Well, at least we know that Joe Flacco isn’t treating his time with the Philadelphia Eagles like it’s one final payday before he calls it a career. Oh, don’t act like it hasn’t happened before. You’ve seen it. You could probably even name a few of the old Birds that have come through this franchise recently who were guilty of the same thing.
Football, in some ways, resembles our own workspaces. Some of the employees care more than others do, but in the case of our favorite game, as a fan, one can only hope that the guys on your favorite team care as much as you do. Throw Mr. Flacco in the category of those competitors who are still looking to prove something and win football games.
It’s nice to hear the words competition and Philadelphia Eagles in the same sentence.
“Competition” was a word that kept coming up as ‘South Jersey Joe’ was formally introduced to the Philly media on March 25th. Wow, we’ve heard from both Joe Flacco and Anthony Harris over the course of a couple of days, and we haven’t even heard from the defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon yet. Go figure.
Flacco acknowledged that he had already shared a few texts with Jalen Hurts and that he was interested in meeting the guys and “diving in” to this new Eagles offense as well as “going out on the field and proving to everybody that I’m not just some old guy”.
Okay Philadelphia Eagles fans, let’s not cause any unnecessary drama.
It’s important that we don’t hear something that Flacco didn’t say because some are already spinning this and making it seem like Philly’s new signal-caller is more focused on competing than aiding and supporting Hurts. That isn’t what he said. Here are a few words from the man himself when he was asked about whether or not he’d be competing for the starting quarterback position.
"I’m not even really looking at it that way at this point. Like I said, I really just want to come in and your goal as a football player is always to show people around you that you can play football. I don’t care what level of playing that is, whether you’re the first-string, second-string, third-string guy on the team, you still want to prove to everybody on the football team that you can play football and you deserve a spot on this team in some capacity. That’s really what my job is."
On the subject of building a strong quarterback room, Flacco put things in perspective by saying this:
"I think (in) every quarterback room, guys help each other. That’s what we’re here for. That’s what the whole team does, so, I’m going to do my part… We’re going to win a lot of football games, and part of that is getting in the QB room, grinding, and helping each other out."
The South Jersey kid is now a member of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Before earning Super Bowl MVP and Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year honors in the NFL. Flacco, a native of Audubon, New Jersey, played football, baseball, and basketball at Audubon High School. He earned ECAC Player of the Year, First-team All-CAA, and CAA Co-Offensive Player of the Year honors in 2007 as a member of the Delaware Fighting Blue Hens (yes, they’re actually called the Fighting Blue Hens).
That means, if you’ve been living under a rock, you probably missed the fact that playing for the Philadelphia Eagles serves as a coming home party. Joe Flacco can’t wait to get started. He puts it this way.
"It’s exciting. (I’ve) definitely been getting a lot of attention from all my buddies back at home recently, but listen, I grew up in this town and I know what it’s like, I mean there can be a lot of positives, there could be a lot of negatives about that… I just anticipate it being a lot of fun. I’m really excited about it. I think it’s a great opportunity for me and my family, just to be here, where we are in a great situation. I’m excited about, you know, what the future brings and how it’s gonna play out in this town."
For much of the Inside The Iggles staff, we’d have to agree. Some of us had our reservations at first too, but the more we think about it, this feels like a good thing.
Flacco, as mentioned is a former Super Bowl MVP. He’s learned from the offensive genius of both Jim Caldwell and Gary Kubiak. Flacco knows how to compete and win, and that’s something the entire Eagles team, not just the quarterbacks, can learn from. Training camp can’t get here fast enough.