Drew Bledsoe HOVG

[sluggermatt15]

^There are other viable candidates who are more deserving than Flacco.

Tommy Thompson
Joe Theismann
Bert Jones
Phil Simms
Babe Parilli
Steve McNair
Donovan McNabb


Just to name a few.

[Hail Casares]

Its interesting comparing the careers of Drew Bledsoe and Carson Palmer. Counting postseason, both were very similar, winning pct wise and both of them had to deal with talented, but distracting, diva receivers. Both never met their potential with their original teams but while Palmer never won his only Conference Championship game, Bledsoe won two of them. I wouldnt put either in the HOVG but I would put in Joe Flacco, who at one time was closer to a HOF resume but hasnt done much since 2014, with no accolades. He has hardly played in the last two seasons as a backup, after getting injured in Denver. Will Flacco continue to play, hoping to help a franchise win a SB ? Great career, but not HOF ...

A couple of things here

-Palmer was easily better than Bledsoe at his peak....and I like Bledsoe. Carson Palmer was a legit MVP candidate twice in his career and had elite stretches of play.

-Flacco is/was terrible. There was never a time where Flacco was putting together anything close to a HOF resume. We've seen marginal/average QBs win the SB before(2x with the Ravens ironically) and Flacco was consistently below average as an NFL QB. Palmer was far better. It's not close. I'd also easily take Bledsoe over him.

[Brian wolf]

Flacco was never terrible ... The Ravens had championship level teams in 2008--his rookie year--2010,2011--killed by a dropped TD pass--2012--SB MVP--and 2014--where Brady led a comeback in the playoffs. He did somewhat regress along with the team from 2015 on but still only had two seasons throwing over 15 interceptions, so its not like he is a turnover machine. His winning pct is higher than Bledsoe and Palmer's so Ravens fans can only imagine what he might have done without Brady, Manning and Big Ben in the same conference.

[Hail Casares]

Flacco was never terrible ... The Ravens had championship level teams in 2008--his rookie year--2010,2011--killed by a dropped TD pass--2012--SB MVP--and 2014--where Brady led a comeback in the playoffs. He did somewhat regress along with the team from 2015 on but still only had two seasons throwing over 15 interceptions, so its not like he is a turnover machine. His winning pct is higher than Bledsoe and Palmer's so Ravens fans can only imagine what he might have done without Brady, Manning and Big Ben in the same conference.

I have no idea what Joe Flacco you were watching during his career. In his entire career he had four (4) seasons above the NFL average in efficiency. That peaked in 2010 when he was 11% better than the league average. The other years he was 7, 4, and 3%. He had seasons in his "prime" where he was 18% WORSE than the league average QB(I'd call that pretty terrible). Your use of 15 interceptions is an odd arbitrary bench mark. If you lower that number to 12 he had 8 seasons with 12 or more picks. He also never threw for 30 TD passes, and only broke the 20 TD threshold 6 times(In 11 years as a starter). His completion percentage was constantly middling...or outright poor. Flacco was constantly the limiting factor on Ravens teams not winning the SB. His one SB win was actually a perfect test case of that, when he played well...they won!

For all the flak Bledsoe has caught here he at least was more productive, had better counting numbers and better league relative numbers, and was playing for a worse franchise most of his career.

[GameBeforeTheMoney]

He's kind of like the Will Clark of football. Always looked really good throwing the ball (kind of like Clark's swing), put up some really good offensive numbers, was regarded as being a really good player for a fair part of his career, but just kind of lacked that extra punch to put him over in the elite superstar category. HOVG? Like some have said, I'd put Tommy Thompson and Bert Jones in there before him for sure. I don't feel any sense of urgency to put Bledsoe in, although I thought he was a very good player for much of his career.

[Bryan]

I have no idea what Joe Flacco you were watching during his career. In his entire career he had four (4) seasons above the NFL average in efficiency. That peaked in 2010 when he was 11% better than the league average. The other years he was 7, 4, and 3%. He had seasons in his "prime" where he was 18% WORSE than the league average QB(I'd call that pretty terrible). Your use of 15 interceptions is an odd arbitrary bench mark. If you lower that number to 12 he had 8 seasons with 12 or more picks. He also never threw for 30 TD passes, and only broke the 20 TD threshold 6 times(In 11 years as a starter). His completion percentage was constantly middling...or outright poor. Flacco was constantly the limiting factor on Ravens teams not winning the SB. His one SB win was actually a perfect test case of that, when he played well...they won!

For all the flak Bledsoe has caught here he at least was more productive, had better counting numbers and better league relative numbers, and was playing for a worse franchise most of his career.

I thought of Flacco as a less-athletic version of Greg Landry and admired his durability, but at no point was Flacco ever building a HOF resume. He has ZERO accolades. He wasn't efficient or productive. The passing game was the weakest element of those Ravens teams. Comparing pre-injury Carson Palmer to Flacco is like comparing Joe Montana to Richard Todd. Palmer single-handedly lifted a franchise out of doldrums with his QB play...and even after his injury, Palmer was still far superior to Flacco.

If the Broncos don't blow a coverage at the end of the game and allow a 70-yard TD pass, the Ravens are once again eliminated in the divisional round in 2012. And if the Niners have any other coach than Jim Harbaugh, they destroy the Ravens in that Super Bowl. The talent gap was enormous. The Niners had 8 pro bowl players with 5 first team All Pros...the Ravens had 5 pro bowl/1 all pro with the all pro being FB Vonta Leach. There is a reason why Jim Harbaugh never made it back to the NFL after flaming out with the Niners...he just isn't a good coach.