During the Ravens’ 26-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons Thursday night, television cameras caught wideout Anquan Boldin giving an impassioned speech to the offense on the sideline.
Then on Sunday, NBC showed New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady reaming out his teammates midway through his win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Considering his perpetually-cool demeanor, some outsiders have questioned whether Joe Flacco has that fire. Inside the locker room, the Ravens believe Flacco does.
“Joe is his own type of leader,” said offensive tackle Michael Oher. “He’s doesn’t need to yell to lead. He does it his own way.”
Flacco thinks there is a time and a place for public emotion.
He appreciates what players like Boldin do when they loudly implore their cohorts for more. Flacco also said he saw replays of Brady’s highly-publicized tirade during Sunday Night Football.
“I’m not going to do it in public,” said Flacco. “If I do say anything, it’s going to be in the locker room. I always say that our guys don’t need to be motivated. You see it when guys aren’t playing hard, but our guys are always playing hard.”
Flacco’s given the pump-up speech before, though.
During the Ravens’ Week 7 matchup with the Buffalo Bills, several players said that Flacco had some words for the offense during halftime. Baltimore responded by snapping out of a funk and pulling out a 37-34 overtime victory.
Naturally, Flacco downplayed the situation.
“People make way too big a deal about that,” Flacco said at the time. “It’s not like I stood up and said something to anybody. I sat on my bench that I always sit on and just kind of said a one-liner. It wasn’t very much. I’m not going to be the guy to give the speech.”
The reality is that Flacco is ultra-competitive, and regardless of his nickname, he has the passion to hype his teammates at the right moment.
He just picks his spots behind closed doors.
“I don’t know what it does, but I think that by the time we get back on the field, we’re just focused on running the next play and getting the job done,” said Flacco. “But at the moment, there are some guys that will react to it. If something like that grabs a couple of guys’ attention, then it’s a good thing.”
