Sports Radio Interviews

Joe Flacco Hopes to Throw More with Addition of Anquan Boldin

Joe Flacco is happy. The Baltimore Ravens quarterback just witnessed his team trade for Pro Bowl wide receiver Anquan Boldin and sign Donte’ Stallworth, his top receiving threat Derrick Mason re-sign, and former quarterback and head coach Jim Zorn join the team as his quarterback coach.

Last season, less than a quarter of Flacco’s passes targeted a receiver besides Mason, so the position was clearly in need of an upgrade, especially with the threat that Mason may not return. Boldin and Stallworth add 882 career receptions for 11,903 yards and 76 touchdowns in 180 NFL games to the Ravens’ receiving corps.

Defense has long been the identity of the Baltimore Ravens, but that is about to change. With Flacco at quarterback, Ray Rice’s emergence as an all-around weapon and tight end Todd Heap, who bounced back for a great year in 2009, as well as the new additions, Baltimore could have one of the more balanced and explosive offenses in the NFL.

Joe Flacco joined the Bruce Cunningham Show on 105.7 the Fan in Baltimore to talk about the addition of Anquan Boldin, new quarterback coach Jim Zorn and his health.

On addition of Anquan Boldin:

“We’ll see. It’s going to be exciting. Obviously, he’s been a good receiver for the last few years. You know, they have had an explosive offense in Arizona with him, so hopefully he can bring some of that with him to our team. Obviously, he has some talent he can bring, but he is just a veteran guy that can make our core receivers even better than they are now. His presence will be felt as soon as he steps foot in the locker room.”

On how offensive philosophy will change with Anquan Boldin:

“I hope we’re going to throw the ball more. Hopefully he’ll just be motivation. We got a receiver now so we can throw the ball more. If that’s the motivation we need, then he’ll be an even better pick-up. Last year, I felt we came out doing those things and we were pretty successful doing it. Halfway through the year we changed our philosophy a little bit and started doing things that we were a little better at the year before that. Both things we are successful at. I think we have to make our mind up and figure out what we are going to do… Obviously, being a quarterback, I wish we were heavy on the passing side – at least that’s the way I see it.”

On what Jim Zorn brings to the offense:

“Jim is a guy who has played in the league for a decent amount of time. It always helps to have a guy who has played quarterback before. I think that’s what he can bring. He’s been a head coach and has obviously been in the league for a while as a player and a head coach, so he knows both sides of it. He’s was just a guy that was easy to talk to. “

On how the pressure will build with new weapons this season:

“Look, it’s already starting with you. We want good players and I feel that we’ve gotten good players in the off-season. We expect those players to help us out. I think we have played good the last two years. Obviously, when you go into your third year as an offense and as a quarterback with a team, you feel like you are going to improve. After the past two seasons that we’ve had, there is not too much to get better on besides going out and winning a couple extra games. We’ve got the team. We’ve got the tools. We’ve put a couple more guys in there to help us get over that hump. We’ve had that team the last two years. It just comes down to winning a couple games against the better teams. We got to get to the point where we are beating the better teams consistently. We just haven’t been there the last couple of years. Adding these guys helps us do that.”

And on health of ankle and thigh:

“The ankle was a twisted ankle. It was black and blue and hurt me for a little while, but it was nothing more than a hurt ankle. As a quarterback it affects how well you can run. If I was playing receiver, it may have been more of a bother. But when you are playing quarterback, you need to be able to do certain things. To tell you the truth, it didn’t really affect too much of what I was doing. I didn’t think. People can say this and that, but I didn’t think it affected me. Then there was a time when my thigh came along probably halfway through the year. There was games when it felt better than others. Towards the end of the year, in the last game, in the playoff game, it got banged up a little bit so it was really tough to move around. When game time came around it wasn’t on my mind. People are going to talk about that for whatever reason, but I don’t even pay attention to it. I feel great right now. It feels pretty good. I’m excited to get back there in a little bit and start working out.”

Listen to Joe Flacco on 105.7 the Fan with Bruce Cunningham.

Tags: AFC North, Anquan Boldin, Baltimore Ravens, Derrick Mason, Donte Stallworth, Joe Flacco, John Harbaugh