This team might have been unbeatable fully healthy with Flacco. Imagine the PA he’d get with Chubb
I was thinking the same thing. Flacco brings maturity and experience. If we'd have had him all year and a few fewer injuries, like Chubb and our line, damn, we'd be unstoppable.. I'm convinced of it.
Some teams (and some people) actually do better with one arm tied behind their back, so to speak. When they have the full complement of resources they over-think and misuse their tools. It’s kind of a “paradox of choice” problem.(There’s a great book, Tedtalk, by Barry Schwartz about it.)
But when the ingredients list is seriously curtailed, they get much more intentional and direct in their approach. I found myself wondering yesterday if that isn’t Stefanski. His first season he’s hit with the Covid limitations for practice and prep. This year it’s the unbelievable avalanche of injuries.
Insert Flacco, who has nothing to prove, is just playing for the fun of it and to show off for his kids, coupled with a team that anyone who’s actually keeping track would give a pass for losing against halfway decent opponents and you have a team that probably doesn’t feel the performance pressure in the same way other teams in our position would. That’s my take anyway.
The old saying that there’s no more dangerous an opponent than the one with nothing to lose kinda holds. At this point, I wouldn’t want to play against us and I wouldn’t bet against us. The “wild card” moniker that comes with our entrance to the playoffs is apt to say the least.
