NY Jets QB Joe Flacco (9.18.22)

On if that was one the craziest endings to a game of his career:

“For sure. I do not know where it ranks, but it is up there. Look, at one point you’re sitting on the bench and they have the opportunity to run the clock out. Obviously when he scores, you are thinking, okay, that is not what he is supposed to do.  But I am sure they were still thinking ‘okay, it is 30-17.’ That play to CD (Jets WR Corey Davis) obviously quieted the crowd a little bit. You have to give credit to the guys on the sideline, the guys that were in this game. The fact that they just kept believing and kept doing their job, this is what happens. Sometimes you worry about what is in front of him, all that he can control, and next thing you know, the outcome is what it is.”

On his emotions during the onside kick:

“You have to regroup. You still have to score. Just because you kick the onside kick does not mean that you are going to put the ball in the end zone. As a quarterback, you always listen to the guys and what they have always said.  It goes back to that.  Just worry about getting the snap, taking your drop, and going through your reads — letting the game come to you. I think you can see on that drive, we took some little completions and got out of bounds. We did not try to rush ourselves down the field and try to take a big chunk and get ourselves third and long. We meticulously went down the field and when we got an opportunity, we took it and capitalized.”

On NY Jets WR Corey Davis’ touchdown:

“We ran on both sides. We had that route on both sides. It looked like the safety went back on that side, the corner stayed low, and the safety went to the middle of the field. I don’t know if that is a miscommunication or not but, I knew that the routes were going to take a little bit of time developing.  I wanted to make sure I got some good depth in my drop and could find a soft spot. I think we had a good protection on that one obviously. When I threw it, I was like, ‘oh my gosh.’ Obviously when you see him go to the sideline and turn up field, you think he is on top of the corner and you have the ball going. Then, no one is anywhere near him. It was a really weird feeling because of how quiet it got in there. You almost felt like there was a penalty or something. Obviously we are in Cleveland, so it makes sense. But, that feeling was something I have never felt before — how quiet it actually got out there. The game wasn’t over, there was actually still a minute and a half left.”

On NY Jets WR Garrett Wilson’s performance in today’s game:

“I’m really happy for him, and a lot of the guys on our team. We’ve known that the lights aren’t too big for him, that he has already grown up and is capable of playing in this league. But, you really aren’t going to have people be able to say that about you until you win football games. So, that is why winning is so big in this league. It just cures all those things, all the issues you have. No matter how the outcome or how this game turned out, those things are all true. But, nobody cares, and rightfully so, that is why winning is so big.”

On Wilson’s last touchdown:

“When Mike (OC Mike LaFleur) called the play in the huddle through my headset, I had a smile inside. Their safeties are tight but they were playing pretty soft. We were trying to call a couple things to get in that hole behind the linebacker. This just gets you there pretty fast. They were playing so soft that I was throwing that ball no matter what. If I had to manipulate that backer a little bit and come down onto the short guy, then I was going to do it. I was going to find some little window there to hit him. It obviously was a pretty big game though. Listen, there are ups and downs, all kinds of them. There is a third down where we don’t cover the third down.  It is just part of the process. For him to be able to stay focused and continue to make plays, it says a lot about him.”

On his rough days while on the New York Jets in 2020 and 2021:

“I think when you build a bond between teammates and you have been through tough times, it makes doing something special that much sweeter. That is sports. That is the NFL. That is professional sports, high school sports, everything. It does make something extra special when you have been through such hard times with people. I’ve been thinking about family members and things like that. You can think back to all the hard times you’ve been through with people, and you keep growing together and fighting and eventually you turn the tide a little bit. It feels really good because of that.”

On how much he saw from the NY Jets OL and how it helped the end result of the game:

“Those guys fought really hard. You could see it in their eyes and the way they were approaching the pregame. They were ready to go today. We had a great plan to come in here and combat some of the stuff that they do. But, it is all about those guys. We were going to lean on them to run the ball and to do that when they had to. We knew we were going to have to have sustained drives against these guys and we were going to have to put all these things together. It was a typical AFC North game where you don’t have that many possessions to put points on the board. I think we got four in the first half and they had three. You have to make the most of every one. When you are running off the field on the third down, it hurts because you know that the possessions are few and far between. It is all about those guys just sustaining and that little bit longer for one extra third down, two extra third downs.”

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