AFC championship game: QB Joe Flacco gets central stage to Baltimore Ravens performance – NFL Feature -2
Baltimore Ravens will play their American Football Conference (AFC) championship game against New England Patriots at the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, New England, on Sunday, January 22, 2012.
It will be a rare opportunity for players like quarterback (QB), Joe Flacco, to prove their skills and role in the victories of their team.
The weekend game is a test of the entire Ravens squad. It is a more of a challenge for their attack, which is led by their QB, Flacco.
Therefore, Flacco will get the central stage next week.
It will be a 'make it or break it' point for his credibility. There is yet no word from the player himself: how about is he going into the game?
A number of players around him have already spoken of his significance in the upcoming tie. Some of the comments in fact have led to suggestions if there is strife in the team.
One such statement has come from his teammate, the Ravens safety, Ed Reed. The player in a radio show commented that Joe Flacco was kind of a ‘rattled’ by the Houston Texans defence in their last game.
Flacco was sacked for as many as five times in the game. The Texans’ rather inexperienced defence managed to hold back the Ravens offence line, including Flacco, rather well.
Reed pointed out at the similar concerns underlining that Flacco needs to perform better than their opponents if they want to win the game against the Patriots.
Similar concerns have been echoed by some of the commentators around the league, that the Ravens have to get away with their traditional defensive approach if they are on to win the championship.
Flacco will have to lead the team’s attack from the front to beat their opposition. The level of his game needs to improve more given the fact that he will not be able to get cushion from their defence as much as he might have been doing in their previous
games.
There will hardly be turnovers. So it will be left to clear and clean plays and attacks.
Almost all of the commentators have projected Ravens-Patriots tie to be a points scoring game. They are realistic in their analysis keeping in view the Patriot’s performance in Broncos game. The team’s score totalled to massive 45 points.
In contrary the Ravens competition against the Texans was a low-scoring game. The team managed to put only 23 points on the board, while their opponents 13 points. This again reflects on the Ravens total dependence on their defence department.
Joe Flacco must be aware and wary of the fact that the only way out for him will be to persistently attack the Patriots line.
His repeated outburst on his recognition, which has brought in question the team’s management impartiality in appreciation of all their departments, adds to the pressure on him to perform better.
The team’s coach, John Harbaugh, and players likes of Ed Reed have backed him to show-off his game skills on the weekend.
Even the counterpart from his opposition, Tom Brady, QB at the Patriots, has spoken high of Joe Flacco.
Another fact that the weekend tie is a road game and the Ravens vulnerability to losses in the away games makes the Joe’s performance even more essential for his team’s win. All of the Ravens said to be aware of their weakness in road games.
Some of them are rather content given the fact that they had been to Foxborough before. More importantly, they have won a road game against in the New England.
Interestingly, that is their only win against the Patriots. Historically, the Ravens and Patriots have played seven games in between them. The majority of six ties are won by the Patriots and the record is very much in their favour at six to one (6-1) wins.
So the Ravens will be looking to improve their record at all costs. All of them players need to be hundred per cent in their performance to provide them the opportunity to do so.
Joe Flacco will probably need to perform beyond his potential to ensure conformity of their chances.
So it is ball in the Flacco’s court. It is up to him now to either, to perform better and get vindicated for the denial of what he calls due credit in the victories of his team, or do poorly and become a victim of his own statements.
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