OWINGS MILLS - This may become a similar narrative to last year.
For as poorly as Joe Flacco played at times during the first 10 games, he is starting to play his best football at the most important of the year for the Ravens, like he did around this same time last season.
"I think he's coming into his own," Baltimore tight end Ed Dickson said. "He's coming toward the championship football, the Joe we saw at the end of the season last year."
Last year obviously included Flacco throwing for 11 touchdowns without an interception in four playoff games in leading the Ravens to a Super Bowl title.
He had an uneven first three-plus months of the season, but he threw for 309 yards and two touchdowns in a late regular season game against the New York Giants to help Baltimore snap a three-game losing streak and then had the success he did during the playoffs.
Flacco has been consistently inconsistent throughout his career during the regular season, but he's been at his best in recent years late in the season.
He did what he did last season, and he had arguably the best individual performance to that point of his career in the Ravens' AFC championship game loss to the New England Patriots two seasons ago.
"In the month of December, as long as I've been here, he's been playing great, and I think he's starting to turn that on right now," said Dickson, who has been with Baltimore since 2010.
No question, Flacco's play during the first two-plus months of the season was subpar, at least based on what the expectations were for him coming off of the run that he had during the playoffs last season.
Other factors contributed to his issues - Dennis Pitta's injury, the ineffectiveness of the running game and the offensive line's problems in pass protection. But the Ravens needed Flacco to be better if they were going to make any sort of run at the playoffs, and he has been better the last two weeks.
He has played probably his two best games of the season.
He completed just 59 percent of his passes during the first 10 games, but he has completed 67 percent of his throws the last two weeks.
He was 17 of 26 for 273 yards in Baltimore's win over the New York Jets two weeks ago.
He was 24 of 35 for 251 yards in the win over the Pittsburgh Steelers last week.
He has only thrown one touchdown in each of those two games, and he did have an interception against the Jets, but coach John Harbaugh and teammates said later that the interception wasn't his fault.
"I think Joe's played really well," Harbaugh said. "He's been productive obviously with the numbers. You guys can definitely refer to that and see that. But he's playing very well, and he's been probably the number one factor in our wins offensively in the last two games."
And he's a big reason that the Ravens are back to .500 and in control of the second AFC Wild Card spot after starting 4-6.
Weather may play a role on Sunday. Weather.com was calling for a wintry mix and temperatures below 35 degrees as of Wednesday afternoon, but Flacco could have a big day depending on what the weather turns out to be with Baltimore playing a Minnesota Vikings team that has the third-worst pass defense in the NFL.
The Vikings are giving up 287 yards per game passing.
Backup Chicago Bears quarterback Josh McCown threw for 355 yards and two touchdowns against them last week, and wide receiver Alshon Jeffery had 12 catches for 249 yards and two touchdowns.
But regardless of any matchup, Flacco is playing better. The passing game as a whole has been better. And those two factors give the Ravens a chance to once again make a run come playoff time.
"There's still a lot of things that we need to get better at," Flacco said. "But we're moving the ball. We're putting the ball in the red zone. We're getting points out of drives. We just need to maximize those points. But we're definitely starting to come into our own a little bit."
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