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At the press conference announcing quarterback Joe Flacco’s robust new deal with the Ravens, General Manager Ozzie Newsome said that “the success of this organization over the last eight years” stands on Flacco’s shoulders.

Given the size of the deal they gave Flacco, the Ravens would seem to believe that those shoulders will be the base for great success in the years to come as well. Chances of immediate success will rely on the cooperation of some other parts of Flacco’s body, particularly his left knee.

Flacco is recovering from a torn ACL and MCL suffered in November. That caused him to miss the first starts of his career, but Flacco said Wednesday that he expects to fitter than a fiddle at the end of the rehab process.

“I don’t have anything to compare it to, but I feel like it’s going really well,” Flacco said, via the Baltimore Sun. “I’m coming in here every day, doing what they tell me to do. I think that’s really all I can do at this point. I don’t have any real outlook on what the future’s going to bring, but I know that I’m attacking it 100 percent every day and doing the best I can. That’s going to be good enough. I’m going to be back out there, and I’m going to be healthier than ever, stronger than ever.”

Flacco probably won’t be putting that prediction to the test until training camp, but that timeline would leave him in position to start earning his new bucks come the first week of the regular season.