ExtremeRavens Posted 7 hours ago Posted 7 hours ago The last time Joe Flacco was at M&T Bank Stadium, chants of “We want Joe!” emanated through the stands. It was January 2019, and a frustrated mob was calling for Super Bowl 47’s Most Valuable Player six years earlier to save the day against the Los Angeles Chargers. He never got the chance, of course. The baton was officially passed to Lamar Jackson before that wild-card defeat and Flacco was traded to the Denver Broncos in the offseason. Sunday though, Flacco, 40, will return to the house of some of his greatest triumphs. This time, the Ravens’ winningest quarterback in franchise history will be on the opposing sideline with the AFC North rival Cleveland Browns for Baltimore’s home opener. The Ravens will also be celebrating their 30th anniversary, marking the occasion of their controversial 1996 exit from Cleveland as the then-Browns to the Charm City with a plethora of former stars on hand for the festivities in what could be construed as an awkward confluence. “Listen, they do these things and I think you can take it however you want,” Flacco told reporters in Cleveland earlier this week. “If you’re from Cleveland, you can take it one way and if you’re from Baltimore you can say it’s not a big deal, it’s just one of those things. “Honestly, for me, it kind of makes it more exciting. We get to go in there when they’re having some people back and just more ex-players, more eyes on you. It’ll make it more interesting.” Time often heals old wounds, so if there’s animosity toward Baltimore for moving on, Flacco isn’t showing any. “We were on good terms when I left,” he said. “But at the same time, you know, it’s natural to feel a certain way when you’re going against a team that you’re not playing for anymore. I’ve been a part of other players that do that and you kind of try to act normal, but it is a big deal. You do want to go beat them, and it’s a little bit of a difference.” Flacco added that Baltimore is a “very special place” and said it’s somewhere that he made “many good memories.” But he’s also wise enough to understand the significance of the moment that awaits — which is why, he said, he will likely venture onto the field a little earlier than normal to connect with what will be many familiar faces. The Ravens will be trying to do the same, particularly after a stunning collapse against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night in Orchard Park, New York, where Baltimore inexplicably twice squandered a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter, including one with under five minutes remaining and fell, 41-40. Cleveland is likewise coming off its own crushing defea, 17-16 to the Cincinnati Bengals, despite holding Joe Burrow to 113 passing yards and one touchdown. Flacco, meanwhile, threw for 290 yards and a touchdown, though he did toss a pair of interceptions. Now comes a reunion against his former coach, John Harbaugh, whom the Ravens hired three months before drafting Flacco 18th overall out of Delaware in 2008. Joe FlaccoSun photo by Kenneth K. LamFormer Ravens first-round pick Joe Flacco talks to the media in 2008 during a news conference. Flacco will visit M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday playing for a division rival. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff file) “Joe is iconic, I think, in Baltimore football history,” Harbaugh said. “I respect that and admire that, and I still keep in touch with him, except not this week. This week, it’s not about that for us as a football team. It’s about us getting prepared for a good quarterback that knows how to play the game, that’s capable of making plays against you. We’re going to have to be at our very best to defend against Joe and the whole offense.” The occasion will also be Flacco’s second career game against Baltimore. He last played against the Ravens in 2022 when he was with the New York Jets. Baltimore won, 24-9, at MetLife Stadium, where Flacco chucked it 59 times, completing 37 passes for 309 yards and a touchdown with an interception. Now in his 18th season, Flacco can still fling it. “He operates the passing game really well,” Harbaugh said. “He does a good job with all the play-action stuff. He’s going to get them in the runs they want to get in. … He is still big, he’s still got a good arm, he’s very accurate. It’s a good catchable ball, and he knows where to go with it. So that’s kind of the classic drop-back quarterback kind of guy that Joe is, and that’s the way they’re playing with him.” A handful of Baltimore players are looking forward to seeing and going up against their former teammate as well. Jackson along with tight end Mark Andrews, left tackle Ronnie Stanley, cornerback Marlon Humphrey, defensive end Brent Urban and fullback Patrick Ricard, who likely won’t play because of a calf injury that has kept him out of practice since mid-August, all played with Flacco when he was in Baltimore. Each remembers their experience fondly. “How cool he was with things he would say, and how funny he was,” Jackson said when asked what he remembers about his rookie season alongside the player he replaced midway through the season. “I don’t know if people know, but ‘Flacc’ is funny. He used to have me rolling as a rookie. I used to be like, ‘Man, this man just says stuff so nonchalantly.’ It is great. He is a great person to be around.” Nick Wass / APRavens quarterbacks Lamar Jackson and Joe Flacco walk onto the field before a playoff game in January 2019. Soon after the loss to the Chargers, Flacco was traded to the Broncos. (AP file) Though the dynamic of incumbent quarterback being replaced by a rookie — it was a month after an overtime loss in Cleveland that Baltimore subbed Jackson in for the injured Flacco — can be uneasy, Jackson didn’t necessarily feel it. “I was just trying to learn as much as I could my rookie year,” he said. “I can’t speak for ‘Flacc.’ I was cool. I feel like we had a great relationship.” Though the two don’t keep in regular contact, they also had a moment years later. At the 2024 NFL Honors, Jackson was on hand to collect his second NFL MVP Award; Flacco the Comeback Player of the Year Award. Though Jackson also said that seeing him in a Browns uniform inside M&T Bank Stadium will be “different,” he isn’t surprised that his former teammate has lasted this long. Jackson recalled an 80-yard bomb from Flacco to Chris Moore during one practice that still resonates. “It was ridiculous,” he said. “So for me to see that back then, no doubt in my mind.” Humphrey’s recollection also stems from his rookie season in 2017 when Flacco surprisingly joined him for lunch. “I just thought that a quarterback, a Super Bowl MVP would not just join a rookie at the lunch table, so I thought that was cool,” he said. “I was young coming in [and thought] quarterbacks were probably just arrogant guys. So, that’s my first memory of Joe.” Watching him nearly a decade later not much has changed, Humphrey said. “He’s kind of still the same Joe,” he said. “He looks at all his reads. To me, it’s almost a lost art [of] quarterbacks — the three-step drop, five-step drop [and] go through all their progressions the way Joe does. Obviously, it’s a familiar face coming back to Baltimore. It is a weird thing, being in that Browns’ jersey, but we’re excited to go against him and hopefully come out on top.” This past offseason, Flacco also had a chance to be back in a Ravens uniform. Baltimore talked to Flacco’s agent, Joe Linta, about bringing him back and there was interest from both sides. It never materialized, though, and Flacco signed with the Browns two weeks before the April draft, marking his second stint with Cleveland after joining the Browns late in the 2023 season and leading them to the playoffs. A wild-card loss to the Texans that year also ended a chance for a return trip to Baltimore to face his old team in the divisional round, and Flacco spent the 2024 season with the Indianapolis Colts, making six starts. When he finally returns to Baltimore on Sunday, the stakes won’t be quite as high, but it will be an important game for both teams. It will also be a chance for fans and players to remember one of the organization’s most popular players who will one day after he retires end up in the team’s Ring of Honor. “Once a Raven, always a Raven,” Jackson said. “I believe that’s a fact.” Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. Mike Preston: Ravens beware, Joe Flacco ‘can still bring it’ | COMMENTARY View the full article Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.