Super Bowl MVP Flacco eyes new contract

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) –

Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco of the Baltimore Ravens celebrates with the Vince Lombardi trophy after the Ravens won 34-31 against the San Francisco 49ers during Super Bowl XLVII at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on February 3, 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Flacco has his Super Bowl MVP trophy and his first NFL championship ring and now says it is time to negotiate a new contract.

Joe Flacco has his Super Bowl MVP trophy and his first NFL championship ring and now the Baltimore Ravens quarterback says it is time to negotiate a new contract.

“I’m pretty optimistic,” Flacco said. “There’s all kinds of crazy things that can happen with these contracts that we’ve all seen before, but this is a great organization.”

Flacco, whose contract expired Sunday, won the Pete Rozelle Trophy as he led the Ravens to their second Super Bowl title in franchise history with a 34-31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.

Understandably, Flacco said he didn’t get much sleep after the game but it was worth it.

Joe Flacco and Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens celebrate after defeating the San Francisco 49ers during Super Bowl XLVII at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on February 3, 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Ravens defeated the 49ers 34-31.

“I got about a hour and a half (sleep),” Flacco said Monday morning. “I’m pretty tired right now. No, it hasn’t sunk in yet. It’s just a surreal moment, and hopefully in about a week we can wind down and start to enjoy it a little bit.”

The Ravens talked about being a team of destiny and they backed it up Sunday by overcoming a late surge by San Francisco and a power failure at the Superdome to win Super Bowl 47.

Flacco’s newfound celebrity status didn’t take very long to kick in either as immediately after winning his first Super Bowl ring, Flacco took in one of the lavish post-game parties with his family.

“I got to meet Jay-Z, I got to meet Beyonce, and that was pretty cool,” Flacco said. “I don’t think that would happen if we would’ve lost the game.

“I was exhausted and couldn’t wait to put my head down on that pillow and for some reason, when I was laying there I couldn’t quite fall asleep and just kind of had my eyes open in disbelief a little bit.”

Flacco threw three first half touchdowns and Jacoby Jones returned a kickoff 108 yards to open the second half for the Ravens who won their first Super Bowl in 12 years.

Quarterback Joe Flacco of the Baltimore Ravens poses with the MVP trophy during the Super Bowl XLVII Team Winning Coach and MVP Press Conference at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on February 4, 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Flacco completed 22 of 33 passes for 287 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions Sunday, becoming just the sixth player in NFL history to throw three or more touchdown passes in the first half of a Super Bowl.

The numbers are impressive and it should result in a multi-million new contract for Flacco who has been in talks for several months with Ravens’ owner Steve Bisciotti about a new deal.

“I love being (in Baltimore), great city, so I don’t really anticipate any problems.”

Flacco could use a little extra cash. The father of one has another child on the way which he learned about a couple of weeks ago.

“It’s one of those things where she’s not very far along. Two is going to be a little crazy,” he said.

Sunday’s game included a power outage that delayed the game for 34 minutes in the third quarter.

The Ravens had a let down after the lights came back on, coming dangerously close to squandering a 22 point lead before holding on for the win.

The Baltimore Ravens mascot celebrates after the Ravens won 34-31 against the San Francisco 49ers during Super Bowl XLVII at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on February 3, 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

“I don’t think it had anything to do with the lights,” Flacco said. “We made some mistakes mentally. Their offence started to catch fire a little bit. We did a great job of handling that momentum shift and putting points on the board when we needed to.”

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Monday the league is still investigating the cause of the power failure which was originally blamed on an overloaded breaker switch.

“The power outage was an unfortunate incident, which we’re looking into to try to get the facts,” Goodell said. “There were no safety issues at any point in time.”

He said one person suffered injuries when an escalator stopped suddenly.

“Everyone stayed calm as they worked through the issues.”