Gary Kubiak said his first day as Ravens offensive coordinator will begin very early Tuesday morning with studying tape of quarterback Joe Flacco.
Kubiak knows Flacco fairly well from his time facing him from the opposing sideline.
But now that Flacco and Kubiak's future success is closely intertwined, they're going to get mighty comfy with one another.
While the Ravens hired Kubiak's right hand man, Rick Dennison, to be the quarterbacks coach, the job of working with Flacco will in large part be on Kubiak. Kubiak spoke briefly with Flacco on Monday when he was hired. Now they'll strike up more of a relationship.
"It's our job to find the things that Joe is comfortable with and to make him as successful as we possibly can. And we'll do that," Kubiak said.
"He's a championship quarterback, and that's all you can ask for as a coach in this league. I'm very excited, along with Rick, to work with him."
Flacco is coming off his roughest season as a pro, statistically. The reigning Super Bowl MVP followed up a record-setting postseason with a career-high 22 interceptions to 19 touchdowns. He threw for a career-high 3,912 yards, but posted a career-low 73.1 quarterback rating.
Now Flacco will be working with his third offensive coordinator in the past 13 months (Cam Cameron, Jim Caldwell, Kubiak). It will be Flacco's fourth quarterbacks coach (Hue Jackson, Jim Zorn, Caldwell, Dennison). Flacco didn't have a quarterbacks coach last year.
Kubiak and Flacco have yet to meet in-person. Kubiak said he looks forward to picking Flacco's brain to see how he has been taught and what he's done in the past.
"Joe and I need to sit down together, and I need to talk to him about how he feels with what he's done up to this point – how he feels about the future and what he thinks he needs to do better," Kubiak said.
"Together, we come up with that plan – how we make him better, how we progress as a player. Ultimately, it's about the team and it's about the offense and him doing his job for the football team."
Kubiak has a history of working with quarterbacks and specifically with Texans quarterback Matt Schaub, who went from a third-round pick and backup in Atlanta to a two-time Pro Bowler in Houston.
With Flacco, he has a quarterback with more physical tools and playoff success than Schaub. But like Schaub, Flacco is coming off a difficult season.
"I've been doing it long enough with enough quarterbacks [to know] if you're playing in this league, and playing a lot of football, you're going to go through some tough times," Kubiak said.
"Joe has been very successful and done a lot of great things, but there's a lot of pressure playing that position and a lot is expected of you. I feel very comfortable helping Joe through his years of growth as a player, because I've been with so many guys and seen how that has to take place.
"This league is about rebounding. You're going to have tough times, you're going to have tough days and maybe some years don't go the way you want them to go, but you keep battling and it's about the long haul. There's no doubt in my mind, when Joe is said and done – he's already a championship quarterback – but there's a lot of great things left to happen and I'm looking forward to being part of that."
