
| Brock Osweiler, Den. | 57.7% | 862 | 4 | 3 | 59.1 |
| Ryan Fitzpatrick, T.B. | 57.4% | 745 | 3 | 1 | 49.3 |
| Drew Stanton, Ariz. | 51.3% | 627 | 4 | 3 | 47.4 |
| C.J. Beathard, S.F. | 57.0% | 783 | 2 | 3 | 47.2 |
| Nick Foles, Phil. | 56.4% | 537 | 5 | 2 | 46.9 |
| Trevor Siemian, Den. | 52.9% | 616 | 3 | 4 | 42.8 |
| Bryce Petty, NYJ | 49.1% | 544 | 1 | 3 | 31.2 |
Above, I have listed all quarterback who attempted at least 100 passes in the second half of the year. With it being a 17-week season, I’m listing the final eight games for each teams (Weeks 9-17 for some teams, and Weeks 10-17 for others.
—Ian Allan