You can sense that Joe Flacco keeps pushing for more.
More respect. More contract. More responsibility.
While the first two are a bit beyond his control, he’s pushing for more of the no-huddle offense they showed in the preseason opener.
“I love the no-huddle,” Flacco said, via Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun. “We’ve got to get quicker and quicker at it. I like to go up there and run a play, run a play, run a play. That’s what we’re going to be, and I think we have to make sure we get it as fast as we can.”
They started slow, but Flacco finished 9-of-12 for 88 yards and a touchdown against the Falcons.
“It works really well when you convert; it doesn’t look so good when you don’t convert,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “When we have situations during the season, if we are out there, if we chose to go that tempo, that we don’t convert, our defense is going to have to get stops. When we do convert, we are going to build some momentum on our opponents.
“You have to understand how that goes. That’s something that we have been practicing from the beginning, so obviously, that’s going to be a big part of what we do. We just have to pick our spots and all that.”
There’s a natural temptation to push it, as the Ravens will need to be more aggressive offensively this year. Some key defensive parts are aging, and being without Terrell Suggs makes it reasonable to assume that side of the ball won’t be as dominant as in the past.
But the Ravens are also breaking in some new parts on the offensive line, and still can’t be confident what they’re going to get from tackle Bryant McKinnie, which impacts where Michael Oher plays.
But Flacco’s obviously trying to put more of his own stamp on this thing, and pushing the tempo a bit could allow him to do just that.