Joe Flacco Responds to Critics, Expects Broncos to Win 'A Lot of Games'

Joe Flacco is tuning out the haters as he prepares for the 2019 season with his new team, the Denver Broncos.

The Broncos have missed the playoffs for three straight seasons, with some arguing the change from Case Keenum to Flacco is a lateral move.

Flacco envisions bigger things for Denver.

"Some people might expect us to win two or three games," he said Thursday in an interview with KOA NewsRadio in Denver. "But at the end of the day, around here, in the building, the people I answer to, the fans, they expect us to win a lot of games, and I expect the same."

Flacco's comment about the skeptics pegging the Broncos as a two- or three-win team represents the extreme end of the spectrum.

Following the NFL draft in April, the Caesars Palace sportsbook set Denver's over-under at seven wins. More recently, Caesars made the team a plus-425 underdog to reach the postseason.

During its postseason drought, Denver has ranked first, 10th and fifth in defensive efficiency, per Football Outsiders. The Broncos have been one of the best defensive teams in the NFL for the last three years and have little to show for it.

That's largely because they were 28th, 31st and 14th in offensive efficiency, respectively. Denver's offense hasn't been pulling its weight, and acquiring Flacco was John Elway's short-term solution.

Flacco lost his starting job in Baltimore to Lamar Jackson in 2018 and has largely come to symbolize the middle of the road for quarterbacks. For his career, he's averaging 234.6 yards per game and completing 61.7 percent of his passes.

The 34-year-old has never performed so badly that he fell among the league's worst, yet he's also without a single Pro Bowl appearance in 11 seasons. 

Perhaps a change of scenery is what Flacco needed and will allow him to exceed expectations in 2019. In addition, nobody should be too surprised if the Broncos reach the playoffs based on the strength of their defense.

Having said that, a reasonable level of skepticism is justified heading into the regular season.