What do Steve Young, Brett Favre and Joe Flacco have one of that Tom Brady hasn’t had in eight years and Dan Marino never got?
Two things actually: a Super Bowl ring and a Super Bowl MVP trophy.
Flacco, once a laughingstock around the league, hated by his own fans and thought to be the factor holding the Ravens back from a championship, threw for more than 1,100 yards, 11 touchdowns and no interceptions in the playoffs on his way to a 34-31 win against San Francisco in Super Bowl XLVII.
It turns out all he needed was a little confidence.
Baltimore coach John Harbaugh knew his team had to come out swinging in the Super Bowl and he had to have faith in his often-berated quarterback — something Flacco hasn’t had much of in his career.
“It’s been a process and Joe has been hugely successful doing it,” Harbaugh said in his Super Bowl Media Day news conference. “Obviously he’s got talent, everyone can see he’s a big strong guy, he can throw the ball, he’s accurate, he’s a tough competitor, he’s a winner, he’s a leader, and he’s ours — he’s a Raven.”
Flacco threw 126 times this postseason, including a slew of deep balls at the fast San Francisco defense.
In their first championship runs, Eli Manning threw 119 times, Brady threw 97 times and Ben Roethlisberger threw 93 times — those players now have a combined seven rings among them.
But the quarterback once mocked for making the claim that he was an “elite” quarterback now has as many rings as Joe Namath, Johnny Unitas and Peyton Manning.
Flacco took a great deal of flak after expressing his faith in himself in an interview with a Baltimore radio station in 2012.
“I mean, I think I’m the best,” Flacco said to WNST 1570. “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.”
NFL fans need to accept that Flacco may not be pretty, he may not be a Drew Brees or an Aaron Rodgers, but the fact of the matter is he just brought a Lombardi Trophy home, which is more than 31 other NFL quarterbacks can say this season.
Flacco has never failed to lead the Ravens to the postseason and stands at 9-4 in the playoffs over the past five seasons.
The kind of faith Harbaugh showed in his quarterback is something Flacco probably wouldn’t have been shown by his coach’s little brother and 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh.
The younger Harbaugh gave up on San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith after a minor injury prompted an opportunity for then-backup. Colin Kaepernick to start despite Smith showing promise during a last-minute drive to defeat the Saints in the 2012 NFC Divisional Round game.
It’s almost fitting that the 49ers lost on a similar last-minute drive in Sunday’s Super Bowl.
Kaepernick was probably the right choice for the 49ers in the long run, but what example does that set for a team that a quarterback can lose his job — while injured — after accumulating a 19-5-1 record during the past two seasons?
What if Baltimore had given up on Flacco as easily as San Francisco did Smith?
Flacco is the shining model for why loyalty in the NFL matters. Two men who share in parentage, coaching the two best football teams in the world; one sticks with his quarterback and one doesn’t.
Who has the ring?
Editor’s Note: This column has been corrected. The Daily Reveille originally reported that the San Francisco 49ers defeated the New Orleans Saints in the 2012 NFC Wild Card game.
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco holds up the Vince Lombardi Trophy after their 34-31 win against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Marcio Sanchez)
