There’s been some talk in the Baltimore media that Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is not sufficiently committed to being an NFL quarterback 365 days a year, as evidenced by his supposed failure to organize offseason workouts with his wide receivers. One of those receivers says that criticism is unfair.
Ravens receiver Torrey Smith told reporters that the timing hasn’t been right for a group workout, but that Flacco isn’t to blame for that.
“You all [in the media] keep talking about this and [criticizing] Joe like he doesn’t want to get together or something like that,” Smith said, via the team’s website. “We’ve been trying to figure it out, but people have to realize, [Kyle Juszczyk] is in school, Marlon [Brown] is in school. Steve [Smith] is still being a parent down there [Carolina]. [Dennis] Pitta is fine. Aaron [Mellette] isn’t all the way back yet. If we really go out there and throw, it’s going to be, Steve, Pitta and Jacoby. That’s it.”
Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti acknowledged at the league meeting that he has heard talk radio criticism of Flacco’s offseason work, but Bisciotti said that’s more about filling air time than anything else.
“Listen, those guys are paid to give opinions and they are put on the air dozens of hours a week,” Bisciotti said. “I guess they get tired of saying the same thing.”
Flacco took a lot of deserved criticism for the way his play declined last season. But the criticism he’s taking this offseason is, according to the people in a position to know, off base.