Joe Flacco Was Ravens' Best Shot at Victory, but Finally Fell Short vs. Patriots

There have always been two Joe Flaccos of the Baltimore Ravens—the regular-season Flacco, a serviceable quarterback with flashes of greatness, and the postseason Flacco, who approached the controversial "e-word": elite. 

Indeed, coming into the matchup against the New England Patriots on Saturday night, Flacco's past postseason performances sparkled.

While his postseason completion percentage of 55.97 percent was lower than his regular-season completion percentage of 60.51 percent, he was by all other accounts exactly the kind of quarterback one would want to lead a team to Super Bowl glory. 

In 14 playoff appearances, Flacco and his Ravens teams—for wins are emphatically a team stat, not a quarterback stat—amassed a win-loss record of 10-4. Flacco averaged 209.4 yards per game, and had thrown 21 touchdowns to eight interceptions, per Pro-Football-Reference. For comparison, in the regular season he has thrown 148 touchdowns to 90 interceptions. 

But coming into Saturday's game, Flacco had thrown 17 postseason touchdowns since his last interception, for a string of 197 attempts. 

That kind of accuracy, combined with another intangible trait—the inexplicable "clutch" quality—built Flacco's postseason reputation. And by this 2014 Divisional Round game, it preceded him.

Saturday night's loss wasn't entirely Flacco's fault. But his performance was poor enough, compared to the high playoff bar he had set for himself, that it has altered his postseason legacy. 

Against the Patriots, Flacco started off 8-of-8 for two touchdowns and 100 yards. In those eight completions, he connected with seven different pass-catchers. 

That kind of performance, especially in the playoffs, is a coach's dream. It doesn't get much better—literally. A perfect passer rating (158.3), per the NFL's official Quarterback Rating Formula, requires a completion rate of at least 77.5 percent, 12.5 or more yards per attempt, a touchdown on at least 11.875 percent of attempts and no interceptions.

Eight attempts into the game, Flacco had a perfect rating of 158.3.

	Completion %	YPA	TD %	INTs
Criteria Needed for Perfect Rating	77.5%	12.5+	On 11.875% of att.	0
Flacco's Stats (8 attempts)	100%	12.5	25%	0

Of course, the complete result of Flacco's game performance paints a considerably worse picture.

Flacco finished 28-of-45 overall, for a completion percentage of 62.2 percent, for 292 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions. He was not sacked once, a credit to Baltimore's offensive line. His yards per attempt plummeted to 6.5. 

Why did Flacco, and the Ravens as a whole, sputter and then fall apart against New England? It was due in large part, of course, to Baltimore's defense giving up two separate 14-point leads.

Flacco gave credit to his defense, saying after the game, via The Associated Press: "We had two separate 14-point leads. Those guys did a good job getting it back to seven as quickly as they could. They don't panic."

But Flacco, as much as the defense, was implicated in the loss. 

How much does Flacco deserve the blame for his final stat sheet? Bad decisions by veteran quarterbacks are never forgivable. But as ESPN Stats & Information pointed out, eight of Flacco's 14 interceptions this season have been on attempts to Torrey Smith—including the two Saturday night. 

What does that mean for Flacco's culpability for his own performance? Interceptions, when considered in a vacuum as a number on a stat line, rarely speak for themselves.

Multiple quarterbacks experience frustrating attempts that bounce off their intended targets' hands and into the waiting arms of a defender, and that mistake means a black mark on the quarterback's record. 

But looking beyond the record in Saturday's game, Flacco was faced with his top target, Steve Smith, being blanketed by Darrelle Revis. That allowed New England to put two defenders on Torrey Smith, so that when Flacco targeted him—a total of six times—he was often throwing into double coverage.

Again, that's a matter of decision-making on a quarterback's part—a crucial element of Flacco's postseason legacy—but Smith demonstrated this season that he's not always good for the catch. 

In fact, Torrey Smith tied for the second-most drops during the regular season, with 11, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). Had another pass-catcher been on the receiving end of those throws, would Flacco still have two interceptions and a mid-round exit to his name this postseason? We'll never know, but it's something to think about. 

As it stands, Flacco's interceptions, in large part, cost the Ravens the win and the chance to reach the Super Bowl for the second time in three seasons.

Is his postseason legacy doomed? Well, he's never missed a regular-season game, and he's still helped his team to a playoff record of 10-5. He's now thrown 25 touchdowns to 10 interceptions. 

By all accounts, Flacco is still preferable to the vast majority of quarterback options that a team could choose to carry it through the postseason. But whispers of the "e-word," and discussions of his inexplicable "clutch" postseason quality, will quiet for now.