AFC Championship Game 2012: Ravens Will Live or Die by Joe Flacco

A couple days before the Baltimore Ravens were set to take on the Houston Texans in the Divisional Round, Joe Flacco said something that caught a lot of people by surprise.

"I'm sure if we win, I'll have nothing to do with why we won, according to you guys," Flacco said, per ESPN.com.

Little did Flacco know that he was going to be absolutely correct. He played his part in the Ravens' 20-13 win over the Texans, but the Ravens didn't win because of him.

Flacco finished the day with respectable numbers, no doubt about that. He completed 14 of his 27 pass attempts for 176 yards and two touchdowns. Not great, but not bad either.

However, both of Flacco's touchdowns came in the first quarter, and one of them was set up by a Houston turnover. After the first quarter, Flacco had virtually no impact on the game. 

It's therefore a good thing that Baltimore's defense is so good. It helps that the Ravens D was facing a Texans offense guided by rookie quarterback T.J. Yates, who was in way over his head.

The Ravens didn't win the game because Flacco was great. They won the game because he wasn't horrible enough to hold them back.

A performance like this may be good enough to get the Ravens to the AFC Championship Game, but it's not going to be good enough to get them to the Super Bowl. The Ravens are going to need something special from Flacco in order to get past the New England Patriots.

The biggest problem for Flacco is that he's going to have to keep up with Tom Brady. Brady is probably not going to go off for six touchdowns again, but he's certainly going to keep Baltimore's defense on its heels better than Yates was able to do. The Patriots are going to get on the scoreboard, and Flacco and the Ravens are going to have to do the same.

On the bright side, the Patriots' defense can be beaten. We all know about their struggles in the secondary, and the Ravens can open things up if they remember to give Ray Rice more consistent work. Setting Flacco up for success won't be difficult.

The question is whether Flacco will hold up his end of the bargain, and that's where you have to cross your fingers. Flacco has plenty of playoff experience to draw on, but not all of his playoff experience is of the positive variety. 

In 2008, Flacco was awful in the AFC Championship Game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. In 2009, he was awful in the Divisional Round against the Indianapolis Colts. Last year, he struggled against the Steelers again in the Divisional Round.

So if the Ravens are to advance to the Super Bowl, they need Flacco to defy the trend that has plagued his brief career. It is this same trend, for the record, that has led to his lack of respect among the media and many of the NFL's fans.

There can be no in-between for Flacco against the Patriots. If he's bad, the Ravens stand no chance of winning. If he's decent or even solid, victory will not be guaranteed.

Flacco must be great. That's the only way he's going to keep pace with Brady, and that's the only way he's going to give his teammates the boost they need to get the better of the Pats on both sides of the ball.

It's not a question of talent, as Flacco has never been lacking in talent. It's a question of all those things we love to wax poetic about come playoff time.

Guts. Grit. Determination. Sheer force of will.

You know, things like those.

We're going to find out if Flacco has any of them in the AFC Championship Game.