Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco injured the MCL in his left knee in Week 15 and then spent the final two weeks of the regular season throwing five interceptions in two Ravens losses that assured the NFL would not have a repeat Super Bowl champion this season.
Among other things that won’t be happening in the near future is knee surgery for Flacco. Flacco said after the 34-17 loss to the Bengals that he will not need an operation to repair the injury.
“I’m not going to have to get anything done,” Flacco said, via the team’s website. “It was just my MCL and it will heal on its own.”
Flacco’s 2013 effort wasn’t as good as what he did during the 2012 regular season, to say nothing of the playoff run that cemented him as the long-term quarterback in Baltimore. Some of that had to do with the personnel choices at receiver, some had to do with a mostly invisible running game and some had to do with a protection scheme that allowed Flacco to get sacked 48 times over the course of the season, but there’s no way to absolve Flacco of any blame for the offensive shortcomings this season.
It’s the clear place for the Ravens to start working toward next season so that they don’t follow up their string of five straight playoff appearances by falling short of the postseason for a second straight year.