Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Weekly Poop 8/28/13



Roost #44 Poop
  • Dates to Remember:
  • Tonight - Wednesday, August 28 - FIRST SHOW for Ravens Rap this year will be Wed. Aug 28th because of the Labor Day holiday & needing time to get it on before Thursday game.  We right now will be skipping the Wed. before the bye week and the Wed. before Thanksgiving show & the Dec. 29th Show.  Please start spreading the news & let us know of any questions or problems.  Here's to a Great Season!  Thanks, Eileen.
  • Friday – Water Conservation Group Meeting @ …
  • Tuesday, September 24 - HARRINGTON BUS TRIP.  Seats are filling quickly.  Cost is $20.00 per person which includes $10.00 free play, a lunch buffet, and your bus seat. The 55 passenger Bus departs Montego Bay (130th street) at 8:30 am with a second stop at the Millsboro’s Roses Store on Route 113.  Bus departs Harrington at 3pm.  Guests are welcome.  To sign up, Call Paul and Trish at H# 302-436-9017.  You will need to give Paul and Trish either your Harrington Player Card Number or your Birthday Date.  We also need a phone # at which we can contact you.  Mail a check immediately after you sign up to 36977 Laws Points Rd, Selbyville, DE 19975. Check is made out to Raven Roost #44.  Call and Sign up early!  You can also pay at the August or September meeting.  Spread the word for those who don’t have a computer.
  • October 4 – 7 – The Ravens Roost #44 road trip will be the Ravens/Dolphins game being played on Sunday, October 6th at 1pm.
  • Friday, December 6 – Ravens Roost #44 Christmas Party @ the Cove Restaurant @ Bayside. More details soon.
  • From Irene: New York City at Christmas Dec. 6-8, 2013.  I had a few requests for a trip to NY at Christmas. I wanted to send it to this group first. I would need at least 30 people signed up to get this rate.
    • 3 days/2 nights December 6-8, 2013
    • Round trip motor coach - 2 nights accommodations in NY City area, staying in NJ 9 miles from the City.
    • 2 Breakfast
    • 1 Dinner in NY City
    • Visit Rockefeller Center and the famous Christmas Tree-Shopping on 5th Ave
    • Guided tour of Manhattan and Chinatown-St Patrick's Cathedral-Greenwich Village-United Nations-Central Park-Lincoln Center-Wall St. and the Financial District.
    • Atlantic City on the way home, visit to the New Margaritaville & Casino. (Bonus in AC)
    • Rate of $475.00 per person also includes Baggage handling, hotel tax and meal gratuities. Single rate $210.00 additional.
    • A deposit of $25.00 person (Non Refundable) would be due in 2 weeks. If you have to cancel and can find a replacement you can get your money back.
    • Please let me know ASAP before I advertise it to the public.
    • Please note the first day of this trip is also the day of the Ravens Roost #44 Christmas Party.
  • BEER WAGON SCHEDULE: We need 2 people for 2-6pm shift on Saturday Sept 21. This is a very busy shift.  We also need alternates if someone has to cancel. All permits, contracts etc. are now in place. If you can help the Roost out please contact me, Nelson Kelly @: nelsonkelly11@comcast.net, or 302 236 4171.

Ravens Poop
  • Good daily dose of Ravens news notes and nuggets here. It’s getting to the point where I can hardly stand ESPN, but I do go Jamison Hensley’s Blog here to stay up to date with all of the AFC North news.
  • All the best Orioles news notes and nuggets at Britt's Bird Watch here.

Local Poop
  • Tonight - Movies Under the Stars - Assateague Island | G-rated Family and Nature Themed Movies, Assateague State Park.  Wednesdays starting June 19th through August 28, 2013.  Join us out under the stars on the beach behind the Nature Center for a viewing of G-rated family or nature-themed movies. Check our weekly program schedule for this week's feature. Please bring a chair or blanket and your favorite snack and beverage.  Children under the age of 12 must be accompanied by an adult.  Program free to State Park campers; all others program service charge of $3.00 per vehicle; check-in at State Park Ranger Station office.  All ages welcome.
  • Tonight – Free Movies on the Beach - 118th St. On the beach at the Carousel Resort Hotel. Enjoy a free movie on the beach with your family, on our 16-foot projector. Each week a general audience movie is presented free of charge. Bring a blanket & enjoy the night beside the ocean. Movie starts around 8:30 p.m.
    • Summer Movie Schedule:
      • August 28: Rise of the Guardians
  • Tonight - Free Concerts on the Beach - On the Beach at North Division Street.  Free, live entertainment every Wednesday, 8:00pm - 9:30pm from July 10 - August 28 (except July 31). Enjoy tribute bands and local favorites. Treat yourself to a collection of summer beach music, watch the sun set, view the sparkling blue ocean and dance by moonlight. There is no better setting for relaxing than Concerts on the Beach.  The beach beat will have your hands clapping and your toes tapping to the variety of entertainment. For more information about Concerts on the Beach, call 410-250-0125. Entertainment subject to change without notice.
    • Save The Dates - Summer Concert Schedule:
      • August 28: Randy Lee Ashcraft & The Saltwater Cowboys (Beach Country)
  • Today thru September 2 - Tall Ship Event | El Galeon - A 16th Centrury Replica, Between 3rd and 4th Street.  Travel back in time 500 years when you board the Galleon and experience first hand what it was like to sale the open ocean in the 16th century.  The Galleon is a replica of the 16th century ships that Spanish explorers sailed on to discover much of the new world.  The Galleon will be docked Bayside between 3rd and 4th Street and will be open for public tours from Aug. 21st to Sept. 2nd.  Admission:  On Site: $15 for adults, $11 for children (6 - 12).
  • Tomorrow - Arts and Crafts Thursday Workshops | Create an Assateague Keepsake of your Own, Assateague State Park, Thursdays starting June 13th through August 29, 2013, 6:30 p.m.  Our naturalist staff and special guests will be on hand to demonstrate distinctive crafts and to guide you in creating an Assateague keepsake of your own. Projects may incorporate scrapbooking, beads, paint, clay, or even items found in nature and along the beach. Check our weekly program schedule for this week's feature. Service charge applies per participant. If not camping at the State Park, please check in at the State Park Ranger Station office.  For more information call (410) 641-2120 ext 13. Ages 10 – adult (children age 14 and under must be accompanied by an adult).
  • Tomorrow - Free Movies on the Beach - 91st St. On the Beach at the Princess Royale Hotel.  Enjoy a Free Movie on the Beach with our 16-foot projector.  Each week a general audience movie is presented free of charge.  Bring a blanket & enjoy the night beside the ocean.  Movie starts around 8:30 p.m., weather permitting.
    • Summer Movie Schedule:
      • August 29: Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away
For more information, call 1-800-476-9253.
  • Tomorrow - Sunset Park Party Nights | S. Division St. & the Bay.  Every Thursday night in July and August from 7pm - 9pm.  Watch the sun set over the Isle of Wight Bay from the perfect location in Ocean City! Sunset Park is located along South Division Street between Philadelphia Avenue and the Bay in downtown Ocean City.  All concert admissions and parking are free and open to the public. Beverages, including beer, are available for purchase by the Ocean City Recreation Boosters. All proceeds are used for youth programs in Ocean City.  Please bring your own chair.
    • Save The Dates... 2013 Concert Schedule:
      • August 29: Poole & the Gang (Rock)
For more information, call 410-289-7739.
  • Tomorrow - At the Freeman Stage at Bayside - First State Ballet, 7:00pm -9:00pm.  Classical and contemporary ballet highlights will be performed by First State Ballet Theatre, Delaware’s professional ballet company.  Enjoy an enchanting performance by this professional company of bright young dancers performing under the artistic direction of Kirov-trained Pasha Kambalov.  Community Event.  Free for all.  Please bring your own chairs.  www.firststateballet.com
  • Thursday & Saturday - Campground Critter Encounter | Invite Special Guests to your Campsite, Assateague State Park, Thursdays and Saturdays starting June 27th, 2013.  Programs available between 4-7 p.m.  Would you like to invite some special guests to your campsite? Our Campground Critter Encounter lets you enjoy an up-close visit with some of our Scales & Tales animals - and the best part is we bring the program to you! Gather your friends and family right at your home away from home and we’ll bring a group of feathered and scaled friends to meet you. You’ll learn about how these animals survive on and around Assateague Island and how you can help to protect wild animals. We’ll even have time for a photo-shoot with you and your new friends! Service charge applies.  Program is for groups up to 20 participants and is 30 minutes in length. For questions or to schedule your encounter in advance call (410) 641-2120 ext. 12 or email msochowski@dnr.state.md.us or you can sign up at the Nature Center during your visit. All ages welcome.
  • Friday - At the Freeman Stage at Bayside - Doo Wop Project, 7:00pm - 9:00pm.  SOLD OUT!  The Doo Wop Project stars leading cast members from the Tony Award Winning Broadway smash, JERSEY BOYS.  NOT a show featuring Jersey Boys material and/or songs by Frankie Valli and/or The 4 Seasons, this evening is an homage to classic Doo Wop and the music that was inspired by that sound, honoring songs and groups we hear all the time but maybe more importantly, some that exist only as a memory. Classic hits by every standard for every generation.  Spotlight Event. $15 per person, plus handling fee. Children must have a ticket as well.Please bring your own chairs. THERE IS A 8 TICKET LIMIT PER HOUSEHOLD
  • Friday, Saturday & Sunday - Labor Day Weekend Art & Craft Festival, Roland E. Powell Convention Center.  For more Info please contact: Ami Hastings: Phone: 410-352-5851; E-mail: oc.local@gmail.com.
  • Friday, Saturday & Sunday - Freedom Music Festival | 3 Full Days of Live Music and Entertainment.  Airlift Entertainment - 3 full days of excitement featuring 2 stages of live music and entertainment performing a diverse array of musical talent and styles from all over.   Aside from great entertainment comes an awesome selection of great food from our vendors, not to mention many exhibitors selling unique items and products.  You will not want to miss this event on a beautiful and scenic 50 acre, open air venue.  Buy a 3 day pass and get a discounted ticket price.  Check the website for updates and band schedules.  http://airliftentertainment.com/ai1ec_event/spring-music-festival/?instance_id=
  • Saturday - At the Freeman Stage at Bayside - Fireworks Season Finale with Mid-Atlantic Symphony, Opera at Morgan and the Morgan State University Choir, 7:00pm -9:00pm.  Celebrate Labor Day weekend  with a beautiful collaboration of music performed by the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, Opera at Morgan and the Morgan State University Choir.  Enjoy music from Opera to Broadway as these two organizations delight with selections from La Bohème as well as Broadway favorites.  The concert will end with a fantastic fireworks finale!  Come early to this audience favorite evening! Community Event.  Free for all.  Please bring your own chairs.
  • Sunday – Beach Lights Spectacular, On the Beach at North Division St. Beach Lights Spectacular is a new, exciting show featuring lasers, lights and special effects displayed on a giant 5-story beach ball choreographed to action-packed music. Beach Lights Spectacular will be lighting up Ocean City three times a night every Sunday from Memorial Day to Labor Day! Show times are 9:30pm, 10:00pm and 10:30pm.

Funny Poop
  • Riots and protests were rapidly getting out of hand in LA, Miami, Atlanta, and New York. Tear gas, water hoses, beanbags and rubber bullets, nothing was working. Finally desperate police had to fly helicopters over and dump boxes of job applications into the raging mobs. Crowds were dispersed in less than two minutes.

Etcetera
  • Got poop? Let me know! I’m going to try to get this out every Wednesday so if you get it to me by Tuesday I’ll try to include it. Your input is appreciated.
  • Be sure to visit our website @ www.ravensroost44.com or our blog @ http://ravensroost44.blogspot.com/ for the latest news, notes and nuggets.
  • Life is short. Focus on the good.
  • Our website, www.ravensroost44.com is temporarily down.  Our crack staff is feverishly working to get it back up and running.
  • Happy Labor Day. Summer, Get Your Squirrely Ass Outta Here!


Frank


Baltimore Ravens, let’s go
And put that ball across the line
So fly with talons spread wide
Go in and strike with Ravens pride
Fight! Fight! Fight!
Ravens dark wings take flight
Dive in and show them your might
For Baltimore and Maryland
You will fly on to victory

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Not Your Average Joe

Joe Flacco is anything but average

What makes the Ravens QB seem ordinary actually makes him special

By Kevin Van Valkenburg | ESPN The Magazine

This story appears in ESPN The Magazine's Sept. 2 NFL Preview. Subscribe today!
JOHN HARBAUGH HAD seen enough. It was a cold and windy January night in Gillette Stadium, and his Ravens were on track to cede the AFC Championship game to the Patriots For the second straight year. That they were merely trailing 13-7 as the first half ended was a gift, in light of the team's plodding and conservative play. The coach yanked off his headset and marched toward the locker room, jaw clenched, chin leading the way. When he's in that mood, his players would rather lower their shoulders and take on a 250-pound fullback than lock eyes with their boss. But one Raven dared to stare him down: Joe Flacco. And after the two men exchanged glances, they nodded in agreement. For the entirety of Flacco's five-year NFL career, they'd been having the same debate. What kind of team do we want to be? What's our identity? When do we decide it's on the quarterback, not the defense, to get us to the Super Bowl? In that moment, in that one shared look, the debate was over. "I think we all realized," Harbaugh recalls, "that it was time."
The coach marched into the locker room and straight to the leaders of Baltimore's defense, players with big personalities and bigger egos, some future inhabitants of the Hall of Fame. Harbaugh did not need their permission for what he was about to do, but he did want Ray Lewis,Ed Reed and Terrell Suggs to hear it from him first.
Here is the deal! All second half, we're cutting loose on offense. We're going to spread them out, run no-huddle, attack on every play. I'm putting the ball in Joe's hands. He's going to win the game for us. Let's go!
The defense erupted in approval. Harbaugh then shared the news with the offense, and the energy inside the locker room surged even more—Flacco's teammates had been waiting for this moment too.
And so in the second half a new era of Ravens football began. There was Flacco, rushing his team to the line of scrimmage, barking out audibles from the shotgun, controlling the game's ebb and flow. And with one razor-sharp throw after another, the quarterback carved Bill Belichick's defense apart -- a perfect fade to Anquan Boldin; a frozen rope toDennis Pitta; a back-shoulder arrow to Torrey Smith; a skinny post to Boldin; Pitta, again, over the middle.
The Ravens scored 21 unanswered points on three touchdown throws by Flacco. When he walked off the field up 28-13 with 2:11 remaining, he made a beeline for Harbaugh, a playful smirk on his face. He gave him a shove, then another. Harbaugh grinned, planted two hands on Flacco's chest and drove him backward in mock anger. Flacco came at Harbaugh one last time, grabbing him by the collar as if he might slam his coach to the turf. Both men laughed.
The entire interaction lasted under 10 seconds. But it was years in the making.

AT AGE 28, Flacco is among only seven starting quarterbacks in the league with a Super Bowl ring, but there isn't another player in the NFL whose supporters and detractors are further apart in their assessments. (Eli Manning probably comes the closest.) Those who see Flacco as the prototypical winner cite the fact that he's been under center for 63 victories (including the playoffs) over his first five years in the league, the most to start a career in the Super Bowl era. But his critics find it hard to believe he did anything other than ride Ray Lewis' coattails.
And that's just the beginning of the bile thrown Flacco's way. He's been called a flake, a choker, an overrated game manager and a Sesame Street character (owing to his resemblance to Bert). People have made fun of his eyebrows, haircut, inconsistency, cliché-heavy news conferences and goofy wedding photos. But in the end, the most frequent jab fired at Flacco is that he's just ... so ... boring.
It's a common misconception, albeit an understandable one. Part of it comes down to numbers: Flacco has never thrown for 4,000 yards or 30 TDs in a season, and he's never been ranked in the top 10 in yards per attempt. Analytics experts have constructed entire mathematical theorems to argue he's the very definition of average. When Flacco signed a $120.6 million contract in the offseason, briefly making him the game's highest-paid player,The Onion joked that Aaron Rodgers now needed $989 trillion to reflect his true market value.
But the boring label is not just a reflection of his playing style, of course. Flacco is a type-B personality in a type-A profession, a distinction that makes him not only unique at his position but oddly disquieting. A few years ago, then-offensive coordinator Cam Cameron approached Flacco the night before a big game. He had a proposal: How about you get up in front of the offense tonight and give us a fiery speech, the kind Ray Lewis gives to the defense? I think this is your night to get us going. Flacco looked at him as if he'd just proposed swimming naked across Chesapeake Bay.
[+] EnlargeJoe Flacco
Julio Cortez/AP Images"I love Ray, and I love how he always spoke from the heart," Flacco says. "But I didn't know what he was talking about 90 percent of the time."
"That's not me," Flacco says. "I love Ray, and I love how he always spoke from the heart, but if you listened to those speeches, a lot of them didn't even make sense. He meant everything he was saying, but I didn't know what he was talking about 90 percent of the time."
Ravens tight end Dennis Pitta, one of Flacco's closest friends, says: "It takes a lot to get to know Joe. When you first meet him, you might think, Joe doesn't really like me, and he's kind of rude. But it's just because he's shy. He's not a very outgoing person."
Away from the fishbowl of fame, Flacco is dry-humored and sarcastic. And he can be surprisingly self-aware, willing to poke fun at his own reputation. Asked once if he'd ever agree to star in a reality show about his life -- he's the father of one (with another on the way) who married his high school sweetheart and spends most Friday nights eating pizza with his parents and grandparents -- Flacco deadpanned, Sounds like the most boring reality show of all time.
"You think I'm boring? I think that's cool," Flacco says. "I don't know if I'm an everyday person, but I don't think I'm an a—hole. If you think I'm boring, I don't see why it's a negative thing. All I've ever wanted was to be respected within the building."
That's something all quarterbacks say, even as they privately throw tantrums. But Flacco really doesn't care what anyone outside the Ravens organization thinks. A few years ago, a Baltimore sports-talk-radio host asked him where he thought he ranked among the league's quarterbacks. When he replied that it was important for him to believe he was the NFL's best, his comments were virally mocked. "I guess I should have said, 'You know what? I think I'm the 20th best,'" Flacco says now with a shrug. "That's exactly what you want to hear from your quarterback, right?"
It's perhaps not surprising to learn that growing up in Audubon, N.J., the player he longed to emulate was Niners quarterback Joe Montana. Classy, reserved, confident and respected. And when he retired, he gave his life back to his family. To Flacco, it almost seems as if Montana belongs to a different era. No one ever questioned his leadership or complained that he didn't scream at his receivers when they dropped catchable passes. Flacco doesn't understand why the fact that he has a similar mentality is cited as one of his shortcomings.
"Look at Peyton [Manning]," Flacco says. "He has guys on eggshells all the time. If they do the wrong thing, they're thinking, 'S---, he's going to kill me.' And that works for him. But at the same time, I think it's tough to play in that environment. Sure, if you're not consistently putting in the effort, that's when I'm going to call you out. But if you're putting in a full effort and you do something that costs us the game, what the f--- is yelling going to do? The game's over. Let's move on and get better."

FLACCO'S BACKSTORY IS both improbable and explains so much about how he's wired. His father, Steve, a mortgage broker, is all of 5'11". His mother, Karen, a stay-at-home mom, is 5'6". Yet somehow Joe, the oldest of six kids, grew to be 6'6". And thanks to the bazooka dangling from his right shoulder, he became the best football player that tiny Audubon has ever seen.
Even if his folks hadn't raised him to be humble, his experience at the University of Pittsburgh, where he got stuck behind Tyler Palko on the depth chart, would have beaten it into him. After Flacco transferred to Delaware in 2005 and began setting passing records, he still seemed unaware of what possibilities the future might hold. Prior to his senior year, he told his coach, K.C. Keeler, that he was interested in playing baseball for the Blue Hens in the spring. Keeler was flabbergasted, informing him that NFL scouts were already calling, asking if they could come watch practices. You have a chance to be a first-round pick, Keeler told him. Flacco seemed taken aback.
The Ravens ended up grabbing him with the 18th pick in the 2008 draft, but they weren't sure what they had at first. Cameron was confident that Flacco's flawless mechanics, big arm and huge hands would help him succeed in the wind and cold of AFC North games. But he didn't want to put him on the field as a rookie; Flacco barely knew how to take a snap from center after playing in the shotgun most of his career at Delaware. In the end, the team had no choice: After the two quarterbacks ahead of him on the depth chart, Kyle Boller and Troy Smith, were set back by injury and illness, the rookie was the only QB left standing.
Soon enough, a meme that has dogged Flacco throughout his career was born: The defense doesn't trust him. He quickly hit rough waters -- one touchdown, seven interceptions in his first five games. Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs voiced his frustrations during a midseason radio interview. "I think [Flacco] is all right," Suggs said. "But like I said, in the end, Troy should be the starter. He's the better man for the job." Flacco rebounded to help Baltimore sneak into the AFC championship game, only to throw three interceptions in a loss to the Steelers at Heinz Field.
In his second season, the contours of the debate that consumed Flacco and his coach began to take shape. How do you change the philosophy of a franchise, especially one that's winning? "Joe's first few years in the league, he wasn't able to showcase everything he had," says Pitta. "A big part of that is because this is the Ravens. We were built on defense. That was the philosophy: Limit mistakes, control the ball, let the defense win the game."
Flacco's extremes were maddening as recently as 2011. He slayed Pittsburgh with three touchdowns, then threw two interceptions in a road loss to a bad Titans team. He carved up Houston with Brady-like precision, then looked lost and confused the next week in an embarrassing loss to Jacksonville. Columnists started to question his intelligence and lack of fire. The Baltimore Sun even suggested, in 2011, that the Ravens hold a quarterback competition and let over-the-hill vet Marc Bulger try to win the starting job—failing to consider how Bulger would handle Lewis' screaming that they should have run the ball every time he threw a pick.
"The whole Why can't you just play safe? philosophy, I don't think those guys would ever outwardly put it that way," Flacco says. "But the overall sense of the program, there was a little bit of that. The defense felt like they had the kind of ability that they did in 2000, and that wasn't necessarily the truth. My point was: That's not going to give you the best odds of winning. You might be able to pull it off now and then, but I don't think they'd won more than one playoff game from the time they won the Super Bowl in 2000 to the time I got there. So we obviously needed to take another step."

HARBAUGH IS NOT annoyed, or even surprised, when some of Flacco's quotes are read to him on the eve of training camp. He's leaning forward in a chair as he listens, elbows pressed to his knees, half smiling. Harbaugh is a football lifer, raised in the game by his father, Jack, another football lifer. His greatest strength as a head coach isn't X's and O's, it's always been how well he understands the complex cauldron of locker room egos and emotions, abilities and ambitions.
It's true, Harbaugh says, there were plenty of times early in his career when Flacco wanted to push the ball downfield, take more chances, make mistakes and not get grounded after every interception. It's also true that the defense, which for years was the home to every alpha dog in the Ravens' locker room, was slow to accept that the NFL is all about offense now. But in Harbaugh's mind, the real story behind Flacco's first five years in the NFL isn't what he could have accomplished had the Ravens opened up their offense sooner; it was Flacco's willingness to adapt his game depending on Baltimore's week-to-week approach.
"To suggest Joe has been on some great teams and we've won in spite of him, or regardless of how he played, is absolutely false," Harbaugh says.
The moments that speak volumes about Flacco's strengths, the coach thinks, aren't any a Ravens diehard would likely volunteer. For starters, he cites a 33-14 playoff win in 2009 over the Patriots in Foxborough, a game frequently cited by Flacco's critics as a perfect example of his irrelevance. The QB was just 4-of-10 for 34 yards that day, as the Ravens rushed for 234 yards and four TDs. What most people don't realize, Harbaugh says, is that Flacco's hip was so badly bruised that half his thigh was the color of an eggplant. Late in the game, however, with New England threatening to creep back into the contest, Flacco dropped back on third and seven, saw no one open, then scrambled for his life, extending the ball over the marker at the last second as a defender closed in on him. First down. "That is one of the greatest examples of why he's a winning quarterback," Harbaugh says. "People point to that game like he should be embarrassed because he only completed four passes. But Joe chases wins. He doesn't force things. He throws balls away to keep us in games."
Doesn't force things? Throws balls away? To Flacco's critics, that just bolsters their argument that his job wasn't to win games, but to not lose them. By 2011, even though the Ravens came within a last-second Lee Evans bobble of reaching the Super Bowl, Flacco had earned the derision of every stats guru and had become the butt of jokes in countless fantasy leagues for his reliably mediocre numbers.
The issue of who or what was holding him back is still a touchy subject for anyone on the Ravens. Privately, Flacco pushed for more control. Publicly, he backed the company line, but the debate over when he would be able to cut loose was getting tense. And Flacco's relationship with Cameron, the man who had fought to draft him, had become visibly strained at times.
"Our relationship was good, he was just a tough person to communicate with," Flacco says now, carefully choosing his words. "When you don't feel like you can communicate at a great level, obviously there are going to be times when you see things differently."
A contract dispute at the beginning of the 2012 season, when Flacco turned down a $90 million deal, didn't help. "I felt, Am I your guy or am I not?" he says. "Because if I'm your guy, you're going to end up paying me anyway. I'm not getting cheaper. You should pay me now or it's going to cost you if I win a Super Bowl."
Seems like a shrewd move now, but it sure didn't seem like it when the Ravens lost two straight games toward the end of the 2012 season. Finally, Harbaugh decided it was time to act. Firing Cameron was the most agonizing moment of his career as a head coach. Cameron had hired Harbaugh as an assistant at Indiana University in 1997. He owed a lot to Cameron. But now he saw the offensive arms race in the NFL and the gray in the hair of Lewis and Reed, and he felt the team needed a new spark. "Something needed to be shaken up," he says. "Cam recognized that." With just three games left in 2012, Cameron was replaced on an interim basis by Jim Caldwell, who, rather than rewrite the Ravens' playbook, simply emphasized the passing plays already in it.
Flacco responded with a shaky performance in a loss against the Broncos, then went on the hottest streak of his career. In his next five games, excluding a meaningless regular-season finale, Flacco completed 60 percent of his passes for 1,449 yards, 13 touchdowns and no interceptions under Caldwell. After Flacco's breakout performance in the playoff win over the Patriots, Harbaugh named Caldwell the permanent offensive coordinator for 2013.
Is it possible that Flacco was capable of this all along? It's hard for him, looking back, not to view it that way. "I wish we'd been more willing to take risks," he says. "We were never willing to fail to get better. We always played safe. And we won, but we didn't really get better. I had no margin for error. I'd love to throw 40 touchdown passes a year. But I didn't even have a chance to do that."

THE NEW SEASON hasn't even officially started, and already questions about Flacco have begun again. That night in New Orleans when Flacco sliced up the 49ers defense with the precision of a chef dicing onions has faded from memory. It's not Flacco's pinpoint accuracy that most people remember from the Super Bowl, or the bombs he threw to Boldin over the middle on third down, or even that he was the MVP. It's Colin Kaepernick and the way he seemed to invent new angles every time he ran, terrifying the Ravens defense with his feet and arm. Flacco won the game, but Kaepernick became the face of the NFL.
And now that Pitta, Flacco's favorite third-down target, is done for the season with a dislocated hip and Boldin was traded to the Niners, the haters have returned too. "He's never made anyone else better," one national columnist recently wrote. The difference this time is that Flacco has his teammates from the other side of the ball to back him up. "He doesn't have to do any talking," says Suggs, who has become the QB's fiercest defender the past two years. "All he has to do is flash his ring."
Flacco too has evolved, albeit in his own way. That lanky, awkward kid the Ravens drafted has become a weight room regular. Shake his hand these days and you could almost mistake him for a Baltimore stevedore or a bouncer at a Federal Hill corner bar. There is a swagger to him this year that wasn't apparent in previous seasons. He's been verbally sparring with Suggs during scrimmages; he's been more at ease with the media's endless questions about his leadership.
"He seems more confident to me," says Ravens cornerback Lardarius Webb. "He's jawing a little more. He's making some throws he wouldn't usually try before this year, and he's putting it in there." He even agreed to portray Johnny Unitas in a biopic about the Baltimore Colts quarterback that began filming this summer. "I'm only in the action scenes," Flacco says. "There's no way I would have agreed to do it if they said I had to act."
Make no mistake: It's Flacco's team now. Away from a microphone, he'll even concede this. Something changed during that playoff run, particularly that night in New England. He's not a fan of simple narratives, the notion that one player must lead while others follow. But with Lewis in retirement and Reed wearing a Texans uniform, he knows all eyes will be on him when the seas get rough. The new contract has obviously changed people's expectations. Outside pressure will be enormous. And he likes it that way.
Hours after signing the contract that guaranteed him at least $52 million, he celebrated by pulling into a McDonald's drive-thru in Aberdeen, Md. He ordered a 10-piece Chicken McNugget meal with fries and iced tea. "I can't really complain," Flacco says. "We won last year, I'm going to get a lot of money, and we're going to win football games. That's the way it works around here. We're not going to apologize for acting like a good football team. We don't care if that comes with pressure or not."
For now, Flacco is expecting that the new, wide-open offense will carry into 2013 and that he will get to throw more than he ever has. But that doesn't mean the debate is dead. Should he throw a few picks, it's easy to imagine the game plan calling for Ray Rice andBernard Pierce to run the ball 30 times. In which case Flacco would go back to sliding for third downs, sitting on leads, grinding out the clock and throwing the ball away. He wouldn't be thrilled, but the Ravens would trust that he'd do whatever they ask of him to win.
So let the world continue to be dazzled by the read-option, by the next generation of young, dynamic quarterbacks. And good luck with your fantasy draft. Joe Flacco plans to keep collecting victories, both beautiful and flawed, week after week, regardless of who gets the credit, regardless of how it's done.
Even if it's boring.