 |
| It was hard enough taking you serious during your Village People Revival Auditions last year |
ESPN - Aaron Rodgers. Tom Brady. Eli and Peyton Manning. Drew Brees. Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco and his agent believe he's right there with the elite class of NFL quarterbacks. Flacco's agent, Joe Linta, created a stir in February when he said Flacco should be considered a top-five quarterback based on wins and losses. Flacco took it one step further Tuesday, telling WNST 1570 in Baltimore on Tuesday that he believes he's the "best" quarterback in the NFL. "I assume everybody thinks they're a top-five quarterback," Flacco said when asked where he thinks he ranks among NFL quarterbacks. "I mean, I think I'm the best. I don't think I'm top five, I think I'm the best. I don't think I'd be very successful at my job if I didn't feel that way. I mean, c'mon? That's not really too tough of a question. "That doesn't mean that things are going to work out that way. It just means that's the way it is -- that's the way I feel that it is and that's the way I feel it should be."
No Joe, no, no, no, no no. This isn't going to work the same way it worked for Eli for you. Eli actually had a case that he may be "elite" depending on what your cutoff for elite was. If you were ok with your elite QB looks like Gomer Pyle, then Eli was elite, if not, he wasn't. Whatever the case was, he pretty much cemented his status with his (dear god I can't believe I'm about to write this) second superbowl.
And I know what you're thinking, I'll make some outrageous claim about my skills and the controversey will inspire my teammates and bring us together to win the superbowl...no it won't. Beacuse the thing is, Eli was actually pretty good. You're not. You're most definitely a league average quarterback on a good team with an above average defense and one of the best running backs in the league. That's why you've racked up the wins. A quick peak at your stats confirms it. Are they good? Yes, could they better? Absolutely. You've averaged 3600 yards and 22 TD's over the last 3 years...which would be All-Pro numbers if this was 1996, but it's not. Those 3600 yards? 12th in the league last year. I know Troy Aikman basically made a Hall of Fame career on those exact same numbers, but times have changed, those are just Average Joe numbers.
And you didn't even go for elite, you skipped right over that and went with the even more outrageous claim that you're the best. THE BEST! The only thing you're the best quarterback in the league in is going 11-21 for 160 yards and 1td and your team winning inspite of your lack of production. That's what you're the best at. If you've got some secret analytical stats that prove that your consistently underwhelming performance is the key driver for this team, well I'd love to see it.
But what's not going to happen is this: This isn't going to kickoff some media firestorm where newspapers come up with cute "Elite" puns for their headlines, 20 minute debates between Berman and Jackson on ESPN over whether you really are the best while you sneakily put up your best statistical season. Not gonna happen.
