INDIANAPOLIS — For one year, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco collaborated with Gary Kubiak as his offensive coordinator. And it wound up being the most successful year statistically of Flacco's career as he passed for a career-high 3,986 yards and 27 touchdowns.
Now the Denver Broncos coach, Kubiak broke into a smile Wednesday morning at the NFL scouting combine when asked if Flacco is elite and issued a quick reply.
"You bet he is," Kubiak said of Flacco, who had 12 interceptions in 2014 for the second-lowest total of his career. "He's the reason I'm standing up here today.
"Joe was tremendous. I really enjoyed working with him, as talented a young man as I've ever coached and as good a person as I've ever coached. We'll be talking about Joe for a long, long time. I really appreciated my time with him, and I wish him the best."
The Ravens returned to the playoffs with Kubiak running the 12th-ranked offense in the NFL after implementing his zone-running scheme and version of the West Coast offense. The Ravens finished eighth in rushing offense and eighth in scoring offense.
Kubiak drew praise for his creative game plans as the Ravens made it to the AFC divisional round, where they lost to the New England Patriots. He said he learned a lot during his one season with the Ravens after being fired as the Houston Texans coach the previous year.
"The biggest thing I took from Baltimore, I took a lot of things," Kubiak said. "I went there because I knew what the organization stood for. I knew what John [Harbaugh] stood for. That's why I wanted to be a part of, the tremendous expectations there. I just think the job that they do as an organization, they're on the same page, working together. I think Ozzie [Newsome] does a tremendous when you watch him in the draft, him and Eric DeCosta. Seeing that was very beneficial for me.
"To watch the team go through a tough situation [Ray Rice's domestic violence incident, release] early in the season and watch the organization deal with that. As a head coach, watching them deal with and bring their football team out of it in a very positive way was very beneficial. The bottom line is watching a successful go about it every day, I take a lot of that with me."
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