QB Joe Flacco (12.7.23)

Do you feel like this week you have a better handle of everything now that you’ve played a game, kind of gone through that experience and gotten that out of your system? 

“You know, I think I had that first week that I was here where I wasn’t active at all to kind of break myself in. So every week kind of gets you a little bit more comfortable. I don’t really think it’s necessarily the process. I think it’s just kind of now getting with the individual guys and getting a feel for the little details more so than the big picture plan.”

 

Is there an area where you look at the first game and say, this is where you could take a jump in the second game? 

“Yeah. Listen, in the first game, it was really not a very physical game for me. I think our offensive line did a great job. I think there were just times where I threw the ball away, which is good, but at the same time, I felt like there were a couple of different times that maybe I could have moved, maybe drag the play out a little bit more, did certain things like that. And then there were a couple of plays where it was just like, the little details of whatever that play may have been. There may have been two or three plays where I lost it for a second and we threw an incompletion or whatever. So those were probably two areas that I can get a little better.”

 

Does it seem like time away affected your decisions more than anything physical? 

“Well, like I said, I guess it was a very easy first game in terms of the physicality for me. 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 20s 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?”

 

I can’t imagine just throwing the ball and executing play fakes. I mean, that was not a problem. 

“No, I made sure I kept my arm in good enough shape and all that other stuff. There’s definitely an element to it that’s like riding a bike. Just get back out there and start doing it.”

 

You’re telling us now, training camp is completely overrated, right? Come right off the couch and do what you got to do. 

“Listen, there’s definitely parts of training camp I enjoy and there’s definitely parts of training camp that I can’t say I was too disappointed on missing out on. I’m sure a lot of veterans will probably tell you, ‘Oh, we don’t need training camp. Let’s just start the season.’ But there’s more to it than that. I don’t think this is ideal. I think you’d definitely like to kind of rev up a little bit and get yourself going.”

 

I was asking Kevin (Stefanski) and Alex (Van Pelt) how sharp you were on all the little nuances and the play action, hand position. Did all that stuff all come back naturally or is that stuff you really needed to work on last week to get ready? 

“I think how I do it, it comes back naturally for the most part. You don’t realize how much of that stuff is also relying on the back and the line, firing off in the back, rolling over and making sure that he’s as wide as he needs to be or as tight as he needs to be. And then obviously with each different coaching staff, they have little different nuances on how they do those things and how it sets up this play versus that play. So, like I said, the way I’ve done it, yeah, it comes back pretty naturally, but there’s always a little bit of different ways that coaches coach it that I need to get up to speed a little bit on.”

 

Joe, you played in Cleveland a lot in your career. Is this place more difficult than others in bad weather? Because you guys could face some bad weather here on Sunday. 

“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. 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. I mean, I remember back in the day coaches made you wear the long studs and fields have gotten better over the last 15 years, but that’s still a factor. You can see out in the practice field. You want to be able to have guys, I would think, more so than the ball and all that – it’s footing and it’s getting guys feet in the ground so that they can confidently run routes and put their feet in the ground.”

 

Joe, it’s been a while since you were with the team in the system of playoff chase. So what do you feel about that and the responsibility on your shoulders, at least game to game, how do you feel about that? Is that invigorating or daunting? 

“Yeah. Listen, it’s invigorating for sure. 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. 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.”

 

Amari Cooper, still in the concussion protocol. How much are you really hoping he can rally and get out there and help you guys out this weekend? 

“Yeah, I think we talked a little bit after the game about him. He’s a special player. He definitely pops off the screen at you and just the way he runs his routes and catches the football. So, I’m really rooting for him to get out there and help this team out. He’s a big deal.”

 

You completed passes to nine different receivers, but just stepping in here, what have you learned about this group of receivers and how challenging is it for you having to learn that volume of guys and just maybe the different ways they like catching football? 

“I think for me, ultimately, when it gets to game day, I’m able to kind of put that stuff aside and just go play in rhythm and trust the fact that those guys are going to be in the spot they are and not stress about the fact that I haven’t thrown to them for a ton of time. The thing I’ve learned about these guys so far is that they put their head down and they work and they’re a great receiving group in that way, just wanting to get extra throws. And then when we’re at practice, just committing to what we’re doing and going out there and working hard at doing it. I think it’s a really well led group. They just seem to be mature and even though there’s a handful of young guys in there, so I really just like the way they work and approach the desk.”

 

Other than Ben (Roethlisberger), you have more wins in this stadium than any opposing quarterback. You’re aware of that. I’m sure you could pad that figure. 

“Well, yeah, hopefully we can get another one this weekend and see what happens here.”

 

You and Elijah obviously had a relationship prior to you getting here. And on Sunday you targeted them like twelve times. Was that just sort of in the flow?

“Yeah, it was. Liste­­­n, I think also when Amari goes down and he gets put in that position, you’re going to be put in some spots where you have individuals and if you’re one on one, you’re going to be the guy that’s called on. So, yeah, it wasn’t like I was going out and targeting Elijah because my kids said, ‘Hey, in New York, he was awesome and you got to keep going to him.’ It’s just kind of where it took me.”

 

How do you feel today with being such a legend, an MVP level quarterback? Do we get to see any rollout plays? Are you running too? Are we going to see any of that? 

“I don’t know.”

 

Trevor Lawrence practiced today in Jacksonville. He returned to practice. Does that kind of ratchet up the intensity of the game a little bit knowing that you might be going up against one of the best quarterbacks right now in the NFL? 

“Like I said, you can’t look forward to that. You have to stay in the moment. But credit to him, I mean, listen, this league’s about being tough and showing up for your team on Sundays. So if that’s what he’s trying to do in getting out there, and this is one of those steps, is going out there and practicing today. That’s all I would say is, it’s a credit to him being able to get back out there and show up for his team.”

 

Have you had that chance to maybe pass on the knowledge to any other on this team? 

“I don’t know. I think there’s probably times early on where you were able to do it really well and times where you just weren’t. It’s something that you constantly have to be on and it’s just part of that mental game and having that kind of routine that you go throughout the week that keeps you on track. You don’t have a routine, then you’re always going to kind of be floating around.”

 

You remember your last trip to Browns Stadium, right with the Jets. But you were here so many times at the Ravens. What stands out to you about some memories from those trips? 

“Trying to think. I remember my rookie year here. For whatever reason. Listen, the thing that playing in this division and coming know, it’s not an indoor stadium. It’s an old school. Not an old school, obviously, but it’s a grass field, outdoors, you feel the city of Cleveland. 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 the stadium. That’s kind of been attractive to myself. 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.”

 

What kind of reviews did you get from the five children? 

“Not good. I think they had a good time, but they just dwell on all the bad stuff. So it’s another test that I have to just get over mentally in dealing with those guys.”

 

# # #

 

***Visit the Browns Media Center for materials provided by the Browns communications department, including media schedules, press releases, quotes, photos, media guides, rosters, depth charts and more.***