NFL teams aren’t supposed to win football games when they are down to their fourth quarterback. Apparently, Joe Flacco and the Cleveland Browns didn’t get the memo.
One month ago, Joe Flacco was out of work, hoping for another NFL opportunity. And now, as the Cleveland Browns steamroll toward the AFC playoffs, they can’t do without him.
Say what you want about Flacco’s age (he turns 39 next month), his decline from longtime starter to fading journeyman, and his tendency to throw interceptions.
But he turned the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 20-17 win over the Chicago Bears into the Joe Flacco show, with the best quarter of football seen from any quarterback all season.
The 212 yards were the most by a Cleveland Browns quarterback in 45 years. And you would have never thought that would be possible, based on Flacco’s previous three quarters.
Flacco entered the fourth quarter with three interceptions, two coming in the third quarter, and one going for a pick-six by the Bears’ Tremaine Edmunds.
How did Joe Flacco do it?
The Browns’ first offensive play of the quarter set the tone for the rest of it, when Flacco went deep to speedy Marquis Goodwin and nailed it for a 57-yard gain that set up a field goal to pull the Browns within seven.
The game was still very much in doubt for the Browns (9-5), who had the ball at midfield with nearly three minutes left in the game. But Flacco, who was finding his rhythm, connected with Amari Cooper, who bolted up the sideline for a 51-yard score to tie the game.
The Browns’ defense, still the best in the NFL under coordinator Jim Schwartz, got the ball back to Flacco and the Browns’ offense quickly by forcing the Bears into their eighth three-and-out of the game.
And Flacco stayed hot, leading an 8-play, 63-yard drive that resulted in Dustin Hopkins’ go-ahead 34-yard field goal with 32 seconds left.
Flacco completed three-of-four passes, two of them going for 30-plus yards to tight end David Njoku, who has become Flacco’s favorite target in the passing game. Njoku has caught 16 passes for 195 yards and three touchdowns over the past two weeks.
Joe Flacco knows how to win
Since literally coming off the couch, Joe Flacco has averaged 313 yards in his three starts, and he’s thrown seven TD passes against five interceptions. But the most important stat for him and the Browns comes in the win column, and that’s been Flacco’s calling card for most of his 16-year career.
Exactly 10 years ago, Flacco directed the Baltimore Ravens to a victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII and was named the Super Bowl MVP. It’s easy to forget Flacco’s achievement in that he’s never even been invited to play in the Pro Bowl, although at one time he believed he was the best quarterback in the NFL, better than more highly regarded contemporaries, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers.
Yet since entering the league in 2008, Flacco has won more games (101) than any quarterback other than Rodgers and Russell Wilson, and he has just as many Super Bowl victories to his name.
As we’ve seen in the NFL this season, one in which quarterbacks have been injured more than ever, there is a severe dilution of the talent as teams move down their depth chart, filling an injury void with their second, third and even fourth option at the game’s most important position.
Going back to last season’s NFC Championship Game, the San Francisco 49ers saw their season come to a frustrating conclusion the moment Brock Purdy — who began the season as their No. 3 QB — went down with an elbow injury in the first quarter, and their fourth quarterback, Josh Johnson, entered the game
Joe Flacco gives the Browns a chance
Yet the Browns — who’ve gone from Week 1 starter Deshaun Watson to P.J. Walker to rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson to now Flacco — have been the exception, and not the rule. And that’s saying something, considering the Browns’ well-documented history of poor play at the quarterback position.
Cleveland, for now the No. 5 seed in the AFC, finishes the season with three very winnable games – at Houston, at home against the Jets, and at Cincinnati. And if there’s any question about how good the Browns can be, just remember this: They beat the San Francisco 49ers, arguably the NFL’s best team, with P.J. Walker at quarterback.
And with an extraordinary defense and the veteran Flacco performing above and beyond the expectations of a backup to the backup’s backup, the Cleveland Browns have a greater chance at postseason success than they normally should.