QB Joe Flacco (11.30.23)

How far have you come in ten days or so? 

“Yeah. I think when you’re able to focus on a game plan, you can come pretty far. And obviously, getting out and being able to actually run stuff and call stuff, that goes a long way, too.”

 

Joe, it’s looking like there’s a decent chance you could start Sunday if DTR (Dorian Thompson-Robinson) is not out of concussion protocol. Your thoughts on just a couple weeks ago you’re waiting for an opportunity, now you’re going to be potentially starting on Sunday against the Rams. 

“I think that’s it. I mean, just think, you know, I love playing this game and anytime an opportunity kind of presents itself, you just got to be patient and see what’s in store for you. And that’s what I’m doing right now, taking it day-by-day and just trying to go about my business and see where it takes us.”

 

It’s got to be exciting, though, that you’re going to have that opportunity so quickly after signing. 

“It’s definitely exciting, the idea of it. There are a lot of things about being at this point in my life that make it really exciting, even besides just playing the game of football. There are so many things that add to it now, having young kids and feeling their excitement about it. And when you are away, it puts things in perspective a little bit. And like I said, you just try to let these opportunities take care of themselves and do your best to be ready for them.”

 

AVP (Alex Van Pelt) was talking about this morning, like how in the huddle, your play calling is your comfort level. So does that just come from your 16 seasons in the league or does that come from just the way that you’ve been acclimated to this team so fast? 

“Listen, I think anytime that you’ve done something for so long, then yeah, it’s like riding a bike. You get in the huddle and you call a play. I will say like the first walk-through I did yesterday, it took five plays to kind of get back in the rhythm of doing things and there are different words, so you got to get used to hearing them and then actually saying them, not just picturing them on a screen. So, it’s so valuable to be able to get some reps like that in the case that you do play because, like I said, that’s easy stuff, but you do take it for granted. But, yeah, I definitely have the years of experience that help me out a little bit.”

 

What was Sunday like? Just being able to be on the sidelines, have the earpiece in and kind of hear how everything operates on a game day with this team. How much did that help you? 

“Yeah. Listen, I don’t know if you’re totally aware of it at the time, but I think looking back and having the possibility of playing this week, it’s definitely a help to be around as long as it can be and get a feel for how all the operations are. Get a feel for guys on the sideline and how they go about things, where they sit, who goes over things. So, the whole process I think, looking back, definitely breaks in a little bit.”

 

Joe, Alex Van Pelt, your offensive coordinator, said today, scale one to five arm strength. You’ve got a five. Have you felt that as you’ve kind of worked your way back into the flow of things? 

“Listen, my arm feels good. I think I did a decent job of keeping it in shape. I think no matter what, when you come back here and you have a little bit of nerves, and because of those nerves, you’re pushing a little bit extra hard and you want to leave a good first impression, you always press a little bit. So there’s always that extra little level. I think that you got to get your arm ready to go. That’s hard to do when you’re on your own. But honestly, I don’t think about – my arm feels good. Besides that, I don’t think about the strength of it and all that. I’m just trying to make the throws. I’m trying to make the throws with touch, make the throws that I need to put in there. I’m trying to put them in there. I’m worried about being on time, in rhythm and those things more than I am about how strong the ball is getting.”

 

Can we say definitively that you are going to start? I mean, we didn’t have Kevin (Stefanski) today, so we’re just kind of dancing around the topic. But can we say you are starting this game on Sunday? 

“Yeah, I would say you can’t say that definitively. I’m obviously not the guy to ask about that. Like I said, I’m just taking it practice by practice and grateful for the opportunity to at least get out here and practice these plays so that if I am the guy, I have something under my belt.”

 

Joe, what did you miss most when you were kind of out of football? 

“I think the obvious answer, everybody says it. If you’ve ever heard a retired guy come back and talk about what they miss, it’s being on trips like this with the guys, like going and getting breakfast, lunch, sitting at the table and just shooting the breeze and all that stuff. I tell you out here yesterday, you always have, like I said, I talked about having a little bit of nerves, wanting to make good impressions. And you come out here and you’ve done a million Wednesday practices, but you want to have a good one. And then to go out there and feel like you did have a good one, is the excitement, what you feel inside – just over a practice. I don’t know. There’s not too many things that are better in the world than just playing good sound football and feeling good about it. That’s what winning is all about. It’s about doing it with your teammates and enjoying that experience. You miss that.”

 

The QB, O line dinner. Does the new guy have to pick up the tab? 

“We went out to dinner when we got here. I definitely helped out. There are some other veterans in the room. I can’t take credit for taking up the bill, but I did help out. Listen, I’ve been around forever. I know everybody likes to put it on rookies and things like that, but that’s all good and fun, but that’s not really how the culture is. You want to take care of your guys and all that, so you have fun.”

 

So last week you said you thought you had plenty left in the tank, and AVP said today that when he saw you practice yesterday, you said the same thing.  

“Right.”

 

But you talked about having those nerves feeling like so did yesterday prove something to yourself even? Did you have some doubts? 

“No, I didn’t have doubts about how I can go out there and do things. I think it’s just the excitement of getting it back out there and being able to do it and wanting to do well. And listen, just because I have a lot left in the tank doesn’t mean I’m going to come out here and make every single throw and not make mistakes. I think at least on the practice field, it’s just learning to embrace those things and get better from them and move on and use them as a learning experience, but not necessarily anything to prove for myself. I think every time you take the field, there’s always a little bit of a level to that, and for me, more I feel those things because you want to be part of the team, because you’re capable of being part of the team. And no matter how capable you are, I think you always have to prove that to your teammates. You want your teammates to feel like, man, we got a chance to win with this guy. And I think that’s why it’s important to go out there and work hard and have a good crisp practice, because you want everybody to feel that. Then the more confidence you go into the game, if you have guys that you believe in, confidence helps out.”

 

You played with Elijah (Moore) last year in New York. How much has he been somebody you kind of talked to, leaned on a little bit, that kind of helped get you up to speed? 

“Yeah, I love Elijah. Texted with him a couple weeks ago when I was driving my way out to Cleveland. I think he’s a hell of a player. I was with him two years in New York, got to play a couple games with him his rookie year, a little bit last year as well. I think he’s got a bunch of talent and he’s a great kid, so it’s definitely nice. There’s a few familiar faces on the team. I think that definitely helps with the initial transition.”

 

Kind of beat me to it, but 2021 Buffalo game. You come in the fourth quarter. Do you remember your first pass? 

“2021 Buffalo game? I was in New York.”

 

Yeah, New York. 

“I want to say I hit like a little tight end on a little checkdown.”

 

Well, the record says it was Elijah Moore.

“Was it? Well there you go. I came in for one drive in that game. You know what? It took me like, obviously it took me a minute to even remember that I came in. That was a crap drive, though. They were beating us by, I think, a good amount. It was a two minute drive. They kind of gave us a bunch of little soft stuff and I do think we scored a touchdown, but it wasn’t – that was like garbage time.”

 

When the game has been taken away from you like it was this year, how do you come back to it? Maybe even hungrier than you were before. 

“The last couple of years, I haven’t been the guy, so I’ve had a little taste of not being able to play. So it definitely makes you grateful for the opportunities. And you realize when you’re sitting over on the sidelines what you’re missing. And you realize when you do get that little bit of a taste like I have the last couple of years, I’ve always gotten a little taste of going out there and playing with the guys and all that stuff. So you endure all these tough times where you’re not the guy. And then like last year, at the end of the year, I got to play against Miami, the last team of the season. And you remember what you’re doing it for and you remember how awesome it is and all those things. It definitely puts things in perspective. I think every now and then, eventually everybody views their profession as a job at some level. And we always say we’re not really working, we’re just doing what we did as kids. But I think you always are going to view it as a job to some level. And I think when you get a little bit of time to not be able to do what you’d love to do, it does give you that chance to stop and reflect and say, ‘Man, it is a kid’s game.’ And you realize how much you do love it and how much we are lucky to do what we are doing.”

 

A lot of the wide receivers, especially Amari (Cooper), have talked about the importance of communication over the course of the season. So just like in this week, this past week, how have you noticed that communication with them especially helping you? 

“Yeah, well, see, the thing is we have a couple of days to get on the same page and not everything’s going to be perfect. And you got to save guys legs. So guys aren’t going to be getting a ton of reps. So a lot of it, I would say, early on is going to be feel. And then you take that feel. And I’ve had a bunch of reps with a handful of guys out here, and you start to see, how they’re going to run routes, and then you communicate with them, or hey, if you get press here, how can I expect you to do it? And it might not be exactly how it happens in the game, but at least you have a little base of what to expect. That’s why coming out here and practicing is so important because you get to run the plays and you get to see those little issues that are going to come up and it just naturally sparks those conversations.”

 

A lot of the guys have been dropping balls over the past couple of weeks and sometimes changing quarterback after quarterback can leave you in a place where it’s difficult to adjust to the ball and whatnot. We haven’t been able to watch much practice, but have there been plenty of balls ending up in receivers hands, at least in practice? 

“I don’t know if we’ve had any drops. I’ve missed a few guys. I think I missed Elijah on a double move yesterday, missed him on a double move today. But besides that, I don’t know. Sometimes drops, you know – listen, you want to play well as an offense and you want to go out there and put points on the you know, you start to press a little bit, you fight a little bit too hard and then your body’s like a little bit off. You’re not just running smooth and all those things. There’s a lot of things that go into that. So I think the more that we can kind of get into the groove and guys can feel confident about everything, then those things will stop. I think it’s usually more a little bit more mental and just kind of fighting too hard, pressing a little bit where those mistakes happen.”

 

Do you think that because you’ve been around so long that you’ll be able to maybe calm the waters a little bit? I mean, if that starts to happen, you’ve got that calming presence in the huddle where you can sell everybody down a bit. 

“Yeah. Listen, I hope it’s not needed, but I definitely believe it’s the job of the quarterback to make sure that he’s somebody that people can look at and if they’re not sure how to react to a situation, they should be able to look at that guy and see how they should react. So like I said, hopefully we don’t need too much of that. But these NFL games, they’re all hard. There’s going to be at some point where we’re going to need to fight through some stuff and if needed, hopefully I can be that guy that they’ll look at.”

 

Joe, you told us last week you were throwing but not to pro guys. Was it high school guys? Was it like paint the picture for? 

“It’s like me and my brother out there on the field, spot throwing for each other, spot catching, keeping our arms in shape, doing a little bit of running, keeping the legs in shape, but in terms of throwing, it wasn’t like it was anything crazy. It was two or three times a week making sure that I didn’t overdo it. But when I came back, if I got on a team that I wasn’t going to be overloaded with practice and then by the time Sunday came around, if I needed to play, my arm wasn’t going to feel the way I wanted it to feel. But listen, that’s really what it’s all about. No matter if you throw – it’d probably be worse. Honestly, if I was throwing the high school guys and then all of a sudden I get out here and guys are running 4.9. Nothing against those guys back at home, but it’s one of those things that I think your eyes and your arm, they all adapt to. You just have to have confidence and trust that guys are going to be in the right spot.”

 

How about your first game back having Aaron Donald possibly buried down on you? What’s it like to have to face him first time back? 

“Aaron’s a hell of a player, but you trust the guys in front of you. There’s so many good players in this league and no matter what the team, there’s somebody that is on the other side that you have to worry about because they’re that level of player. I mean, we have our guys as well. I remember back in high school, you look across the field and you’re like, ‘Wow, look at that guy, and he’s so much different than everybody.’ When you get to the NFL, you look out there and they’re all like that and it’s just like I think the one time I’ve ever looked across the ball, it was actually a little bit taken back was my rookie year we played in Dallas and they had DeMarcus Ware, (Chris (Canty), they had like three or four guys. And the first time we got the ball were on backed up on the one yard line. And I remember running out and looking up at those guys and I swear to God they were as tall as this. That was the one time I think, in the NFL that I was actually like, ‘Where are these guys from?’ They were that much different than everybody else that was on the field.”

 

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