Putting it on Flacco

He won't be a Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, but if he improves, watch out for the Ravens

The Ravens are among the usual contenders in the AFC along with the Indianapolis Colts, Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots. Those teams have established quarterbacks while the Ravens have a work in progress, second-year player Joe Flacco.

Two of the major issues in 2009 are whether Flacco can raise his game enough to carry the Ravens to the Super Bowl and whether he can become a dominating quarterback like New England's Tom Brady, Indianapolis' Peyton Manning and Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger.

"That's all going to be up to Joe, but we'd like him to be at some point," said Eric DeCosta, the Ravens' director of player personnel. "He is going to continue to work hard. He is the right kind of kid with the right kind of personality. He studies the game and has a great work ethic. We want to eventually become the best offense in the league, and hopefully Joe will get us there."

The Ravens don't need Flacco to turn into Manning or Brady overnight. In fact, the Ravens won't come out throwing in 2009, but running behind a strong, young and athletic offensive line. But Flacco has to come up big in big games. The major difference between the Ravens and the defending Super Bowl champion Steelers a year ago was that Roethlisberger made big plays in crunch time and Flacco didn't.

The postseason is when Manning and Brady have taken control of their respective teams and seemingly willed them to the Super Bowl. The bottom line is that the NFL, despite all its parity, is still a quarterback-driven league and a Pro Bowl quarterback can win two or three games that a team might normally lose.

"You can't put everything on a quarterback, but he should win three games, and great ones win those at the right times," Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said.

The Ravens know Flacco isn't there yet, but they like where he is headed. Last year, the former University of Delaware star completed 257 of 428 passes for 2,971 yards and 14 touchdowns. He had 12 interceptions, seven in the first six games.

A year ago, Flacco was just part of the offense. This season, it's his offense to run.

"Last year at the beginning of the season, he forced some balls, tried to make some plays outside the pocket running, near the sidelines," DeCosta said. "He tried to throw across his body. We haven't seen him do that since early in the season. He has eliminated a lot of those mistakes."

Actually, Flacco was committing some of those same mistakes early in training camp when the Ravens' coaching staff was asking him to do more, and make tighter and stronger throws over the middle.

If the Ravens are to improve their passing game, they couldn't have Flacco throwing the same safe patterns he threw during the first half of last season.

Flacco has embraced the idea.

"He is much more comfortable in the offense and has a good chemistry with Derrick [Mason, a wide receiver] and Mark [Clayton, another receiver]," Newsome said. "His anticipation is so much better, and the ball is coming out quicker. He sees where the breaking point is and gets the ball there. He has more confidence, you can tell just being around him, regardless if it's off the field or in the huddle. He feels that this is his football team."

The Ravens have a lot of pieces in place offensively: a good, young line, two solid running backs, a good coaching staff and Flacco. The only thing missing is the talented, young speedy receiver.

As DeCosta likes to point out, every great quarterback has had a great receiver. Where's Flacco's?

"There aren't many out there," DeCosta said. "The truly great receivers you can count on one hand, and everyone wants one. Unless you're picking high in the draft, you're probably not going to get one unless you're going to shell out millions and millions of dollars in free agency."

"Our philosophy is to improve at every position incrementally, and if you get a chance to make a big splash, you make a big splash," DeCosta said. "But the key is not to artificially fabricate something and bring in a guy you feel you need to improve that position, and then the guy doesn't help you, or costs you too much money or not be a good fit in the locker room. We refuse to go down that road."

Are you listening, Brandon Marshall supporters?

At least for this season, the Ravens want to dominate with a running game and spread the ball around to Mason, Clayton, tight end Todd Heap and running back Ray Rice. And the entire offense is centered onFlacco, who has the potential to become one the league's top quarterbacks.

He stepped up last year. The Ravens want him to take another step in 2009.

"Our players feel a responsibility to each other, so nobody is going to carry anybody," DeCosta said. "But Joe has become more demonstrative, more vocal. He has the mentality to become a good player at some point. And when he gets there, it's going to be an exciting time."