Kevin Cowherd: No matter how much he improves, Ravens' Flacco has haters

You think he's on the cusp of greatness or you think he stinks.

You point out that he has led the Ravens to the playoffs for three straight years. Or you point out that he keeps coming up small against the hated Pittsburgh Steelers.

You love how he keeps his emotions in check, stays in that whole sleepy-eyed, Joe Cool persona no matter how tense the situation. Or you want to see more fire in his belly, more yelling and fist-pumping and getting in teammates' faces.

This is what it's like for Joe Flacco these days. In his fourth season as Ravens quarterback, it seems Ravens fans either love the guy or hate the guy. And that mostly depends — here's a shocker — on whether the Ravens won or lost the previous Sunday.

Nobody gets ripped like Flacco does after a Ravens loss, that's for sure. Unless it's Cam Cameron, the beleaguered offensive coordinator. In fact, there were times last season when the two of them could have listened to talk radio and played "Who Do They Hate More?" when reporting for work on Mondays.

And the amazing thing is the Ravens had a great season in 2010. They finished 12-4. Imagine what would have happened to Flacco and Cameron if they had finished 6-10. They would have had to sweep security mirrors under their cars every morning.

This is how crazy it gets for Flacco: He even gets ripped for his Pizza Hut commercials.

"Joe, it's pizza!" I heard a woman shout when the spot aired in a bar recently. "Smile! Pizza's supposed to be fun!"

Hoo, boy. You know it's a tough town when they're ripping the quarterback for not smiling. In a pizza commercial.

The thing is, Flacco's seemingly impressive resume doesn't seem to matter with the haters either.

It doesn't matter that he set career highs with 3,622 passing yards and 25 touchdowns last season.

Doesn't matter that he's thrown for 3,000 yards in back-to-back seasons, a franchise first.

Doesn't matter that he keeps improving from year to year. And that he was the NFL's No. 2-rated passer (103.4), throwing for 24 touchdowns and just five interceptions, over the final 14 games last season.

Doesn't matter that he's tied with Hall of Famer Dan Marino for the most wins (36) by a starting quarterback in his first three seasons.

The haters have this visceral dislike for the way he plays the game, the way he stands in the pocket, the way he scrambles — OK, it's not pretty. They hate how he reacts — or doesn't react, to be more precise — after a play blows up. They hate his body language on the sideline when the Ravens are losing. I could go on.

So much of this, of course, has to do with Flacco's record against the Steelers, another thing that isn't pretty. And that's what the haters really focus on.

He's 2-6 against them, 0-6 when Ben Roethlisberger is in the lineup. And he has thrown in some clunker outings, as evidenced by his 68.5 rating in those games.

Flacco shrugs off his difficulties against the Steelers. It's a team game, he says. And he says he doesn't view Sunday's season opener against the Steelers at M&T Bank Stadium as any kind of gun-slinging showdown with Big Ben or the fearsome Pittsburgh defense.

But until he puts up a big game against the Steelers and Roethlisberger, the critics will keep beating on him.

And the issue won't go away.

The other day, John Harbaugh was asked why he thought Flacco didn't play as well against Pittsburgh as he did against other teams.

"If you look at the numbers — the quarterback rating and all that — you can make that case," the Ravens coach said. "Specifically why that is … I don't know. I'd be interested in your theories though."

Yeah, right. I'm sure my phone will ring at any minute, with Harbaugh on the other end, ready to pick my brain.

But he won't find any theories here. I'm not nearly smart enough to figure that out. Besides, the great thing for Flacco is that his teammates understand he gets way too much of the blame for all this losing to the Steelers.

"I think Joe Flacco is an elite quarterback. … He's a winning quarterback," running back Ray Rice said the other day. "And people look at all this other stuff saying he didn't win a Super Bowl.

"I came in with Joe, and we've been to the playoffs every year since I've been here. When you look at a quarterback, if it's based on winning, you have to look at Joe Flacco. And I still think he's a great quarterback and he's only gotten better this year."

Tell it to the haters, Ray.

Not that they'll listen.

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Listen to Kevin Cowherd at 7:20 a.m. Tuesdays on 105.7 The Fan's "Norris and Davis Show."

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