Personal blog time!Welp, I know our rivals/haters will try to bring us down for 3 quarters of pathetic football, but I'm still proud of this team. We were on the trash heap at 4-5 under Flacco. Season looked dead in the water and utterly hopeless. Jackson came in, the offense improved mightily, and we went 6-1 while playing some great football against some great teams—@Chiefs and @Chargers being the highlights. 3 quarters of shitty football won't make me forget the previous 7 games of electric football.
It's clear Jackson is the future. His deficiencies are very fixable (ball security and mechanics). He's only 21—the youngest starting QB in the league. While he looked bad today, you have to credit the Chargers for being a great defense and stopping our run—do that, and it doesn't matter if Flacco or Jackson is back there. If Jackson can develop into even an average passer and protect the ball better, it's a closer game: he'll be able to take advantage of a stacked box.
As for the "should they bench Lamar" controversy, I'm relieved they did not start Flacco. First off, if he gets injured, Flacco would probably retire with an injury guarantee and completely fuck our cap for years. Not worth the risk for a lost cause (both in terms of winning the game and in terms of Flacco being our starter).
Second, I'm sooooo glad Lamar made a little push at the end there to make the game exciting—put a lid on any QB controversy that might have festered/lingered over the offseason. Fickle-minded fans seem to forget that Flacco looked terrible earlier in the year lol: his mechanics suck, he doesn't make pre-snap reads anymore, and he just not accurate or smart with where he throws it. Flacco definitely would not have done any better than Lamar in that 4th quarter near-comeback because he can't sit back and sling it while handling the pass rush: he has no mobility, and our OL isn't good pass-protecting. Joe isn't going to make that scrambling TD pass or Mahomes-esque heave to Dixon lol, get real.
Finally, being trusted by Harbaugh to make that little near-comeback must have helped Lamar's confidence going forward, whereas a benching might have hurt him—that's the difference between a good coach like Harbaugh and a dumbfuck like Hue Jackson who can't manage personnel lol. Lamar is the future. Roll with your boy and give him a chance! Lamar is the future and Flacco is gone in the offseason whether we win that game or not, so why risk damaging your future QB's development for a last-ditch effort to possibly pull an unlikely win.
And I think too much is being made about Flacco's body language. Flacco has always been very professional about the whole Lamar starting thing, and he's been supportive all the way. I think people are just reading into Flacco's mannerisms and seeing what they want to see, which is a QB controversy. Fact is Flacco didn't look any different than he did the past 7 weeks lol, but a non-Ravens fan isn't going to know that.
Finally, I can tell our rivals (Steelers, Browns, Patriots fans) are pretty unsettled by how exciting this team was down the stretch
They were trying hard to convince themselves this is Lamar's ceiling, lol, like the youngest starting QB in the league isn't going to develop some passing skills and be a threat one of these years. Not saying he'll be the next Cam or Mahomes, but he's got nowhere to go but up as a passer. Convenient how Steelers and Patriots fans forget how mediocre their current starters looked as rookies while playing behind a great defense and run game... but no, no similarities there
Whew, end rant.
inb4tldr, trolls, etc.