It sure looks good for Flacco after three starts, unexpected ones, ones out of necessity because of injury and illness. It looked just as good for Young, who nearly beat the Ravens in 2006 in his sixth start.

As smooth as Flacco’s path has seemed, don’t conclude that it will stay as smooth. He’s the starter, plain and simple. And a rookie, plain and simple. And someone the franchise invested heavily in, plain and simple. And in his current position by an accident of fate, plain and simple.

John Harbaugh talked last week about balancing Flacco’s need to grow into the job with the Ravens’ need to win – then, without being prompted, he blended Troy Smith into the equation, saying he’s going to play and contribute eventually, “to what capacity, I think events will determine.”

“I’m not sure if I want to box myself in,” Harbaugh continued, “but no, we haven’t said, ‘Hey, we’re going to develop Joe at the expense of winning, for sure.’ And winning is the No.1 priority, but developing Joe is a priority. Developing Troy is a priority.”

On the other side of the field, developing Young is a priority. So is winning, which partly explains why Collins is starting and why coach Jeff Fisher insisted he’ll keep starting. Not long ago, of course, Young was winning and developing – then winning and not developing, then doing neither, then doing all the things that have been psychoanalyzed into little pieces over the past month.

Sometimes life seems so easy when the quarterback is so precocious at such a young age. It can be seductive. It can lead to great things. It can also lead to serious detours. May Flacco keep avoiding the detours – and may Young get steered, one way or another, back onto the path he once traveled so comfortably.  (Source and the bulk of the story)

It seems to me that where this story might fall short is the vastly different styles that Flacco and Young employ.

• Jim Zorn has the Redskins at 3-1.
• John Harbaugh has the Ravens at 2-1 and the one loss was a well played game in Pitisburg.
• Mike Smith has the Atlanta Falcons at 2-2 and playing respectable football.
• Tony Sparano of the Dolphins pulled off a great win over the Pats and has them playing better.

What does this mean?  Given that this is a copy cat league I think it means more coaches will be replaced this off season…should the trend continue.

Brett is a very popular guy and he certainly would have been a dynamic addition to the Ravens’ offense, but it’s pretty obvious now that the Ravens did the right thing by staying on the sidelines.

If you watched last night’s game between the Jets and the San Diego Chargers, you saw Brett at both his best and worst. He made some real big plays and he made some real bad ones as the Jets got torched at Qualcomm Stadium. I’m not a mind-reader, but whenever the MNF cameras caught Jets coach Eric Mangini on the sidelines, he looked like he was wondering how he got into this mess.

It was bad enough that during the Westwood One halftime show, commentator Jim Gray told former NFL quarterback Phil Sims that he felt “sad” watching Favre struggle to replicate his past glory.

The Ravens, meanwhile, are pretty happy with the way things are developing. Nobody is anointing Joe Flacco as the next great NFL quarterback, but he has made a good account of himself and settled into the starting role. He’s probably going to get knocked around a little on Monday night in Pittsburgh, but that’s part of the process that could turn him into something special.

Would the Ravens be 2-0 with Favre at quarterback? Maybe. But the fact that they are 2-0 with Flacco is proof that they made the right decision by sticking with him when Kyle Boller went down with an injury and Smith got sick. I was right, too, but I’ll keep that to myself the next time I’m on with Davis Thursday night. He’s got to be pretty tired of losing arguments to me by now. (source and the rest of the story)

This on the heals of a growing idea that Favre has not been the answer for the Jets.

The Steelers are going to win the AFC North Division. Let’s get that straight right at the top. As badly as they played in Philadelphia Sunday, they still are better than Baltimore, Cleveland and Cincinnati. They will prove that again Monday night when they smack down the Ravens at Heinz Field.

I’m thinking something along the lines of 35-10.

Seriously. (Source)

Now, I think he is right, but you don’t say that, do you?