Joe Flacco and the Ravens play their first game at M&T Bank Stadium in 29 days Sunday, when they face the winless Cleveland Browns.
Whether they're friendly confines for the Ravens quarterback remains to be seen.
A rocky start to the 2010 season has caused some fans to go from "Wacco for Flacco" to "Wacco at Flacco."
On sports talk shows the past week, people have called for his benching. On message boards, they have referred to him as "Joe Fake-o."
All this over-the-top criticism has gotten Joe Cool a little heated.
"It definitely [ticks] you off," Flacco said. "I'm out there playing hard. It was one game, one loss. Everybody plays bad games, and I'm going to have more bad games. But the majority of them, I'm going to play well, and I expect myself to. You've just got to bounce back, keep your head up and know that you have the ability to do that."
As strange as this would have sounded earlier this month, Flacco is being treated more like Kyle Boller than a playoff-winning quarterback.
After two games, against defenses both ranked in the top five a year ago, Flacco is first in the NFL in interceptions (five) and last in quarterback rating (41.2). He is coming off his first career four-interception performance, which occurred in last Sunday's 15-10 loss at the Bengals.
Flacco has quickly moved on rather than dwell on those dreadful flashbacks. In his mind, that game was over as soon as he left that locker room in Cincinnati.
"There's not much you can do about it after the fact," he said. "It was one bad game out of 16. We've got 14 left, and in the long run, that one loss isn't going to matter too much. We expect to have a lot of wins and [to] go out there and play well a lot of times. Nobody likes it. I don't like it. But you've got to get over it. If you don't get over it, then it'll kill you for the rest of the year."
Flacco's 39-game body of work suggests he's still the Ravens' quarterback savior, not the scapegoat.
He had the fifth-most-productive first two seasons in NFL history with 6,584 passing yards, which ranks behind Peyton Manning, Dan Marino, Drew Bledsoe and Jeff Garcia. He is only the second quarterback since the 1970 merger to win playoff games in his first two seasons (Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger was the other). And he's the third-winningest quarterback since 2008, trailing only Manning and Drew Brees.
Based on that history, it's understandable why coach John Harbaugh has resisted playing backup Marc Bulger and has remained resolute in his defense of his 25-year-old starter.
"You want to put the best guy out there that you feel gives you the best chance to win from week to week," Harbaugh said. "That's why we feel Joe [Flacco] is our guy."
Flacco has never struggled as he did in Cincinnati. But it's not the first time he has faced struggles.
His high school football team never had a winning season. In college, he had to transfer from Pittsburgh to Division I-AA Delaware when he wasn't given a chance to compete for the starting job. Even as a rookie with the Ravens, his first five games produced one touchdown and seven interceptions.
Each step of the way, Flacco took every setback like a sack. He just kept getting up and continued to fight.
Battling through adversity, especially game to game, often defines quarterbacks in this league.
"That's what makes NFL quarterbacks, because you're staring at a game within six or seven days," offensive coordinator Cam Cameron said. "So, no matter how you perform, you've got to get back to work, and you've got to go back out there and perform. [The] first thing they do is handle success, and then you've got to be able to handle adversity. It makes you or it breaks you."
Concerns would increase if Flacco fails to rebound against the Browns, a team he has regularly dominated. He is 4-0 against Cleveland with a quarterback rating of 95.9.
"Trust me, everybody in this locker room has confidence in Joe, and I think he still has confidence in himself," wide receiver Anquan Boldin said. "Everybody is entitled to one bad game. Just because a person has a bad game doesn't mean you write him off because I strongly believe that he's going to come back and have a great game this week."
No one has pointed a finger at Flacco because the players understand the fault must be shared. The offensive line has struggled in pass protection, and the receivers didn't come down with passes as they did in the season opener.
"I think the quarterbacks get too much credit when things go well," wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh said, "and they take way too much of the blame when things go bad."
Even a defense that hasn't allowed a touchdown this season still has Flacco's back.
"We've got a ton of confidence in the guy," linebacker Jarret Johnson said. "The only person that has more confidence than us is him."
Growing pains
From the first play of this season — getting sandwiched by two New York Jets defenders — Flacco understood that the growing pains are far from over.
Many expected Flacco to have an immediate breakthrough season because he's in his third year. Perhaps everyone overlooked the amount of adjustment for Flacco.
Two of his top three wide receivers (Boldin and Houshmandzadeh) are new. His right guard (Marshal Yanda) is now his right tackle, and his right tackle ( Jared Gaither) hasn't practiced since Aug. 5. And his quarterbacks coach has changed from Hue Jackson to Jim Zorn.
"I wouldn't try to use them as reasons," Zorn said. "Even though those things are true, as a ballplayer, you have to pick yourself up and get back at it with the same kind of resolve."
Defenses have also caused Flacco to adjust. With two full seasons of film to dissect, teams have "a little bit of a book on him," as Harbaugh indicated on his weekly radio show.
"They're starting to gain an understanding of what challenges him and what gives him problems, and just understand that's what we're going to see," Harbaugh said. "So we've got to really focus on the things that have caused the problems in terms of attacking those things and make sure we turn those things into pluses for us."
Not afraid to fail
Flacco plays the game with the ultimate poker face.
When he is throwing touchdowns and delivering big strikes downfield, he's described as being poised. When he comes off the field after throwing an interception, his attitude is considered uncaring.
"I think my personality benefits me in every way," Flacco said. "There is no disadvantage of not acting like a baby on the field. That's how I view it. If you have a bad game, act like you're an adult. You stand up and say you had a bad game."
Teammates say Flacco has remained the "same old Joe," which is probably the best compliment they could give at a time like this.
"If you start changing things around after one game, what that says is you really didn't trust what you were doing before," center Matt Birk said. "We have great confidence in Joe. We love him as a player but also his personality. He does have a personality, contrary to what some people on the outside might think."
What can't be disputed is how much the Ravens rely on Flacco's success.
Over the past 19 regular-season wins, he has thrown 25 touchdown passes and four interceptions. In the 13 regular-season losses with Flacco, he has passed for 10 touchdowns and been picked off 23 times.
Flacco's mantra has always been: Never be afraid to fail.
"I want it on my shoulders; I want people to want me to win the game," Flacco said. "I want people to give it to me and let me take the brunt of the fault. I'm not afraid of that. That's the position I'm in as a quarterback. That's the mind-set you need to have in order to be successful."
Flacco added: "I want to everybody to look at me when things go bad. That's the bottom line. I feel like I can handle that. We feel like we can move on, and I can help us move on if they put it on me."
jamison.hensley@baltsun.com
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