AFC Championship Game 2012: Joe Flacco Poised for Greatness vs. Awful Pass D

One of the biggest coin flips in professional sports right now is Baltimore Ravens QB Joe Flacco.

Flacco already has 5-3 postseason record and has guided his team to the playoffs in all four of his seasons in the league.

Yet at times he will throw out some absolute clunkers. Remember his 10-for-31 performance with two turnovers earlier this season against the Jets?

On Sunday, in the Ravens 20-13 win over the Houston Texans, Flacco had two TD passes in the first quarter before going silent for the vast majority of the second half.

Now fans and media critics aren’t giving Baltimore a puncher’s chance to keep up with the vaunted New England Patriots offense.

They are a prisoner of the moment.

Flacco has an odd pattern of following up a bad performance with a strong one.

He torched the Colts for 227 yards and two touchdowns in Week 14 before two costly turnovers doomed the Ravens against the Chargers a week later. Then he threw for three TDs as he led his teammates to two must-win games against AFC North opponents to solidify a bye in the playoffs.

He’ll be playing a Pats defense that is coming off their best performance of the season in a 45-10 romp over the Denver Broncos. The key was getting extreme pressure on Tim Tebow all game long. He didn’t have time to analyze the field and pick apart the horrendous secondary that is ranked 31^st against the pass.

The Ravens O-Line is terrific in pass protection and the Pats won’t be able to take as many gambles with blitzes considering the best fullback in the business Vonta Leach is around.

It’s hard to imagine Devin McCourty keeping up stride-for-stride with the lightning fast Torrey Smith. All it takes is one slip on a deep ball and the Ravens have a touchdown. Flacco is one of the more accurate QBs on passes of 20 or more yards and that will be extremely beneficial against the Pats' slower corners that rarely play the ball.

While Tom Brady and his tight ends are incredibly tough to stop, the Ravens defense is as good as any in the middle of the field. They won’t be allowing more than 30 points.

That is big for the confidence of Flacco. As long as he takes care of the ball, and Ray Rice is getting four yards a carry, everything is set for Flacco to have a gigantic day.

Remember, in the Pats only other playoff game at home against the Ravens in the Flacco Era, the Ravens scored 24 points in the first quarter. That’s when the Pats defense was still considered strong.

Don’t be blinded by one strong performance by the Pats and one blah effort by Flacco and the Ravens.

Baltimore matches up incredibly well with New England. Expect Flacco to throw for at least 250 yards and two TDs as the QB from Delaware leads his team to the Super Bowl.

Prediction: Ravens 30, Patriots 28