No, Joe Flacco is not elite, but the Ravens offense is much better

The 2018 NFL draft was defined by the quarterback position — five of them were drafted in the first round, four in the first 10 picks. It stands to reason, then, that when a lot of them get picked that high, a lot of them end up seeing the field pretty quickly. Sam Darnold (Jets) has been starting since Week 1, Josh Allen (Bills) since Week 2, and in Week 3 both Baker Mayfield (Browns) and Josh Rosen (Cardinals) made their respective debuts.

What about the fifth guy? Granted, the Ravens have used Lamar Jackson a bit in garbage time and in red zone packages, enough for him to compile nine rushes, five pass attempts, and what we’ll call a rather unfortunate Week 3 red zone target.

Joe Flacco will turn 34 in January and really hasn’t been a higher-level quarterback since he turned 30. He averaged at least 11.5 yards per completion in six of his first seven seasons and at least 5.7 adjusted net yards per attempt — (pass yards + 20*(pass TD) - 45*(interceptions thrown) - sack yards)/(passing attempts + sacks) — in five.

Flacco’s production perhaps peaked in 2014, when he produced a career-best 6.7 ANY/A and a 68.2 QBR. He took fewer sacks than ever and threw for nearly 4,000 yards in fewer than 350 passes. But in the three years since, he appeared to regress, and his 2016 numbers were absolutely horrid: 8.9 yards per completion, 4.7 ANY/A, a 49.8 QBR, etc.

Though Baltimore used a high draft pick to select Flacco’s potential replacement, which evidently didn’t please him all that much, the Ravens also made a concerted effort to upgrade his receiving corps, signing receivers Michael Crabtree, John Brown, and Willie Snead in free agency and drafting tight end Mark Andrews.

These four newcomers are his top four non-RB targets this year, having combined for 79 targets, 48 catches, 626 yards, and five touchdowns thus far.

It’s early, obviously, but the upgrades have thus far done their jobs. Flacco was baited into a few mistakes against Cincinnati in Week 2, but the Ravens still scored 23 points against the Bengals and could have put themselves in position to win if not for an early eruption from Cincinnati receiver A.J. Green. For the season, Flacco’s averages are up — 10.8 yards per completion, 6.5 ANY/A, etc. — and the Ravens are averaging 32.3 points per game, 25 in games against teams that aren’t the Bills.

The Baltimore defense is obviously carrying quite a bit of weight here; aside from Green’s brief explosion, it’s been great, holding Buffalo to 2.5 yards per play and three points and, this past Sunday, limiting Denver to basically one successful drive while forcing quite a few key Case Keenum mistakes. They’re giving up just 20.9 yards per drive, fewest in the NFL.

Still, the offense has taken a step forward, and with no help from the run game. Alex Collins has had a really, really rough start to the season — Collins and Javorius Allen have combined to gain just 148 yards in 50 carries, and the Ravens currently rank 30th in rushing marginal efficiency.

Despite this, the Ravens create third-and-shorts (third-and-1) really well and do a far better job of occasionally punishing defenses on blitz downs than they did last year.

Granted, they still stink on third-and-not-short. And Pittsburgh — the Ravens’ Sunday night opponent (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC) — is particularly good at leveraging opponents into awkward downs and distance.

The game could be decided by how many third-and-mediums or third-and-longs Baltimore can convert; the Ravens aren’t good at converting them, but in an odd paradox, the Steelers aren’t actually good at stopping you, either, once they’ve created them.

The AFC North race is shaping up to be awfully interesting. The Ravens and Bengals are each 2-1, and both the Steelers (one of the conference’s preseason favorites) and the Browns (who are just a couple of breaks from 3-0 despite being the Browns) are just a half-game back at 1-1-1. With both Cincinnati (+5.5 at Atlanta) and Cleveland (+2.5 at Oakland) both playing as road underdogs this weekend, the Baltimore-Pittsburgh prime-time winner could find itself alone in first place a month into the season.

No, Joe Flacco isn’t an elite quarterback in 2018, if he ever was. But after struggling drastically in recent years, the Baltimore passing game has been somewhere between decent and good this year. We’ll see if that continues on Sunday evening.