Fear & Loathing said:
That's just categorically wrong.
You put more weight into a second half performance (against arguably the league's top defense) where Boldin flat dropped the potential game-winner and Housh flat dropped a potential game-tying catch because it confirms your bias.
You conveniently brush aside Flacco's 103.4 passer rating (2nd in the NFL) and 24:5 TD-to-INT ratio over the final 14 weeks of the season. From the end of September on, Flacco was in rare air. And he did it with wide receivers that just couldn't get separation.
He may not have your indefinable "it," but to say he's "just plain not very good" is inaccurate and close-minded.
He's a young Big Ben.
I'm not sure if the Flacco/Roethlisberger comparison works for me. There are some similarities in terms of build and playing style, but Roethlisberger was better right out of the gate than Flacco was as a third year pro.
Joe Flacco - 2010
Completion Percentage - 62.6%
Yards per Attempt - 7.4
TD to INT Ratio - 2.50
QB Rating - 93.6
Ben Roethlisberger - 2004
Completion Percentage - 66.4%
Yards per Attempt - 8.9
TD to INT Ratio - 1.55
QB Rating - 98.1
Ben is kind of a freak in the sense that he has been dominating since he fell out of the crib. You can argue that his per-throw stats were so good early in his career because he was rarely required to throw the ball. There might be some merit to that argument, but the 2009 and 2010 seasons have shown that he can perform at a similar level even when his attempts rise. The guy is just a great player. Not very many are capable of reaching his level.
As for Flacco, it's hard to say exactly what he'll become. His first three seasons compare reasonably well to Peyton Manning's. Manning has always been sort of a low yards per attempt guy whose elite stats emerge because he chucks the ball a ton. There doesn't seem to be any reason why Flacco couldn't put up a monster season if given 550+ pass attempts. Maybe he can even become a consensus All-Pro like Peyton. I don't think it's impossible.
Any time you're looking at a young player who might not have hit his peak yet, you have to do some guesswork to predict what he'll become. My subjective take is that Flacco isn't quite elite. He has played a lot of NFL football. If he were going to become a true star, I think we would've seen it by now. Guys like Peyton, Rivers, Roethlisberger, Rodgers, and Brees all achieved more spectacular heights within their first three seasons. Brady is about the only current elite QB who took longer than three seasons to develop into a monster.
My guess is that Flacco will end up more along the lines of Cutler/Palmer/Eli/Hasselbeck. All of them have been good QBs who can lead their teams to the playoffs when playing well and surrounded by a decent supporting cast. None of them have been consistent every year Pro Bowl types. I see Flacco settling in as this type of player. I would peg Josh Freeman, Sam Bradford, and Andrew Luck as better bets to join the elite ranks.
He has been very solid in the regular season since joining the league, but doesn't seem to look very comfortable or confident in the clutch. That's a bad sign for a QB. You want them to thrive under pressure, not wilt.
