Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco capped a brilliant playoff series by steering his team to a Super Bowl victory on Sunday, and was named as the game’s Most Valuable Player.
The unassuming and unheralded Flacco completed 22 of 33 passes for 287 yards and three first-half touchdowns in the 34-31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
Setting aside any questions about just how good he is and where he ranks among the league’s best quarterbacks, Flacco became only the sixth in 47 Super Bowls to throw for three scores in a first half, connecting with Anquan Boldin for 13 yards, Dennis Pitta for 1, and Jacoby Jones for 56.
And the admittedly mild-mannered guy, who played his college football far from the spotlight at Delaware, wrapped up Baltimore’s four-game run to the title with 11 TD passes and zero interceptions.
It was an impressive streak that included road victories against two of the best QBs, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.
Flacco’s job in the second half was more about being safe than spectacular. He had helped Baltimore take a 21-6 halftime lead, and it grew to 28-6 when Jacoby Jones returned the second-half kickoff a Super Bowl-record 108 yards.
That, though, is when things got strange. First, a power outage knocked out many lights inside the Superdome, delaying action for more than a half-hour. And when play resumed, San Francisco quickly scored 17 consecutive points to make things more than interesting.
“I was sitting there thinking, ‘There’s no way. There’s no way we stop them here, but we did,” Flacco said.
“I tell you what: We don’t make it easy. But that’s the way the city of Baltimore is. That’s the way we are.”
Flacco put off contract renewal talks during the season, preferring to wait until the campaign was over. It was a smart decision, as his value will soar after a superb postseason and Sunday’s MVP performance.
He could well wind up with one of the biggest deals in NFL history, perhaps commanding somewhere in the neighbourhood of $US20 million ($A19 million) a year.
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