Jimmy King and Nate Atkins talking.
Atkins would not say this is an Irsay call though he did say the situation here has shifted, somewhere they have determined this is a win now team.
Whoever they is, or the individual that is viewing this team as a win now team and thus forcing this decision, that person or people, need to be terminated and never allowed to be involved in football again at any level. This an absolutely everything possible goes perfect- make it in as a WC and get bounced in game 1 team.
Presumptively this IS Jim. He has to be feeling the heat of a fan base blood thirsty for the playoffs and is forcing this to appease them- has to be. Can't be Ballard- he himself has already said if AR goes bust, he won't get a chance to pick the next one, so he has to be against this since he will almost certainly lose his job because of this. I don't see it being Steichen. While I have grown to question his coaching, I struggle to think a guy this close to it, who is with this group for every damn rep, would delude himself to believe that Flacco suddenly makes this team a contender. If he does think that, wow, he might be THAT bad at this thing!
So if it is Jim and he is just pig headed that we need to make the PO's, sadly to me this is badly misreading the room. Sure there are those that are in the we need to win right now group, but to me they are a minority. The overwhelming majority of the fans would much rather see a team with AR out there trying to get better and making crazy episodic highlights even if we suck. This fan base DOES NOT want to be a mid team that just muddles on the same mediocre treadmill- which is exactly what this move almost certainly re-creates. That's not intended to knock Flacco, he has proven to be a great fill in QB. It's more a reflection of the fans being able to see the future and not liking it. And if that is true, fuck, scary that the fans would have more foresight than the owner, but ultimately maybe that is the case.
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