Joe Flacco vs the Steel Curtain.

Joe Flacco has accomplished a lot of neat things in just a short NFL career.  He recently became one of only four quarterbacks to lead his team to the playoffs in all of his first three seasons (he has a 5-3 record in the post-season).

The one thing that Joe Flacco has not been able to figure out so far, is how to solve the Steel Curtain.  For the second time in three seasons, Baltimore's Super Bowl hopes have been ended at the hands of the rival Pittsburgh Steelers.  In their most recent matchup, the Ravens lost 31-24 after going leading 21-7 at half time.

In his rookie season, Flacco played a key role in helping the Ravens get to the AFC Championship.  In a close affair vs Pittsburgh, he was intercepted 3 times; the second of which was returned for the game clinching touchdown by Troy Polamalu.  In that game, you could have chalked it up to his inexperience.  You could have said that maybe the whole situation was a little more than he could handle.

Flacco was sacked 5 times by Pittsburgh

Rarely does Baltimore ever give up a 14 point lead, or any lead for that matter.  What happened however, was a classic "second half collapse" in the playoffs.  Pittsburgh turned up the heat in the second half, while the Ravens just faded away.

Flacco overthrew teammate Todd Heap, only to be picked off by Pittsburgh's Ryan Clark.  Later on, a botched exchanged between Flacco and center Matt Birk resulted in a fumble that was recovered by the Steelers, resulting in another score. 

Granted, it really wasn't all on Flacco.  Anquan Boldin dropped a sure touchdown pass that would have put the Ravens up 28-24, and T.J. Houshmandzadeh dropped a perfectly thrown pass on "4th & 19" that would have kept a possible game-tying drive alive.

Flacco, in his days as a Fighting Blue Hen

What's ironic here, is that this is the same field where Joe Flacco's collegiate career began.  As a Pittsburgh Panther, he redshirted in 2003 and saw limited action in 2004.  Looking for more playing time, he transferred to Delaware, a 1-AA school that has produced NFL quarterbacks such as Jeff Komlo and Rich Gannon (2002 NFL MVP).  At Delaware, he set several school records and led the Fighting Blue Hens to a runner-up finish in the 2007 1-AA playoffs.

Joe Flacco has more than filled Baltimore's search for a franchise quarterback.  In the team's short existence, mostly journeymen have filled the position; Vinny Testaverde, Jim Harbaugh, Tony Banks, Trent Dilfer (I know what you're thinking), Elvis Grbac, Anthony Wright, Steve McNair. 

In 2003, the Ravens drafted Kyle Boller, hoping that he would be the franchise quarterback, but he never panned out.  During his time at Baltimore, he was on two playoff teams (2003, 2006), but he NEVER really led them to the playoffs.  Anthony Wright supplanted Boller in 2003, while in 2006, he was Steve McNair's backup.

For his career, Joe Flacco is 2-6 all-time against Pittsburgh (0-2 in the playoffs).  When all is said and done, he will have rewritten any and every franchise record at Baltimore.  However, until he can figure out how beat Pittsburgh in the playoffs, Trent Dilfer will most likely remain the best quarterback to have played for the Ravens (I can't even say that with a straight face!!).

If it's any consolation, it was once thought that the only way Peyton Manning would EVER win a Super Bowl, was if he could beat New England in the playoffs.