Situation Impossible: Replacing Joe Flacco

Situation Impossible is a weekly column focusing on the most devastating injury of the week in the NFL. "Next Man Up" is a catchy phrase, but some players are harder to replace than others. Here we investigate the alternatives on hand and how a team reacted or will react to having to replace star-level performance.

Injured player: Joe Flacco, boringest quarterback alive. (And Super Bowl champion!)

Injury and diagnosis: Torn ACL and MCL.

One doctor said 'with confidence' that torn ligaments wouldn't delay Joe Flacco's 2016 season. — The Baltimore Sun (@baltimoresun)November 24, 2015

Flacco should be cleared to return within six-to-eight months, which should put his recovery timetable in range to start the 2016 season. However, the fact that it's so close to the start of the season means that any kind of setback will force the Ravens to play a backup quarterback.

With that in mind, it might be a good idea for Baltimore to prioritize that position this offseason.

What's missing: Flacco has had a down year statistically. We looked at some of the reasons a few weeks back, but the tl;dr version is that his receiving corps is decimated and offensive coordinator Marc Trestman wound up having to call a lot of inefficient passes to the running backs.

Flacco finishes the year 25th in both DVOA and DYAR per Football Outsiders. As of now, he's one of only seven qualifying quarterbacks to have negative numbers in both those categories.

That isn't necessarily Flacco's fault. I don't think he had a great year, and I don't think he's a top-10 (read: elite) quarterback, but he's plenty capable of winning games and playing well. The Baltimore offense was a dumpster fire; Marc Trestman's screen pass fetish was oxygen, and the injuries to the receiving corps were oak. Flacco's just not good enough to overcome all that went wrong this season.

What the team will do: The Ravens claimed Jimmy Clausen on waivers, mostly because he's a Trestman acolyte from his days in Chicago. Being well-regarded out of college is such a leg up in backup quarterback competitions that it's almost ridiculous. Or at least as ridiculous as the fact Clausen is still getting chances. Chicken and egg, egg and chicken.

In the meantime, the Ravens will turn to … Matt Schaub? Oh no, that can't be right.

(Spoiler alert on the end of that video: Schaub's new beginning in Oakland went so well that Derek Carr immediately started over him.)

Schaub is at the end of his rope and his main impact for Baltimore should be in generating hilarity for sportswriters and Twitter gif creators. And for letting me post this second YouTube which will probably eat your soul.

Had this injury occurred at the end of last season, the Ravens at least could have gotten a long look at Tyrod Taylor, who has gone on to become Buffalo's starting quarterback. There's not much of interest left here. Baltimore has no practice squad quarterback. We're just going to end up watching two men play who should have been out of chances by now.

Adjusting our expectations: Baltimore is 3-7, behind a triumvirate of 2-8 AFC teams vying for the No. 1 pick in the draft. Schaub could immediately shake off the cobwebs and help swing the draft order by letting the Browns roll over Baltimore on Monday Night.

Tanking is a dirty word in sports. You'll never see a team lay down intentionally in the NFL. It would behoove the Ravens to do so at this point, even though they won't.

The Ravens have lost almost an entire starting lineup of skill position players, plus their best pass-rusher. They are depleted. This team still has some good players, of course, but the depth is gone. The first overall pick is worth way more to Baltimore than just a top-five spot.

The Ravens were already set to talk money with Flacco after the season. His cap number for next year is a ridiculous $28 million. I don't think they'll move on from Flacco, but this could create some tension in negotiations. It could also get the Ravens a bit of a discount.

The only other expectation is that 2015 Matt Schaub should make opposing fantasy defenses a must start.