What's the Biggest Difference Between Regular-Season and Postseason Joe Flacco?

Nobody should ever confuse Joe Flacco with a great NFL quarterback.

During a time when quarterbacks' statistics are bloated by the rules of the game, Flacco is completing just over 60 percent of his passes while averaging over 3,650 yards per season. His touchdown-to-interception ratio, 148-90, is very impressive but also says a lot about the offenses he has played in with the caliber of defenses he has played with.

Flacco has the capability to be a great NFL quarterback. His arm is as strong as any other, he can be a very accurate passer and he is a good athlete who understands how to mitigate pressure in the pocket while keeping his eyes downfield. He can also read defenses quickly and manipulate coverages with his movement.

In terms of physical tools and mental acumen, Flacco is as good as all but a few quarterbacks in the NFL.

However, the Baltimore Ravens starting quarterback has always lacked the game-to-game consistency to be a great NFL quarterback. It's that lack of consistency that keeps his completion percentage low and his decision-making erratic. Too often he is heavy footed in the pocket or inaccurate outside of it.

Consistency at this level is often something that can ruin a young quarterback's career. Recently, Geno Smith provided a perfect example of a player with all of the talent to be a top-tier NFL player but the absence of any kind of consistency.

Flacco's play doesn't stretch as far as Smith's in the negative direction, but there's no doubt that he only secured his status as the Baltimore Ravens' franchise quarterback for the next decade or so because of his peaks during the postseason.

Early in Flacco's career, he played relatively well as a young starter in the playoffs. It wasn't until 2011 that he started to hit his stride.

After struggling initially against the Houston Texans in the divisional round, Flacco had one of the best games of his career against the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. The Ravens lost that game because of a missed Billy Cundiff field goal in the dying moments, but the most memorable play came just before that.

Two plays before Cundiff missed a 32-yard field goal to give the Patriots a 23-20 victory, Flacco found Lee Evans in the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown.

On 2nd-and-1 at the Patriots' 14-yard line, Flacco dropped back in the pocket and brought his eyes to the right side of the field. He pump-faked the ball quickly before unleashing a well-placed pass over Sterling Moore's head and into Evans' hands. 

Flacco not only gave Evans a chance to make the catch; he timed and placed his pass perfectly so that the catch should have been relatively comfortable. Instead of following through, though, Evans allowed Moore to recover and knock the ball away from him without a problem. 

That throw would have been his third touchdown of the game, and it would have extended him to 320 yards passing on the day. Most importantly, it would have put the Ravens up by at least three points with just 20 seconds remaining in the game.

In spite of that bitter disappointment, the Ravens and Flacco eventually won the Super Bowl the following year when Flacco played the best stretch of football he ever has.

In four games, three on the road, Flacco consistently connected with his receivers downfield for big plays while taking care of the football. He had some luck and relied heavily on Anquan Boldin, but he also deserves much of the credit for his 11-0 touchdown-to-interception ratio.

Unsurprisingly, it would prove to be a defining stretch for Flacco, who received a huge contract extension before he could hit free agency.

It's impossible to know exactly why Flacco plays better in the postseason than he does in the regular season. There isn't one specific physical act that he does differently in these games than he does in others. He is simply more consistent in everything he attempts.

There's no question that John Harbaugh and the Ravens as a whole play a crucial role in Flacco's performances. Ever since Harbaugh took over in Baltimore, his sides have consistently executed well as a group. There are obviously bad moments to highlight, but in relation to other teams, they no doubt play up to the bigger moments rather than down.

Part of that overall culture must be traced back to the quarterback.

For all of his inconsistencies during the regular season, Flacco appears to be unperturbed by anything that happens in the playoffs. It's impossible to know exactly what is going on inside his head, but his body language suggests he is always at ease in the biggest moments.

"Joe Flacco what can you say?" Harbaugh said after the Ravens' Wildcard win, according to Connor Orr at NFL.com.

Harbaugh continued, "I think he had a perfect quarterback rating there in the third quarter. That's playoff football. That's Joe Flacco. He is the best quarterback in football. We will take him any day of the week. Twice on Sunday or Saturday night, if that be the case."

While reading body language and a player's demeanor is a fool's endeavor more often than not, Flacco's body language and demeanor match up to how his play on the field changes.

In the playoffs, Flacco is always decisive, intelligent and aware in moments that make many players frantic, uncomfortable and confused. Not since the 2011 game against the Texans has any moment ever weighed Flacco down instead of propped him up.

We can gauge this comfort by how well he executes within the design of his offense.

Credit: NFL.com

Take this 3rd-and-10 play against the Pittsburgh Steelers from last week, for example. Because of the down-and-distance, the Steelers have dropped four of their five defensive backs deep off the line of scrimmage. The other is in position to blitz off the edge if he wants to.

At the line of scrimmage, the Steelers have seven players standing up to threaten to blitz the quarterback.

Credit: NFL.com

When the ball is snapped, the Steelers only rush four players after the quarterback, so the Ravens should be able to give Flacco time in the pocket. By looking to his left during his dropback, Flacco immediately recognizes that the Steelers aren't blitzing.

He recognizes this because he can see two of the immediate defenders dropping into coverage, and neither is running out to cover the slot receiver.

Credit: NFL.com

Knowing that the Steelers aren't blitzing, Flacco comfortably gets to the top of his drop before settling in space. He has edge pressure coming in from his left side, but he doesn't need to adjust to it at this point in the play.

As the above image shows, none of Flacco's receivers are open down the field yet, so he does need to keep holding the football.

Credit: NFL.com

At the perfect time, Flacco delivers the ball downfield to his tight end, Owen Daniels. Daniels is running a curl route against Lawrence Timmons, who has established inside position as he runs with him down the field.

Timmons is in decent coverage, but Flacco's pass leads his tight end away from the linebacker toward space for a first down.

Not once throughout this play did Flacco appear unsure of what he was doing. Every single step, head movement and action occurred at exactly the right time. Furthermore, he executed all of his responsibilities the right way. 

Flacco gauged the defense before the snap to understand what to do after it. When the ball was snapped, he could tell that he didn't need to get rid of the ball quickly. His poise in the pocket stood out as the rushers engaged. He didn't need to look at them, but he had to know what was going on around him. From there, he delivered the ball at the perfect time and threw a perfectly placed pass.

The best plays that a quarterback makes in the NFL are often made to look very simple. That is not because they are asked to do simple things, but rather that they execute difficult things so well that the design of the offensive play is allowed to function the way it is supposed to.

Against the Steelers last week, Flacco rarely faced any pressure. The Steelers pass rush is lacking quality, and the defense as a whole was one of the least effective in the NFL this year.

In Football Outsiders' DVOA metric that measures efficiency on a snap-by-snap basis, the Steelers had the 30th-ranked defense in the NFL and the 30th-ranked pass defense. The New England Patriots, this week's opponent for Flacco and the Ravens, ranked 11th overall and 12th against the pass under the same metric.

When Flacco last faced a Bill Belichick-coached defense, he struggled.

In 2013, Flacco completed 22 of 38 passes for 260 yards, zero touchdowns and two interceptions. Of course, that game occurred during Week 16 of the regular season. When Flacco last faced off against Belichick in the postseason, he completed 21 of 36 passes for 240 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions. That was the AFC Championship Game victory in 2012.

Flacco's recent track record of success in the playoffs has come against good defenses for the most part. Even though the metrics may not suggest it, the Patriots defense this weekend could be one of the toughest he has faced in his whole postseason career.

Adding Darrelle Revis to Bill Belichick and giving him the best part of two weeks to prepare for a game puts a lot of pressure on the opposing team's quarterback. Because of the flexibility that Revis offers and the intelligence that Belichick has, Flacco will need to be as sharp as he can be to avoid making too many mistakes in this game.

He may not be a great quarterback, but much like Eli Manning, Flacco is capable of being great for stretches when his team needs him to be.

The Ravens need him to be now.