Column: Rookie QBs had to start somewhere and Joe Flacco, Matt Ryan proved it

They are quarterbacks, but they also formed an offensive “line.”

The line is one of demarcation — the NFL acted one way before Baltimore’s Joe Flacco and Atlanta’s Matt Ryan were rookies, and another way after.

Flacco and Ryan, who will be on opposing sides Sunday when the Ravens play host to the Falcons, were first-round picks in 2008 and the first two rookie quarterbacks to start all 16 regular-season games and lead their teams to the playoffs.

Before they entered the league, the standard procedure was to allow rookie quarterbacks to sit and watch for at least most of a season, and sometimes much longer, learning behind a veteran. That was the case with Steve McNair, Philip Rivers, Aaron Rodgers and many more.

There were those rare rookies who started right away — Peyton Manning was one — but they almost always took more than their share of lumps before rounding into seasoned talents, or maybe just seeing their careers fizzle. Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger was an exception, but he was thrown into the mix early because of an injury to starter Tommy Maddox, and Big Ben had the benefit of a strong running game and stout defense.

Regardless, Ryan (third pick) and Flacco (18th) represented a paradigm shift, starting from day one on teams that were coming off losing seasons and had new head coaches.

Every year since, at least one rookie quarterback has started his team’s opening game, among them Indianapolis’ Andrew Luck, Carolina’s Cam Newton, Detroit’s Matthew Stafford, St. Louis’ Sam Bradford and, this season, Oakland’s Derek Carr.

Now, when a quarterback is drafted in the first or second round, the default is to expect that player will be starting come September. Situations such as Minnesota’s in 1999, when 11th pick Daunte Culpepper began his career as a third-stringer, are unthinkable.

And that thinking started with Ryan and Flacco. Those moves paid off for the Falcons and Ravens, by the way. Flacco has 62 victories, the most by any starting quarterback in his first six years, and Ryan has 60, tying him for second with Roethlisberger.

Ryan was offensive rookie of the year in 2008, and has directed the Falcons to the playoffs four times in six years.

Flacco directed the Ravens to a Super Bowl XLVII victory over San Francisco, and was named the game’s most valuable player. He’s the only quarterback in NFL history to guide his team to the playoffs in each of his first five seasons.

Workhorse

Dallas’ DeMarco Murray not only leads the NFL with 785 yards rushing, he’s also on an early track for league history. He’s averaging 26.5 carries per game, which would put him at a record 424 for the season.

The NFL record for single-season carries is 416 by Kansas City’s Larry Johnson in 2006, and four other backs have passed the 400 milestone — Atlanta’s Jamal Anderson (410 in 1998), Tampa Bay’s James Wilder (407 in 1984), Eric Dickerson of the Los Angeles Rams (404 in 1986) and Tennessee’s Eddie George (403 in 2000).

It’s early in the season, of course, and the Cowboys are mindful of the balance between getting the most out of Murray and grinding him into dust.

“The biggest thing is you want to continue to run the ball well,” Dallas Coach Jason Garrett told reporters this week. “And DeMarco’s a big part of that. But at the same time, we’d like to get the other guys some opportunities. We did some of that the other day. And we think that’s good. . . . It obviously keeps him fresher during the game and over the course of the season. But he’s going to carry the ball a lot.”

In a phone interview this week, Dickerson said he’d be surprised if Murray keeps up his current carries pace through 16 games.

“I don’t think you can go the full season carrying the ball that many times,” Dickerson said. “There will be some games where he’ll carry the ball 14 or 15 times because of the situation. They’ll fall behind and start passing, or they’ll want to give the other guys some carries, or they’ll have a game that’s well in hand.”

Dickerson said he’s just happy to see the running game come back into focus after there’s been such an emphasis on passing in recent years.

“I’ve always believed that the run will always be a part of football,” he said. “You can’t get rid of it. If you have a team that’s throwing the ball 70 times playing a team that has a good mix of run and pass, the team that has the good mix is going to win.”

Strike a pose

Arizona’s game at Oakland features the two most senior Heisman Trophy winners still in the game — Raiders defensive back Charles Woodson, who won the award in 1997, and Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer, in 2002.

Twitter quitter

Baltimore receiver Steve Smith announced this week he has quit Twitter because he was paying too much attention to the social medium.

“At the end of the day, what’s on my Twitter feed and what’s going on with the world, I don’t think should be on the same level,” Smith told reporters this week, according to ESPN.

Smith’s departure comes on the heels of teammate Torrey Smith doing the same. Torrey Smith, also a receiver, said he grew tired of online criticism from fantasy-football fans.

Steve Smith echoed that.

“I’d kill you on Twitter so I had to stop,” he said of pulling the plug on an account that had more than 92,000 followers. “Somebody said something inappropriate to me, my wife said I wasn’t being a very good example for my kids.”

sam.farmer@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATimesfarmer