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Flacco keeps poise, shows nerves of steel

David Steele

September 30, 2008

Pittsburgh

Shouldn't Joe Flacco have fallen apart after coughing up that ball? That should have done it for him, and for the Ravens, and for the idea that a rookie quarterback could win his first NFL road start.

It didn't do it, though. What Flacco had done, how Flacco had played, how Flacco had acted as if he had been there before, had carried the Ravens through the thicket of another typical defensive battle at Heinz Field last night and pushed them in front 13-3 at halftime.

And after Flacco got caught in a Steelers sandwich back deep in his own end, when James Harrison - there goes that man again - separated him from the ball, when LaMarr Woodley dove on it, picked it up, danced with it into the end zone and flung himself into the stands? Well, not long after that, after the Steelers had wrenched momentum their way, stolen the lead and moved up 20-13, Flacco reverted to the composed leader he had been before.

How? It apparently is just how he is. He's not perfect, and he wasn't last night by a long shot. Several times he showed how much he has to learn, and of course he wouldn't have been in position to show his poise without his running game and his defense. But the Ravens needed him to pull himself together, shake off the turnover and give them a chance to win.

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He did. "He pulled a rabbit out of his hat," wide receiver Derrick Mason said.

Down by a touchdown with 9:13 left, Flacco worked the ball back downfield, connected once with Derrick Mason on a third-down conversion, and watched Le'Ron McClain bull into the end zone for the game-tying points with four minutes left.

It didn't render the fumble insignificant - all it did was dilute its impact and, eventually, force overtime. Even tough the Steelers won, 23-20, it made everyone connected with the team, and everyone back in Baltimore, exhale. About the game and about the still-raw quarterback.

"I was all right. I understand I've got to protect the ball," Flacco said, " it's a big part of the game. But I was OK going back onto the field. I had to be."

Until the fateful fumble, of course, the quarterback who looked like a deer in the Monday Night Football headlights had been Ben Roethlisberger. Coincidentally, Roethlisberger had been the last rookie to pull off the stunt, in 2004, and the only one in the past 10 first-year quarterbacks to try it.

Yet at home, with a lead, against a Ravens defense he has had his moments against before, Roethlisberger played the first half of last night's game as if he were the one facing the hostile crowd and the long odds. In fact, by halftime, the crowd was hostile - it was booing him and the Steelers, who had fallen behind 13-3 to the Ravens and their poised newcomer.

Roethlisberger had thrown a hideous interception to, of all people, Haloti Ngata, had been sacked three times and fumbled once, recovered by his right tackle.

On the other side, Flacco had been dazzling throughout the half, eluding the rush, escaping big mistakes, marshaling the touchdown drive in the final minutes of the first half, even coolly throwing to Daniel Wilcox for the score even though he didn't even break the huddle until 10seconds left on the play clock and with no timeouts left.

Then, in the third quarter, he had done another Randall Cunningham impression, zigging way left, then zagging way right, then finding an equally zig-zagging Mason on the right sideline for 26 yards.

"It's interesting. Joe doesn't get flustered, and he takes responsibility," coach John Harbaugh said. "He's that kind of guy."

The caldron of Heinz Field, the Steelers and the Monday Night Football audience didn't seem to faze him. Flacco's resilience bought the Ravens an overtime they otherwise wouldn't have had.

Listen to David Steele Fridays at 9 a.m. on WNST (1570 AM).

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Each week, Baltimore Sun reporter Jamison Hensley will answer fans' questions about the Ravens. To submit a question, e-mail sports@baltsun.com. Please provide your name and phone number so we can verify the e-mail.