Air It Out Award – Week 13: Joe Flacco

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco and wide receiver Steve Smith, Sr.
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Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco takes home our Week 13 Air It Out Award for his breakout performance against the Miami Dolphins!

Is Joe Flacco elite? He was on Sunday. After week after week of frustration on offense, the Ravens offense exploded as Joe “Cool” cooled off the red-hot Dolphins, who came into Sunday’s game on a six-game winning streak. Flacco and the Ravens came out of the tunnel firing on all cylinders, scoring touchdowns on four of their first five drives. Flacco picked apart the Dolphins defense, completing 27 of 34 passes for 258 yards and three touchdowns and one interception in the first half. That’s more yards and touchdowns than Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill ended the game with.

Flacco, on the other hand, threw his last pass of the day (a 53-yard touchdown to receiver Breshad Perriman) with just under 13 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Backup quarterback Ryan Mallet took over for Flacco after that and sent the veteran passer to the sideline with 76.6% of his passes completed for 381 yards, 4 touchdowns and 1 interception. Flacco’s 27 first-half completions are the most for any quarterback since Tony Romo completed 28 in the first half of a game in 2007. Flacco completed passes to 10 different receivers, finding his good friend (and comeback player of the year candidate) tight end Dennis Pitta for two of his three first-half touchdowns.

Here is one of his first-half touchdown passes to Pitta:

With merciless Steve Smith, Sr., veteran Mike Wallace and second-year receiver Breshad Perriman all making plays, we’re starting to get a glimpse of the big play potential of this offense that head coach John Harbaugh and general manager Ozzie Newsome envisioned this offseason. Of course, the offense goes as Joe Flacco goes.

The good news for Ravens fans is that “January Joe” came a month early for the Ravens. The 9th-year passer always seems to show up in the playoffs, and has the third most playoff wins among active quarterbacks (10-5 playoff record). If January Joe sticks around for the rest of this season, the rest of the league better look out. When Flacco plays like he did against the Dolphins, the Ravens are one of the more complete and dangerous teams in the league. We’ll see which Flacco shows up in Week 14’s Monday Night matchup against the New England Patriots. If the Ravens can beat the Patriots in Foxborro, they’ll be one step closer to holding off the explosive Pittsburgh Steelers to win the AFC North.

The Ravens are definitely hoping this is the guy that shows up for the rest of the season:

Will Flacco play well enough through the rest of the regular season to make it to the playoffs? If so, how far will he take this Ravens team? Tell us what you think!

(Photo Credit: Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

(Photo Credit: Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

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