Joe Flacco

Joe Flacco and the Ravens won ugly on Thursday night, and it's not just because they relied on defense and ate up the clock with the run game to beat the San Francisco 49ers in the Harbaugh Bowl at M&T Bank Stadium. Flacco sported a sweet Fu Manchu mustache during the game, which got Ravens fans on the internet buzzing. Flacco, who completed 15 of his 23 pass attempts for 161 yards and a touchdown, explained to reporters after the game that he and mustachioed tight end Dennis Pitta are hoping their offensive teammates follow their lead.

The most significant offensive additions the Ravens made this offseason were free-agent wide receiver Jacoby Jones and a pair of rookie linemen in Kelechi Osemele and Gino Gradkowski. Their personnel losses include Pro Bowl guard Ben Grubbs and veteran backups in running back Ricky Williams and wide receiver Lee Evans. On paper -- and we know the dangers of evaluating football teams on that alone -- it doesn't appear the Ravens have done much to improve an offense that ranked 12th in points scored and 15th in total yards a season ago. But there is reason to believe that the offense will be better in 2012: They will finally have a little continuity.

UPDATE: Check out a photo gallery of images from Joe Flacco's wedding here. The photos can also be found on the website of photographer Jason Prezant , but the site has been inaccessible due to the high interest in the Flacco pictures. . Joe Flacco's wedding photos have been posted out in the blogosphere, and simply put, they are amazing. The photos, which were published to the blog of wedding photographer Jason Prezant, shed a little light onto what the Ravens quarterback is like away from the television cameras and our microphones.

The past 12 months have been a bit of a whirlwind for new Ravens quarterback Curtis Painter. A year ago, he was expected to be the backup to Peyton Manning with the Indianapolis Colts, but Manning sat out the season with a neck injury. Kerry Collins was ineffective early, pushing Painter into the starting lineup for Week 4. He made eight starts for the Colts, who ultimately finished 2-14, before giving way to Dan Orlovsky. Last month, Painter participated in a tryout for the Ravens, along with 2003 first-round pick Kyle Boller and former Pittsburgh Steelers scrambler Dennis Dixon.

The most significant offensive additions the Ravens made this offseason were free-agent wide receiver Jacoby Jones and a pair of rookie linemen in Kelechi Osemele and Gino Gradkowski. Their personnel losses include Pro Bowl guard Ben Grubbs and veteran backups in running back Ricky Williams and wide receiver Lee Evans. On paper -- and we know the dangers of evaluating football teams on that alone -- it doesn't appear the Ravens have done much to improve an offense that ranked 12th in points scored and 15th in total yards a season ago. But there is reason to believe that the offense will be better in 2012: They will finally have a little continuity.

Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco's wife Dana is expecting the couple's first child, and the signal-caller finds the interest he's receiving "funny. " "I honestly don't pay attention. I just hear you guys ask me about it and I think that's even a little funny," Flacco said today. "Other than that, I don't really know what is going on about it but it's a little funny. It's not even close to being here yet, but it's exciting for us though.We're really excited about it. " Aaron Wilson of the Carroll County Times had the original news on the pregnancy.

It was all the way back in Week 2 when Joe Flacco looked befuddled, when he threw four passes to the Cincinnati Bengals in a five-point Ravens' loss and looked like he was ready to implode. In the life of an NFL quarterback, it was an eternity ago. Fifteen weeks later, the Bengals are on the horizon again and there is no befuddlement in Flacco. There was no implosion, either. He is, as expected, leading the Ravens into the postseason for the third straight year. He has, as was hoped, shown signs of blossoming into one of the league's elite quarterbacks.

I can't say I ever thought of Joe Flacco while watching Cam Newton terrorize SEC defenses this past fall. But based on Newton's pro day workout at Auburn this week, NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock thinks a comparison can be made between the Ravens quarterback and the Heisman Trophy winner. No, seriously. " I might draw a parallel with Joe Flacco ," Mayock said. "A couple of years ago, Joe Flacco came out of a spread offense [at Delaware]. He’s a big guy and I think what people needed him to do was kind of hasten the process.

For Thursday's newspaper, I began a three-part series called “Tweaking the Ravens” and I started by tweaking the offense. A big chunk of the analysis piece ( you can find it here ) was about the importance of continuity and stability for Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, who took a step forward in the team's recent postseason run. That's not to say Flacco is without flaws. He can improve in many areas, which says a lot about his potential. Based on some numbers crunched by Pro Football Focus, a site that got a lot of traction among NFL writers this past year, one area he and new quarterbacks Jim Caldwell can focus on is how Flacco fares when pressured.

Last week, I chatted with ESPN analyst and ex-NFL quarterback Tim Hasselbeck about San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers for an advance of the Ravens-Chargers game. While I had him on the line, I asked him about Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, who has had an up-and-down season in 2011, his fourth in the NFL. Hasselbeck told me that Flacco isn't in the same category as a player like Rivers, whom many feel is one of the top six or seven quarterbacks in the league. But he still thinks the Ravens can do big things with Flacco.

At 31, Anquan Boldin is the oldest receiver on the Ravens roster by a few years (newcomer Jacoby Jones is closest in age at 27). Some of his fellow wide-outs were in middle school when he broke into the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals nine years ago, and they no doubt grew up watching him score touchdowns on TV. Boldin laughed Wednesday when asked about resuming his leadership role among the Ravens' relatively inexperienced wide receiving corps....

Joe Flacco took a couple of steps to his right, spotted Ed Dickson about 10 yards down the field and lofted a pass between two defenders that the young tight end hauled in. After Dickson was touched down and the Ravens' offense retreated back to the line of scrimmage, Flacco yelled out a play that ended with his other primary tight end, Dennis Pitta, making a catch along the left sideline. Flacco wore a red jersey, black gym shorts and no shoulder pads, and his notoriously calm demeanor, which earned him the nickname "Joe Cool," was even more casual than usual.

The Ravens began organized team activities Tuesday, marking the first time this offseason that the team's rookies have been on the practice field with veterans. These workouts at the team's facility in Owings Mills are optional for veterans, though I'm sure coach John Harbaugh hopes all of them will be in attendance. The OTAs will continue into June, setting the table for next month's mandatory minicamp. Media is allowed to watch practice at the OTAs the next three Wednesdays and for all of the mandatory minicamp, which is June 12-14.

From contract negotiations with quarterback Joe Flacco and running back Ray Rice to a potentially season-ending Achilles injury to star linebacker Terrell Suggs to coach John Harbaugh 's comments on the New England Patriots to mercurial safety Ed Reed 's controversial radio interviews, the Ravens have made plenty of off-the-field news this offseason. However, the focus turns to on-the-field issues this week as many of the organization's veterans and rookies are at the Owings Mills facility this week for the three-day organized team activities.

The Ravens may lack experience at the wide receiver position, but they certainly don't lack depth. How much quality exists within that depth remains to be seen. The Ravens' roster currently includes 13 wide receivers, but nine of them have never caught a pass in an NFL game. Only two of them - Anquan Boldin and the recently-signed Jacoby Jones - have played for more than one season. Seven of them were undrafted and none of them were taken in the first round. That's why when training camp starts in mid-July, the battle to secure one of the final one or two wide receiver spots might be one of the most hotly-contested competitions in camp.

For the second week in a row, Baltimore got some prime-time, Sunday-night love on high-end cable TV. Two weeks ago, Lutherville got a mention on "Mad Men. " Granted, it was a throwaway line, but a mention is a mention in self-conscious Baltimore -- and its north county cousins. This Sunday, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco and running back Ray Rice got the shoutout on HBO's "VEEP," which is made in Maryland. The mention came when Vice President Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus)

An earthquake rattled Baltimore on Tuesday and a hurricane is expected to rock us this weekend. So what's got everyone panicking around here? The play of a quarterback who has won 32 games in three seasons. We all want to see development from Joe Flacco after his inability to match Ben Roethlisberger throw for throw in last year's playoffs was one of the main reasons the Ravens couldn't outlast the Steelers. But as I wrote after Thursday's 34-31 win over the Redskins , Flacco is established enough that we shouldn't be freaking out about an uneven preseason (especially as he gets used to a few new targets in a lockout-shortened summer)

Thirteen months ago, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco screamed at the top of his lungs and raised his right arm high into the Pittsburgh sky after throwing an 18-yard touchdown to T.J. Houshmandzadeh. The play punctuated a 17-14 win over the Steelers at Heinz Field, a memory that might be the brightest of his four years in the NFL. "I think there are going to be a lot of defining moments for Joe, but this is going to be one of them ," coach John Harbaugh had said. "This is going to be one that all the Ravens fans are going to remember for a long time.

Joe Flacco was mocked by media and fans last month when he said that he thinks of himself as the NFL's best quarterback . “I wouldn't be very successful at my job if I didn't feel that way,” the Ravens quarterback explained. But on Wednesday night, we learned that many of Flacco's peers think pretty highly of him. Flacco landed at No. 74 on the NFL Network's annual top 100 players list , which is selected by NFL players themselves. Now they clearly didn't agree with the notion that he's the NFL's best quarterback -- NFL.com says that 10 quarterbacks will be ranked ahead of him -- but he moved up 16 spots from last year's list.

The Ravens don't play their first preseason game until three months from now, and veteran players aren't obligated to be in Baltimore until a mandatory minicamp next month. But that hasn't stopped many of the players from taking an active role in the community during their downtime this offseason. Matt Birk's charity event on Monday night was a great example. Birk hosted his third annual Ravens celebrity servers dinner at Morton's downtown. He and several of his teammates served drinks and dinner to guests and signed autographs.