News flash everybody! John Elway thinks he’s solved the Denver Broncos quarterback problems. And this proclamation, made by Elway to reporters Wednesday, has nothing to do to with the previous declarations of solving the team’s quarterback conundrums since Peyton Manning retired in 2015. This time, he means it.
“It’s a hard position to fill,” Elway said. “We tried to shake all these trees around here the last four years and the quarterbacks didn’t fall out. So it’s difficult. We’ve taken a lot of shots, we’ve tried a lot of different situations. … Hopefully with Joe (Flacco) we’ve got it solidified with Drew (Lock) working under him. It’s been a battle, but this league’s a battle… I’m excited for that position.”
John Elway thinks Joe Flacco, Drew Lock will finally solve Broncos QB struggleshttps://t.co/YvafQDSdTD pic.twitter.com/589QrZYFmh
— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) July 18, 2019
The difference in this declaration from Elway is he might actually be right this time. Flacco is, unquestionably, the best quarterback the Broncos have put on the field since Manning hung up his spurs. He’s a winner, pure and simple. Since entering the league in 2008 as a first round pick of the Baltimore Ravens out of Delaware, Flacco has suffered through exactly one losing season, a 5-11 2015 campaign where he was hurt and missed six games. He has a 96-67 record as a starting quarterback, a Super Bowl Championship and is recognizably one of the best postseason quarterbacks of his generation.
Emmanuel Sanders on Joe Flacco: "Joe is smooth. I call him 'Pretty Boy Flacco,' that's his name."
— RK (@RyanKoenigsberg) July 18, 2019
He’s 10-5 in the playoffs, never once been “one-and-done” and has defeated the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick New England Patriots twice in at Foxboro in the postseason, one of only two quarterbacks to do it.
Smile if you lost to Joe Flacco in the playoffs https://t.co/CVAKQ0sjjc
— ً (@JoeFlaccoEra) July 11, 2019
The other is Mark Sanchez with the New York Jets, but every record probably deserves an asterisk.
Flacco has been consistently underrated and underappreciated and it’ll be good to see him take the field with some offensive weapons again and a solid defense. Don’t be surprised at all to see the Broncos slide into a Wild Card spot this season and nobody, not even Tom Brady, wants to face off against Flacco in the playoffs.
