Joe Flacco Injured, Torn ACL Ends Season

Joe Flacco injured, and the season for the Baltimore Ravens comes crashing down, according to the NFL.

It has been a very rough season for the Ravens this year.

The offense has been decimated by injuries. Steve Smith was a huge weapon for the offense, and his torn ACL put quite a damper on the fan base. Compounding the loss of Smith is the fact that rookie wide receiver Breshad Perriman, chosen in the first round of the NFL Draft this summer, has yet to be healthy enough to make his debut in the league. Jeremy Zuttah left a void at the center position.

On the defensive side, the Ravens lost Terrell Suggs. Not only is he one of the more productive outside linebackers in the NFL, Suggs is also the heart and soul of the team. The six time Pro Bowl player was also the emotional and fiery leader for Baltimore. Combine his loss with the fact that the Ravens have one of the weakest secondaries in the league, and you can understand why they are sitting on a 3-7 record.

Things got worse today.

Justin Forsett was one of the remaining bright spots for the Ravens. He provided Baltimore with a top 10 running back. The former University of California star was a big reason why Baltimore had a top 10 offense. During their game against the St. Louis Rams, Forsett went down with a broken arm. After being checked by doctors, he has been ruled out for the rest of the season.

To make matters even worse for the Ravens, Flacco tore his ACL during the final offensive drive for the team. Offensive lineman James Hurst was pushed down by a Rams defensive lineman and his entire weight landed on the legs of his franchise quarterback. In a testament to his toughness, Flacco was able to get up and continue moving about the field.

Baltimore now looks to the bleak future.

Replacing Forsett is not going to be easy, so Baltimore is going to hope for whatever productivity that they can receive from the ground game. Javorious Allen is the next running back in line on the depth chart. As a rookie out of USC, Allen has ran for 182 yards and a respectable 4.3 per carry average thus far this season. The Ravens will get a better look at their future by seeing what he can do in the next few games.

The job of replacing Flacco at quarterback goes to Matt Schaub. At one point in time with the Houston Texans, he looked like a franchise quarterback. That was then. Schaub is no longer the same quarterback that threw for more than 4,000 yards in a season. He was mentally scarred by a handful of bad games, where he threw interceptions that led to a score for the other team for four straight games.

Baltimore isn’t expecting Schaub and Allen to help turn their season around and get them back to the playoffs. The Cincinnati Bengals are sitting on an 8-1 record, so it will be quite the task for the Ravens to take the ACF North Division Championship away from them. Plus, the Pittsburgh Steelers are also in the way, as they sit on a 6-4 record and second place in the division.

NFL teams do not generally like to concede that a season is over until it is over, but for the Ravens, it is over.