First, let me say that I think Joe Flacco has every opportunity to be a good, maybe even a great, NFL quarterback.

But as Ravens coach John Harbaugh opens the door to the the notion that Flacco may be the starter when the season opens Sept. 7 in Cincinnati -- a possibility I can only see eventuating because Kyle Boller is not physically ready and Troy Smith doesn't show anything at all in Game 4 of the preseason -- here's one vote against the idea.

We have all heard the cliche about the speed of the game and how it accelerates from college to the pros, preseason to regular season, regular season to playoffs.

Well, for a quarterback, that's especially so.  A rookie quarterback gets used to a certain tempo in minicamps and training camps.  Then he gets a jolt of semi-reality with the first exhibition game.  Flacco -- and this is not a knock -- is a process guy more than an instinct guy, I think.  I have had one conversation with the guy but it was an enlightening one.  He talked about process, about wanting to be careful with the ball, about wanting to see what he was throwing at before the ball left his hand.  That's OK.  The guy is smart and studious and that will help him be an outstanding QB in time.  And the instinctive, auto-pilot part will take over when he internalizes all the things he needs to internalize.  Who knows when that happens, maybe midway through the season.  Maybe even next year.  That's up to Joe Flacco and his coaches.   But until then, he's going to be a little deliberate when he's running the team.

So I say this -- playing behind a suspect offensive line with Marvin Lewis game planning against him: Do Ravens fans really want that for Flacco?

Maybe Flacco would be able to weather that storm and succeed. But my point is this: Why take the chance on setting him back.  There was definite progress from the beginning of the Rams game into the second half.  That was great.  It showed the kid can mature quickly, even within the course of a game.  But in the Bengals game, the scrubs won't be coming in and everyone is playing for keeps. 

Does anyone remember John Elway's first game?  One of the reported all-time funny lines was Elway reflecting on having to line up against the Steelers and linebacker Jack Lambert in Elway's introduction to the Buy cheap NFL Jersey. "He had no teeth, and he was slobbering all over himself," Elway said of Lambert, who recorded the first sack of Elway's career. "I'm thinking, 'You can have your money back, just get me out of here. Let me go be an accountant.' I can't tell you how badly I wanted out of there."

Closer to home, we have the example of Boller.

Frankly, I don't think Harbaugh starts Flacco unless it is by default.  But here's hoping that it doesn't come down to that, at least not right now.