As improbable as the thought that the Cleveland Browns would be on their fourth quarterback by the 12th game of the season, that is where the Browns are.
Also improbable, is the fact that the Browns are not only on their fourth quarterback, but the Browns are still very much alive for a playoff spot at 7-5. If the season were to end now, the Browns would be the sixth-seed or the second, wild card team.
On top of all of the improbabilities, none might not be more far-fetched than to have former AFC North rival and nemesis Joe Flacco in the position of helping lead the Browns to the playoffs.
But, that is exactly who The Greetham Angle thinks the Browns should put their trust in to lead them to the playoffs–at least for this week.
The Browns have not announced that Flacco will start this week against the Jaguars, but it is the obvious choice.
Flacco is very comfortable playing at Cleveland Browns Stadium–as the hated rival. In fact, Flacco has more wins at the stadium as a Browns opponent than any other quarterback, except for Ben Roethlisberger of the Steelers.
“Hopefully, we can get another one this weekend and see what happens here,” Flacco said on Thursday.
Flacco has a career record of 9-2 in Cleveland Browns Stadium as a Browns opponent. His last win was with the Jets last year with a come-from-behind win with two touchdown passes in the final two minutes. If Flacco starts and gets a win, it would be the fourth different quarterback to win a game this season for the Browns.
Despite being 38-years old, Flacco has the experience of going through the stretch drive of trying to make the playoffs, as well as leading a team all the way to winning the Super Bowl. He not only led the Ravens to a Super Bowl championship, he was the Most Valuable Player in the game..
Flacco said it was ‘invigorating’ to have the chance to be in this position, given the fact that he was just signed to the practice squad on Nov. 20.
“Listen, it’s invigorating for sure,” Flacco said. “It’s exciting. This is what you want. There’s always things like when you’re sitting by yourself and you’re running through things in your head, there’s always things that you’re going to think about and that’s why it is so important. And you always hear people say, just stay in the moment.
“Be where you are,” he said. “And that’s one of the biggest challenges for probably, professional athletes is to try to stay in the moment as much as you can and just worry about today, doing this interview after this, going and taking care of my body and going into the meeting room, and if you let your mind wander five days from now, four days from now, three days from now, you’re just doing yourself such a disservice. And more importantly, you’re doing your team a disservice because you don’t want to think about outcomes. You want to think about doing your job and everybody else doing their job side by side and letting everything else take care of itself.”
The Browns are high on rookie quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson long-term and it is unfortunate that he suffered a concussion, but Flacco showed in his first outing against the Rams that he could be more than a game-manager and still play at a high level in the NFL. He threw for 254 yards and two touchdowns. He did throw a costly interception, but did enough to continue starting.
Flacco said the first game was an easy transition for him, physically, but he is realistic about his limitations.
“It was a very easy first game in terms of the physicality for me,” he said. “So I don’t know if it’s like a great measure of how my body’s necessarily going to react to the physical nature of it, but, I mean, listen, I know that I’m not in my 20’s anymore, but 38 isn’t super old in the real world, so I feel like I’ve done a good job of keeping myself in shape.
“But anytime you go and step on that field, and any year really for a quarterback, it’s kind of week to week how your body feels physically, just because you’re not in the middle of the line banging heads every single play, it really comes down to how many times did you get – did you land on that ground?”
This week, the weather is calling for inclement conditions, windy and rainy.
Flacco (6-6, 245) has the size and the arm strength to throw the ball in conditions in Cleveland in December.
“I think when you play in this division, which I have most of my career, you just have to get used to the fact that’s going to be the case,” Flacco said. “Both teams have to deal with it. And I don’t care how long and how much you tell yourself that you love playing in this kind of stuff and try to convince yourself that you can do it. I don’t think anybody loves it, but you get used to doing it and you have your ways.”
Flacco has already embraced playing for the Browns.
“It’s a grass field, outdoors, you feel the city of Cleveland,” he said. “You usually have some kind of weather so you know where you are and I don’t know, that’s the way you like it. You smell the grass. It just feels like football. And that’s kind of this whole division is like that to a certain extent. So I don’t know, that’s kind of always at the stadium.
“That’s kind of been attractive to myself,” he said. “It’s like when you can go out there and like I said, smell the grass and feel like it’s football weather and that’s the time of year we’re in. We’re in December and we’re in Cleveland and it should be a lot of fun.”
As improbable as it is, Joe Flacco gives the Browns hope and the best chance to make the playoffs.
