Flacco Gives Ravens Shot in Arm

"I was difficult," Jackson said with a smile.

"I just gave it right back to him," Flacco recalled flatly.

Right then, Jackson was sold. Football is such a game of broken plans, of fractured plays and ordeals that must be managed, many skilled quarterbacks can't handle the pressure. Especially in the NFL, where everything seems to go faster. But after the combine, Jackson was certain Flacco could handle all of it.

So far, he has done just that.

"I love his confidence and his poise when he needs to make a big play," said Lorenzo Neal, the team's fullback who has played with several gifted quarterbacks, including Drew Brees and Philip Rivers. "He never gets rattled. But that's the way he lives his life off the field. It's just boom, boom, boom, he does what he's supposed to."

But the biggest difference between Flacco and other quarterbacks the Ravens have employed recently is the mandate he seems to carry. On past teams, the quarterback served as a caretaker, someone who could move the offense just enough to let the defense somehow win the game. Flacco has already been given the freedom to do everything the offense allows. No restraints.

As rare as it is to have a quarterback winning games in his first season, the idea of letting him cut loose with passes all over the field is even more so. Yet Jackson and new head coach John Harbaugh let him. There is something different about Flacco, they decided, something more than his ability to throw a football a long way and keep his composure even when everything is falling apart around him.

One day, Jackson finally realized what it was.

"The guy has a Rolodex in his mind," Jackson said. "He can retain information in his mind, and he can go through it quickly. He's very decisive."

When told this, Flacco chuckled.

"He's always coming up with lines like that," he said. Then he shrugged. He doesn't know if his mind is like a Rolodex. He seems amused by all the attention that is suddenly coming his way. The interviews, the pictures, his face everywhere. It all seems a little much.

The fact is, he said, it's not all that special to be Joe Flacco right now. While he might be the brightest new star in a city longing for a new star, he walks virtually unrecognized. When he sits in restaurants, people do not shout his name.

"For the most part, I've been able to go unnoticed," he said.

Which seems to be the way he likes it.