The Ravens Unleash the Flacco Special
I should have made this comic years ago but oh well, Flacco is still a starter and he’s still pulling this stuff so it’s still relevant.
I was watching the Ravens/Bengals Thursday night game (Which was actually watchable football!) and working on the draft of another comic idea when I watched Joe Flacco unleash what is basically the Joe Flacco finishing move. Goku has the Kahmehameha, Mortal Kombat characters have fatalities, Stone Cold has the Stunner, and Joe Flacco has the Deep Ball PI.
I don’t know how often he actually gets it, but it certainly feels like a down-low meme that Joe Flacco tends to get the PI calls a lot. I’ve seen it discussed in hushed annoyance in forums sometimes. Pass Interference is already one of those penalties that is bound to make a slew of people angry because 70% of the time it’s honestly questionable, even in slow motion. Nothing takes the fun out of a deep pass like seeing the ball fall to the ground, followed by tons of flags, followed by the DB holding his arms out in disbelief.
Ticky tack PI is like beating a boss you have a hard time fighting by getting the boss stuck in some geometry so you can just cheese him. You won, you’ll take it, but deep down you know your shame. You didn’t earn that shit. The most righteous moment in football is when the refs call a blatant penalty against the other team correctly. YEAH. YOU COMMITTED PI. NOW YOU SUFFER. It’s like finding a cheater and failing him out of the class, and that cheater was a jerk you hated already. Bad penalties leave you feeling guilty. You are glad you got a first down but you aren’t proud. It’s like momentarily being exposed to your own privilege.
I don’t think the Ravens score before halftime without that PI (Although I remember a deep pass right before it where Dre kirkpatrick totally did commit PI and nobody threw a flag, so maybe it was justice?). Without that score, the game is probably less interesting in the long run. I was pretty convinced the Bengals were gonna Bungles that game away at the end but they held it together. Andy Dalton threw 4 TDs. In Primetime. Football can be so weird.
I hope this trend of relatively decent football continues all season. This is the first time in a few years where week 1 didn’t totally suck.
I mean he does get them but in recent seasons (Ravens fan so I’m biased) Joe hasn’t gotten nearly that many calls.
Is there an accurate penalty tracker site? I can’t think of one.
From what I could tell, it wasn’t Flacco that was getting them so much as Torrey Smith. Without him Flacco gets them at a normal rate but since he’s already got the reputation they get noticed.
Torrey was the god of drawing DPI, without him it hasn’t happened more than normal
If I’m remembering the game correctly, the deep ball PI you’re was a sneaky grab and pull to slow down the receiver. I thought it was a good call.
Still that’s more defense being allowed than in the NBA these days. More so than LeBron since his Heat days especially.
I can safely say that DPI is a not insignificant part of the Ravens’ offensive gameplan every week.
Half of DPI calls are wrong lol
Jump Ball Joe. Sometimes a high variance strategy lets a mediocre contender look like a world beater for a few games. Eli and Joe, they roll the dice and sometimes it works for 3 or 4 games in a row.
Its a lot like the “Aaron Rodgers facemask”
The Drew Brees looks way smaller than that DT so he’s getting a roughing the passer works well too
We need a comic of Dalton winning in Primetime
I still think the NFL should follow college rules for catches (ie. if it looks like a catch, it is one, though with both feet down rather than one foot down, for higher difficulty) and for PI. (ie. 15 yard penalty from the line of scrimmage, not the spot of the foul.)
Games shouldn’t be decided by a ticky-tack foul that is a judgement call.
The issue is always how do you stop the game from just becoming one where DBs will just flat out mug WRs if they’re about to get beat by them.
….Yknow what, trying for that time and time again would help explain why Alex Collins is barely getting the ball despite being the most electric guy on the team with ease
according to nflpenalties.com baltimore had the following positional finishes in PI calls since the start of flacco’s career:
Calls Yards
2008 1st 2nd (data may be wrong, was this the first year of PI?)
2009 17th 5th
2010 2nd 1st
2011 4th 1st
2012 1st 2nd
2013 3rd 1st
2014 1st 1st (both by wide margins)
2015 26th 29th
2016 25th 24th
2017 25th 24th
Torrey smith played for the ravens from 2011-2014, so the ravens were clearly getting the calls *before* his arrival, but the *sharp* decline coincides with his departure
In other AFC North news… the next chapter of Josh Gordon.
He’s probably getting cut. Can’t find any concrete reports but apparently it seems he showed up to the Browns’ training facilities as high as ****.
Probably not worth a comic because Dave already drew one and spoke his piece regarding him(the Grim Reefer one, still love it), but, man.
Why, Gordon, why…
So Bellicheck can pick him up, maybe?
This didn’t age well.
In my house we have called this “getting Flacco’ed” for years. We use the term for all teams now when they do this.
Usually it happens when the QB underthrows the ball, the receiver slows down, and the DB runs into him. It felt like a designed play.
He thought Andy Dalton throwing 4 TDs in primetime was surprising. What is he going to say about Blake Bortles lighting up the Patriots for 377 yards and 4 TDs?
I can’t pick between Super FitzMagic (while he’s classifies as the backup) or Even Week Bortles.