John Harbaugh Says Joe Flacco is the "Best Quarterback in Football"

John Harbaugh was effusive in his praise for Joe Flacco after last night’s win in Pittsburgh. “I think he had a perfect quarterback rating in the third quarter — that’s playoff football,” said the Ravens coach following a performance in which the quarterback went 18-29 for 259 yards and two touchdowns. “That’s Joe Flacco. He’s the best quarterback in football. We’ll take him any day of the week, twice on Sunday (or Saturday night).”

I mean ……. That’s just not true in a holistic sense, where it’s nearly impossible to argue that Flacco is better than quarterbacks like Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady. In the regular season this year, Flacco ranked 8th in Total QBR and 16th in passer rating. (And, as PFT’s Michael David Smith pointed out, Harbaugh was slightly off when he said Flacco had a perfect quarterback rating in the third quarter.)

Nevertheless, in the playoffs, the Ravens are 10-4 in Flacco’s starts and have won seven games on the road. Quarterback wins are the black-and-white stat they’re often held up as, but Flacco morphed into Joe Montana during the team’s Super Bowl run in early 2013. It’s hyperbole to call Flacco the best quarterback in the world, but his playoff performances are reaching the level where we may have to acknowledge them as a trend. Hate it or love it, we’re going to hear the always-lovely “elite” term thrown around a lot over at least the next week.