If you’re looking for a happy way to start a season, it’s tough to come up with a better outcome that a shutout victory on the road against a divisional rival.
That’s what the Ravens pulled off on Sunday by beating the Bengals 20-0 behind five turnovers and five sacks from their defense, but it wasn’t the most fun that quarterback Joe Flacco’s ever had on a football field. The Ravens went with a run-heavy game plan in Flacco’s first game action after he sat for most of the summer with a back injury and that led to a low rating on his fun meter.
“It wasn’t that fun to play on offense -- just to be honest,” Flacco said, via ESPN.com. “I was 9-for-17, and I threw for a hundred and a couple [121] yards . I mean, it’s not that fun. I’d rather throw for 350 and win 42-0, not 20-0. But it’s fun to win, and that’s the most important thing.”
According to ESPN, it was the first time in six years that a team won a game without completing a pass after halftime but it’s hard to argue with the results or the approach. Flacco was coming off an injury and then had to go for a concussion evaluation during the game, which makes it easy to understand why the Ravens would want to avoid putting him at risk when they were running the ball well enough to keep the clock moving.
That won’t be the case every week and Flacco will be asked to do more in future games, but what’s best for the team will likely continue to trump fun as the basis for the game plan.