For adoring fans, Flacco looking like no average Joe

It's the kind of beginning that can start a love affair between a quarterback and a city.

The Ravens' rookie quarterback made his NFL debut yesterday, and it couldn't have been scripted much better. The former University of Delaware star and product of Voorhees, N.J., ran for one touchdown and threw a block for another.

He managed the game well - running a no-huddle offense and completing 15 of 29 passes for 129 yards. He had no turnovers as the Ravens opened the 2008 season with a 17-10 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals at M&T Bank Stadium.

Before the end of the third quarter, there were chants of "Let's go Flacco," circulating throughout the stadium.

"Yeah, I thought I heard it," Flacco said of the chant. "I kind of thought I heard it, but I wasn't really sure. I thought, 'Why would they be doing that?' Hey, if I can keep them on my side like that, it will be a good time."

Ravens fans flirted with other quarterbacks, but most of those were retreads before coming to Baltimore. This city is starved for a quarterback it can call its own.

New England has Tom Brady, and Indianapolis has Peyton Manning. Baltimore hasn't had a true, legitimate thrower since Vinny Testaverde in the mid-1990s and a true hero at the position since the days of the Baltimore Colts that produced John Unitas and later Bert Jones.

But yesterday, Flacco gave this city hope that he might be The One. You temper some of the excitement because this was his first NFL game, and after all, these were the defenseless, gutless, tissue-soft Bengals.

But Flacco showed a lot of poise.

"I know he is going to do big things with this offense," Ravens fullback Le'Ron McClain said. "He is just calm. There is no panicking. He just goes out there and plays. That is what you have to have to play in this league."

Flacco was cool under pressure, even though there wasn't much yesterday. But when it happened, he stepped to the side or up in the pocket to create time.

Several times he made it through his progressions to dump passes off to his running backs without getting nervous feet, something he didn't do in his last two preseason games.

It would have been interesting to see how many yards rookie running back Ray Rice would have gained if he hadn't dropped that nice touch pass by Flacco over the middle early in the second quarter. And Flacco would have had his first regular-season touchdown pass if tight end Todd Heap hadn't dropped a 3-yard pass in the back of the end zone early in the same period.

But Flacco still made plays. He threw one of several blocks that sprung wide receiver Mark Clayton on a 42-yard touchdown run, and he scored on a 38-yard bootleg around right end late in the third.

Flacco had quite a day. He did have some bad moments, like underthrowing several receivers and almost having two passes intercepted.

Those things will happen. But with the exception of pure talent, the biggest reason Flacco might succeed is that he has Cam Cameron as his offensive coordinator.

We haven't seen an offensive game called like the one Cameron called yesterday in nearly a decade. The Ravens' no-huddle offense was fast-paced, and it kept the Bengals off balance.

The Ravens ran some trick plays, like the double reverse, and they also ran an unbalanced line. They chipped with their tight ends and running backs on both sides of the ball to help in pass protection.

And just when the Bengals thought they had the Ravens figured out, Cameron came up with another wrinkle off the initial wrinkle.

Checkmate. Ravens win.

Kyle Boller never worked in this kind of scheme, and neither has Troy Smith. We can go back to Tony Banks and even further to Scott Mitchell.

The Ravens kept it safe with Flacco, and they didn't ask him to win the game, just not to lose it. When the Ravens had the game under control in the second half, Cameron went to his running game, especially McClain, whose running style is very similar to Bam Morris'.

It all seems in place because the Ravens seem to finally have the quarterback, the system and coaching. We don't know where Flacco's career might end, and he certainly has a long way to go. But this was a strong beginning.

"We talked about it before the game. This is going to be a beginning," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. "This is going to be a jumping-off point. Now we've got an idea of where he's at, and what he needs to do is get better. He played well, but he needs to take this week to next week and make the most improvement maybe that he will ever make in his career. That should be his goal."

Related topic galleries: Tom Brady, Scott Mitchell, National Football League, Peyton Manning, Cincinnati Bengals, Vinny Testaverde, Cam Cameron

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