Amidst a rather mediocre season the Ravens are having, at 6-5, many fans look at the quarterback – that quarterback would be Joe Flacco. Naturally, since he is the leader, the man in charge in the huddle, he’ll receive blame if the team loses – it’s unfair, but that’s life. In 11 games this year, he has 2,744 yards, 13 touchdowns, eight interceptions, and a rating just above 90. The 24-year-old has certainly progressed since his rookie season – and that’s not to say he was at all bad in 2008. I think, really, you could argue Flacco is the best quarterback in Ravens history – pathetic, I know.

This year, he’s really done a good job of utilizing his two playmakers: Derrick Mason and Ray Rice. “Well, I think he’s got a comfort level with those guys,” coach John Harbaugh said. “If you look throughout the season, he’s hit those guys on a lot of plays. Todd [Heap] has been hitting some big plays, obviously, Kelley [Washington] – Mark Clayton earlier in the year. Different plays, different guys are open, and in different situations they’re not open. Every play stands on it’s own, and we’ve studied those with Joe. So, we’re going to try to get the ball to everybody.”

So why does the guy get hate? Honestly, I’m trying to figure that out. Today, ESPN “professional” columnist Bill Simmons went after Joe: “…Feels like 9-7. Regardless, these guys are shaky in tight games, and I blame Joe Flacco. As soon as crunch time rolls around, he starts to look like Russell just blindsided him in a “Survivor” tribal council. For his career, he’s 2-7 in games decided by less than a touchdown … and one of those wins was the game Dennis Dixon handed them last Sunday.”

Where does he get this stuff? NFL Live? He must. Let’s dig into these games in which the Ravens have lost by a touchdown or less.

L, 20-23 vs. Steelers, 2008 Week 4: Flacco went 16-of-31 with 192 yards and a touchdown. Oh, you’re going to criticize that?

L, 10-13 vs. Titans, 2008 Week 5: Flacco went 18-of-27 with 153 yards and two interceptions. OK, that game was his fault.

L, 9-13 vs. Steelers, 2008 Week 15: Flacco went 11-of-28 with 128 yards and two interceptions. That game was also his fault.

L, 21-27 vs. Patriots, 2009 Week 4: Flacco went 27-of-47 with 264 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. Flacco almost Tom Brady’d Tom Brady, but a crucial Mark Clayton drop messed that up.

L, 14-17 vs. Bengals, 2009 Week 5: Flacco was 22-of-31 with 186 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions: Decent game, not good, but decent.

L, 31-33 vs. Vikings, 2009 Week 6: Flacco went 28-of-43 with 385 yards and two touchdowns. Yeah, what an awful game.

L, 15-17 vs. Colts, 2009 Week 11: Flacco went 23-of-35 with 256 yards and an interception. He did cost them the game with a costly pick.

Here’s what irks me: people listen to Bill Simmons – some do, anyway. And he also forgets to mention that in close games in 2009, Flacco has more touchdowns than picks, and while you can say a 5:4 TD:INT ratio doesn’t exactly make him a lock to go to Canton one day, to say he’s a “choker” is just wrong. In fact, I couldn’t get further from the truth even if I tried. To disprove that “argument” (note the sarcastic quotes), let’s take a look at how Flacco has done in drives late in games this year.

Week 1, KC, W 38-24: Tied 17-17 with about 12 minutes left, Flacco goes 3-for-4 with 39 yards on a TD drive. Tied 24-24 later, he throws a touchdown pass to Mark Clayton which puts the game away.

Week 2, SD, W 31-26: It’s hard to really find any merit in this game. First of all, the Chargers dominated the TOP late, and on top of that, the Ravens were running on most of the plays they ran, killing clock.

Week 4, NE, L 21-27: Down 24-14 as fourth quarter starts, Flacco throws touchdown pass to Willis McGahee. Down 27-21 later, he throws a good pass on third and fourth downs, but both were dropped.

Week 5, CIN, L 14-17: With seven minutes left, Flacco throws a touchdown pass to RB Ray Rice to give the Ravens a 14-10 lead. With seconds left, he throws a pick. Can you blame the guy for throwing one in desperation?

Week 6, MIN, L 31-33: Down 27-10 with 8:42 left, he throws a TD pass to Mark Clayton. Down 30-17 with 5:12 left, he throws a TD pass to Mark Clayton. He later leads a drive that results in a Ray Rice touchdown. He even leads a drive that could’ve resulted in a win, but Steve Hauschka missed a field goal. Had he made it? Ravens win, 34-33.

Week 9, CIN, L 7-17: Down 17-0 as the fourth quarter opens, Flacco goes 4-for-4 with 45 yards in a touchdown drive. He even puts the Ravens in field goal position later, but a missed field goal was a back-breaker.

Week 11, IND, L 15-17: To open the fourth quarter, he went 3-for-3 with 30 yards, leading Baltimore to a field goal. Then, he was 4-for-5 with 54 yards, but a back-breaking INT meant the game.

So, honestly, I think you can’t blame these close losses on Flacco only. What can you blame them on? To be honest, I’m not sure. Unless the defense plays a flawless game, and the running back gains over 100 yards, and the quarterback still finds a way to lose, then – and only then – I think it’s justifiable to blame the quarterback only. Sure, Joe deserves some blame for playing poorly in both Cincinnati games, and for throwing a bad pick against Indy, but he’s been playing at a Pro-Bowl level almost all year long.

So this Bill Simmons fella. He says Flacco chokes late. Well, that’s very interesting, because Flacco has a 108.6 quarterback rating in the fourth quarter, behind the likes of Brees, Favre, and Peyton Manning.

Interesting..very, very interesting.