The Cleveland Browns have gone through plenty of turnover at quarterback this season, with four different players making at least two starts at the position thus far.
NFL veteran Joe Flacco has taken over of late and provided some much-needed stability at the spot, including a big game in Sunday’s crucial 31-27 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars that helped the Browns’ playoff chances significantly.
Joe Flacco Delivers ‘Elite’ Performance
Flacco spread the ball around to a variety of targets on Sunday and did so to great effect in the narrow victory. He went 26 of 45 for 311 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception while taking just one sack on the day.
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His big day started on Cleveland’s opening drive as they marched down the field on a six-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off by Flacco finding a wide-open David Njoku for a 34-yard touchdown pass.
Flacco and Njoku hooked up again early in the second quarter to put Cleveland up 14-0, this time on a 30-yard touchdown pass. The pair connected several times on the day as Njoku led the Browns’ receiving efforts with six catches for 91 yards and two touchdowns.
Flacco’s third touchdown pass came early in the fourth quarter as he connected with David Bell for a 41-yard score that put Cleveland up 28-14 before it held on down the stretch. The completion came on a key 4th-and-3 play, with the game certainly still hanging in the balance as Flacco showed his experience as he rolled to his right before delivering in the high-pressure moment.
“I knew I needed to buy a little bit of time because they were coming after us, and I was probably going to have some pressure off of that side,” Flacco said. “[Bell] was running a little option route. I think in that situation, you can probably anticipate a little bit easier because it’s fourth down, and you know you have to throw the ball anyway. It was really up to him to find that little spot, and he did it.”
That trio of scores through the air made Flacco the first Browns quarterback with three passing touchdowns of 30+ yards in a single game since Brian Sipe achieved the feat in 1980.
Flacco’s performance on the day impressed Browns star defensive lineman Myles Garrett, who described the 38-year-old quarterback’s outing simply to ESPN reporter Kimberly A. Martin after the game.
“He’s elite,” Garrett said.
Flacco has certainly injected some much-needed life for Cleveland at the quarterback spot despite just signing to the franchise’s practice squad back on Nov. 20 after spending much of the early portion of the season as a free agent.
He made his first appearance for Cleveland in last week’s 36-19 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, putting up a respectable stat line in going 23 of 44 for 254 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. The Browns struggled to slow down Los Angeles’ potent offense and could never quite catch up.
Still, Flacco backed that performance up with an even stronger one on Sunday, and Browns coach Kevin Stefanski rewarded that play by naming him the team’s starting quarterback for the remainder of the season.
“It feels good when it looks like people have confidence in you,” Flacco told reporters after the game. “I’ve been in a bunch of locker rooms, but whenever you walk into a locker room, you still want to gain the respect of everybody. You don’t know if you quite have that until you can go out there and get a win and continue to do it day in and day out.”
Flacco will look to keep the momentum rolling for the Browns going forward as they look to maintain a lead atop the AFC North, starting with next Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears.
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