The “Is Joe Flacco elite?” question appears to have been answered, as Flacco has delivered passing grades below 71.0 in three out of four seasons since Baltimore’s 2012 Super Bowl run. However, a big part of his mediocre-at-best play is the fact his skill players have struggled to create plays on their own.
Mike Wallace was brought in last year to give the Ravens a deep threat, and he delivered with five catches over 50 yards on the season. However, he wasn’t effective enough on catches that didn’t occur downfield, as he averaged just 1.74 yards per route run (35th among all receivers), and forced just eight missed tackles (25th at his position).