BEREA, Ohio — Nobody is going to feel sorry for Joe Flacco. He’s won a Super Bowl MVP and made more than $175 million in his career. He’s winning at life.
And yet …
There’s just something about Flacco’s 16 years in the NFL that has been gnawing at me while watching this incredible last-chapter renaissance. He was always good, always consistent in his prime, but never quite elite.
He never received a single MVP vote but Carson Wentz, Derek Carr and Tony Romo did.
He never even appeared in a Pro Bowl. He was invited once but passed because his wife was due with their third child.
He was beloved — still is — by a large portion of the fan base in Baltimore, yet he was always overshadowed by Hall of Famers like Ray Lewis and Ed Reed. That Ravens defense still typically gets the bulk of the credit for his Super Bowl ring.
That’s why what’s happening here is so absurd, no script writer in the NFL or Hollywood could have made it sound plausible. A quarterback that hasn’t been good in a decade going on this type of heater? Throwing for more than 300 yards in three consecutive games for the first time in his career, leading the league in passing yards since becoming the Browns’ starter in Week 13 and tying for the league lead in touchdown passes during that…
