The last time Joe Flacco played in New Orleans, he left on top of the football world. He returns there on Monday night looking like a shell of the quarterback who was named Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XLVII.
Flacco has been erratic, tentative and confused in recent weeks as teams have ramped up the pass rush. And, for a quarterback who has been put in every pressure situation, he has appeared rattled in the face of increased pressure for one of the few times in his career.
It's not a question of being tough because Flacco takes hard hits and bounces back up every time. The criticism is how the pressure is affecting what he does with the ball. Flacco has been unsettled and gun shy for one of the few stretches of his career.
Over his past three games, Flacco has produced a lackluster 75.5 passer rating when under duress or getting hit. Only six quarterbacks have been worse in that span, and none are close to averaging over $20 million per season like Flacco.
No one needed a bye on the Ravens more than Flacco, just to give himself a break as much mentally as physically. Which Flacco returns from his one-week hiatus -- Joe Cool or Joe Chaos -- will determine whether the Ravens reach the playoffs this season.
The Ravens' next two games are against the New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers, and it's extremely optimistic to think the likes of Anthony Levine, Danny Gorrer and Darian Stewart in the secondary are going to slow down two Pro Bowl quarterbacks (Drew Brees and Philip Rivers). Flacco can't afford to lose his mind -- which is how he described it -- when he failed to throw the ball out of bounds while under pressure in Pittsburgh and was picked off.
The Ravens then play at Miami, where they'll line up against the toughest defense they'll face this season. Flacco has to stop floating passes on the simplest of throws and has to just step in the pocket when his own lineman is bull-rushed into him (which happened against the Tennessee Titans).
Ever since Flacco could do no wrong in a scintillating five-touchdown show in Tampa Bay, he has thrown as many interceptions (five) as touchdowns. He has been off his game as teams have become more aggressive. Flacco has to check out of running plays when teams stack the line, which coach John Harbaugh says Flacco has the power to do. He has to follow through on his passes instead of making those unbalanced, jumping ones of his back foot.
"I’m not in the game of evaluating myself," Flacco said. "I’ll leave that up to [the reporters]. And no, for the most part, I got away [during the bye]. The coaches did self-scout and did a lot of things and came back to everybody with things that we can do better, things that we have to do more of."
The Ravens (6-4) are a half-game out of first place in the AFC North, where the inconsistency of the quarterbacks has made it anyone's division. The Cincinnati Bengals' Andy Dalton delivered one of the worst performances by a quarterback in recent history two weeks ago against the Cleveland Browns. The Browns' Brian Hoyer set a team record for most incompletions (30) last Sunday against the Houston Texans. Even the Pittsburgh Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger can go from throwing six touchdowns a week to throwing none against the New York Jets, one of the worst pass defenses in the league.
Flacco has been just as hard to predict. He can go from a record-setting performance in Tampa to a head-scratching one the last few weeks. Overall, Flacco is on pace for his first 4,000-yard season and is on target to set a career high in touchdown passes in his first season in Gary Kubiak's offense.
Which Flacco shows up after the bye? No one really knows. The only certainty is the Ravens won't make the postseason if Flacco continues to struggle under pressure.