We are so quick to annoint our athletes to greatness status and yet and so quick to doubt their ability as well.  We can use Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco and Lions qb Matthew Stafford as perfect examples.  Stafford was roundly praised for his 41-touchdown, 5-thousand yard efforts last year, but without a similar type season this year he was widely criticized and evaluated into having more flaws than any quarterback who has come through town.  Just a year, no more than two, members of the media and fans alike doubted Flacco's ability to "lead" his team to a Super Bowl.  They claimed he was mistake prone and folded under pressure, failing to truly realize every snap in every quarter of every game in the NFL comes with pressure.  They said he threw too many interceptions and tabbed him "just a guy." A year later, we're using the word "elite" now to describe Flacco.  He's won eight playoff games since 2008, six on the road.  He has beaten Peyton Manning and Tom Brady in back to back weeks in their stadiums! He has a quarterback rating of 100 or more in each of his last three games, just the second time that has ever happened to him, and he has thrown 8 td's and no interceptions in the playoffs.  All his teammates, from Ray Lewis to Terrell Suggs, tried to convince us Flacco was the real deal; a guy who should be mentioned with the names of other elite quarterbacks, but we didn't listen.  We wanted to use OUR eye test to judge and we were wrong.  The truth is, it is too hard for us as a society to wait.  Because we live in a microwave popcorn society (we want our snack in 3-minutes rather than waiting for it to cook on the stove), we rush to judgement.  We all do.  I don't think Flacco or Stafford is great.....yet.  I will reserve that for guys like Montana, Unitas, and Elway, but Flacco is a lot better than most have given him credit for and so is Stafford.  When Steve Young tells me he thinks Stafford can be great, that carries weight with me (he did on the Saturday night against Atlanta). QB's are measured by victories and there is no question that Stafford needs more wins, both in the regular season and post season.  He can do things no other Lions quarterback has ever done, but he needs to show more leadership and more consistency. Joe Flacco seems to have proven nay-sayers he can do that, now he needs the big win on Super Bowl Sunday to leave no doubt.