WAY TO JOE: Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco gets a ride with Mickey Mouse at Disney World yesterday. (Startraks)
WAY TO JOE: Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco gets a ride with Mickey Mouse at Disney World yesterday. (Matt Stroshane/startraksphoto.com)
NEW ORLEANS — It was good to be Joe Flacco yesterday, and it only figures to get better in the coming days and months.
Fresh off winning the Super Bowl XLVII MVP honor for leading the Ravens to a 34-31 victory Sunday night over the 49ers, Flacco was soaking up all the immediate rewards on the morning after — a new Corvette Stingray, the Rozelle Trophy, a sterling silver “Ultimate Game Ball” from Tiffany and the obligatory trip to Disney World.
The red-hot Baltimore quarterback even took advantage of the moment to reveal his wife, Dana, is expecting their second child.
But all of the swag handed to Flacco yesterday will soon pale in comparison to the riches — perhaps as much as $20 million next season alone — awaiting the Audubon, N.J., native after his preseason contract gamble last summer worked out so spectacularly.
“There are all kinds of crazy things that can happen with these contracts that we have all seen before, but this is a great organization,” Flacco said at the morning-after MVP news conference. “But I love being in Baltimore, a great city, so I don’t really anticipate any problems.”
Flacco’s comments yesterday were a lot softer than the ones he made moments after leading the Ravens to their second Super Bowl crown in 12 years, when he remarked on the NFL Network set he now plans to “stick it” to owner Steve Bisciotti at the contract table this offseason.
Flacco expanded on that last night when he appeared on CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman.”
“When I wasn’t signing what they wanted me to sign,” Flacco told Letterman, “[Bisciotti] said, ‘Listen, when the time comes, I mean, you come and beat on my desk,’ and I said, “All right, I’ll take you up on that,’ and I think the time has come.”
While Flacco doesn’t entirely have the upper hand, thanks to the NFL’s franchise-player designation, the fifth-year pro is sitting a lot prettier after finishing one of the more remarkable playoff runs ever by a quarterback.
Flacco deemed himself “elite” before the season, a claim that seemed laughable at the time, but he backed it up by throwing for 1,140 yards, 11 touchdowns and zero interceptions in the postseason, posting three consecutive games with a rating of 106 or better and ending the seasons of both Peyton Manning and Tom Brady along the way.
And Flacco was practically flawless in the biggest game of all, completing 22 of his 33 passes for 287 yards and three TDs in the Super Bowl against one of the top defenses in the league.
“One of the things that, without question, he’s a big-game performer,” Ravens offensive coordinator Jim Caldwell said yesterday. “Joe is one of those guys that the bigger the game, the better he plays. And I think that you’re going to see that continue throughout his career.”
A career that will be highly compensated from here on out, thanks to Flacco’s enviable postseason.
Although talks are expected to begin soon, it remains to be seen whether the Ravens — struggling with the cap — can afford to sign Flacco to a long-term deal this year. Perhaps more likely is Flacco getting the exclusive franchise tag, which would keep other teams from signing him in 2013 while guaranteeing Flacco roughly $20 million for one season.
If Baltimore manages to work out a long-term deal this off-season, Flacco should be just as well off.
League sources say he can expect $15 million to $16 million per season in the wake of his superb 2012 and the fact he has guided the Ravens to the playoffs in each of his first five seasons — and winning at least one postseason game in each of them.
Yes, indeed, there’s never been a better time to be Joe Flacco.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” Flacco said. “It’s crazy. Unbelievable. It’s tough to put into words because it really hasn’t sunk in yet. I don’t even think that it has sunk in that we’re here. Pretty cool.”