OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh is optimistic quarterback Joe Flacco will be available to play Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.
Flacco suffered a concussion on a hard hit by Miami linebacker Kiko Alonso in the second quarter of Baltimore 's 40-0 victory Thursday night. Flacco is still under concussion protocol and will continue to be evaluated as the week progresses.
Flacco was at the Ravens' practice facility over the weekend and Harbaugh said the veteran quarterback has "zero" concussion symptoms.
"I think there's a good chance he'll play," Harbaugh said at his Monday press conference.
Baltimore is 4-4 and in the middle of the AFC playoff race. Harbaugh estimates the team needs at least 10 wins to avoid missing the postseason for the fourth time in five years.
This means a victory over the Titans would be another huge step for accomplishing that goal.
The Ravens have a bye following the game in Tennessee. Harbaugh dismissed the notion of keeping Flacco on the bench for some extra rest.
Furthermore, Harbaugh expects Flacco to attend regular meetings this week as the team prepares for the Titans.
"If he's ready, he is playing," Harbaugh said.
Flacco missed all of training camp with an ailing back and has struggled at times this season. He has thrown for 1,290 yards with six touchdowns and eight interceptions and has a 72.3 passer rating.
Ryan Mallett would get the start for Baltimore if Flacco is not cleared to play. Mallett went 3 of 7 for 20 yards with a touchdown against Miami when Flacco left with the injury.
The Baltimore Ravens signed arena league quarterback David Olson as Joe Flacco deals with a back injury, the team announced Friday.
The Ravens began training camp Thursday without Flacco, who told the team of a disc issue in his back just before the first full-team meeting. He is expected to miss at least a week.
Olson, who worked out for the Ravens on Thursday, likely will have a temporary role right with Flacco sidelined, joining Ryan Mallett and Dustin Caughan as quarterbacks on the roster. Mallett has taken Flacco's spot with the first-team offense and Vaughan is a second-year player out of Division II West Texas A&M.
With a quarterback short at the first practice of camp, the Ravens used offensive assistant coach Matt Weiss to line up under center and hand off to running backs in drills.
This season is expected to be a bounce-back year for Flacco, who has gone 29-29 since winning the Super Bowl in 2012. He has thrown 80 touchdown passes, but 61 interceptions -- third most in the NFL -- over that four-year span.
Coach John Harbaugh likely will bring in another quarterback and is considering Colin Kaepernick, who opted out of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers on March 3. Kaepernick has been a polarizing figure for his refusal to stand during the national anthem prior to games last season.
"He's a really good football player," Harbaugh said of Kaepernick after practice Thursday. "I believe he's a really good person. It all depends on a lot of things. It depends on Colin first of all and what's his passion, what's his priority, what's he want to do, what kind of shape he's in. So we'll just see where it goes. I don't think it's different for us than any other team."
Olson played under Harbaugh's brother, Jim, at Stanford. For his senior season, he transferred to Clemson and most recently played for the KC Phantoms of Champions Indoor Football.
Statement from the Ravens website.
 |
| Joe Flacco |
Quaterback Joe Flacco is going to be a Raven for a long, long time.
Flacco and the Ravens agreed to a three-year contract extension Wednesday afternoon, locking up Flacco through the 2021 season while giving the team immediate salary-cap relief.
Flacco’s salary cap hit was set to jump to $28.55 million this season after being relatively low the past three years. That would have been the third-highest figure in the NFL.
According to CBSSports.com’s Jason La Canfora, Flacco’s new deal is expected to save the Ravens roughly $6 million in cap space this season and $13 million in the next two years.
That would give Baltimore the ability to be more aggressive in free agency, including with keeping its own players, such as tackle/guard Kelechi Osemele.
Flacco reportedly got a $40 million signing bonus, per NFL Media's Ian Rapoport.
It’s a win-win for both sides because Flacco, who has many times stated his intensions to stay in Baltimore for the long-term, gets more years on his contact and reportedly more guaranteed money. Meanwhile, the Ravens win because they lock up a Super Bowl-winning quarterback at a more manageable price.
When the Ravens and Flacco agreed to the then record-setting six-year, $120.6 million contract in 2013, both sides knew they would be talking again after three years when his cap number spiked.
This time, Flacco was coming off a season-ending knee injury instead of a Super Bowl MVP performance. Still, the two sides were able to come to another long-term agreement less than one week after initial meetings at the NFL Scouting Combine.
“You knew this day is going to come,” Flacco said at the end of the season. “No matter what you do, there’s no way of getting around having a big cap number at some point, or a consistently big cap number.”
Flacco has been willing to work with the Ravens throughout the negotiation process, saying, “Come on, I want to win, so I want to do everything we can to get something done.”
The 31-year-old Flacco has been a winner since arriving in Baltimore in 2008 and is now entering his prime.
Over the past eight seasons, his 85 total wins (including the playoffs) is the fourth most among starting NFL quarterbacks. Flacco posted the most regular-season wins (72) by a quarterback in his first seven seasons in NFL history.
Flacco has been particularly strong in the postseason, racking up the most playoff wins (10) of any quarterback in the NFL since he entered the league. His seven playoff road wins are the most by a quarterback in NFL history.
The Super Bowl XLVII MVP’s run through the 2012 playoffs was particularly impressive, as he tied Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana as the only players with 11 touchdowns and no interceptions in the postseason.
Last year, Flacco was on pace to set a career and franchise highs in single-season passing yards before he tore his ACL and MCL in Week 11 (though he remained in the game for two more snaps to get the win). At the time, his 2,791 yards ranked sixth in the league.
Flacco’s injury ended his Ironman-like streak of 122 consecutive starts, which ranked fifth in the league.
The Ravens are putting faith in Flacco to rebound to his usual form and maybe even better. While at the NFL Scouting Combine, Head Coach John Harbaugh said Flacco has been “attacking his knee as well or better than anybody [doctors have] ever seen.”
