Joe Flacco already has an agent.
And now Joe Linta has all the help he needs.
After the Ravens quarterback was sterling in a 44-13 win over the Bengals, Ravens coach John Harbaugh was ready to turn over the checkbook and let Flacco fill it in.
“Pay him whatever he wants,” Harbaugh said, laughing, via Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun. “Pay the man.”
Flacco was 21-of-29 for 299 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions, leading the Ravens to the final 27 points of the blowout. The 44 points were the third-most in a regular season game in franchise history.
And while they’ve always been defined by defense, Harbaugh can see what the rest of us see, that Flacco has grown beyond some kind of Trent Dilfer-esque game manager. That will cost them in the negotiations that have been going on for months.
“We’ve always stood up here, and we’ve always, all our coaches, the organization, we know what we’ve got in this guy,” Harbaugh said. “Of course he is [elite]. He is a winner. He is one of the toughest quarterbacks I have ever been around. He’s the best quarterback I’ve ever been around.”
He’s also getting more expensive with each passing game.