QB Joe Flacco (12.10.23)
You didn’t pull anything chasing David Bell down the field, did you?
“No. Oh, my gosh, that was exciting. This was one of those plays, you know, where they’re bringing pressure and you have to kind of buy a little time and he did a great job feeling a little soft spot and then making it happen from there.”
Did you see it happening right away? And Kevin (Stefanski) talked about how you just kind of slid over?
“I knew I needed to buy a little bit of time because they were coming after us and I was going to probably have some pressure off of that side and he was running a little option route and I think in that situation you can probably anticipate a little bit easier because it’s fourth down. You have to throw the ball anyway. But like I said, it was really up to him to find that little spot and he did it.”
So Kevin named you the starter for the rest of the year. How does that make you feel? And then how do you feel about the way that this offense is starting to play with you at quarterback?
“Well, obviously it feels good when it looks like people have confidence in you. I know 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 and 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. You try to carry yourself the right way and you try to do all the right things, but that doesn’t guarantee anything in terms of going out on the field on Sunday. So, it feels awesome to go out there and get the win. I do feel like we’re doing a lot of good things. Today was a sloppy game. I didn’t play my best. We turned the ball over a couple of times and you got to give a lot of credit to our defense. The way they played today, 14 points off of Jacksonville got those balls at least inside the 30-yard line both times. I would say inside the 20 probably, right? So, tip your hat to our defense. Our offense does – I think you guys can see it and feel it a little bit. We have the ability to really start to get over the hump. We’re not quite there yet, but we’re going to work hard and we’re going to continue to get better.”
So recognizing that zero blitz is not something that rust would come into play?
“I think you’re always pretty aware when people are coming after you. I say that, but then I also got hit from my right side and fumbled, so who knows? It’s part of the game and you happen to see some of those things. Listen, there’s all kinds of those plays that don’t work out and you hope that you can overcome it and win the game anyway. And that was just one of the big plays for us today.”
Joe, can you put into words just what it’s like to come off the couch, so to speak, come in here to Cleveland Browns Stadium, so much on the line, 38 years old.
“Yeah, it’s tough. I’m not a man of very many words in terms of well-spoken words. I can sit down at a table and sound like a moron for you, but coming up with words about how this feels, I’m not going to do a good job of that. There are so many different things that are running through my head. It’s unbelievable to be out there. It’s really a unique experience. I can’t say it enough to have children that are of the age where they understand what’s going on and I’m going to remember these things forever. Like I said earlier, I’m just trying to stay in the moment and be as grateful as possible and keep getting better.”
Your 100th win, does that milestone mean anything?
“I would normally say no, but I was aware of it. Not during the game and things like that, but you are aware of it and I’m definitely proud of it when it’s all said and done. Someday I will look at that and it will be something that I’m sure I’ll be proud of.”
All three of the touchdown passes, the receivers were basically wide-open. Can you just talk about the play design and the execution to get all three?
“Yeah, it’s awesome for a quarterback when you get that picture. I mean, listen, I think you got to credit how well we’ve done in short-yardage situations and how well these guys have done running the ball all year. So even last game against the (Los Angeles) Rams, we started to see what worked in those short-yardage situations, loading up and coming at people. And I think that’s what happened on that first one. They’re so loaded up to try to stop our play up the middle and we get a guy wide open and then the other one wasn’t necessarily that situation, but it’s a similar thing. We do a little play-action. You get guys to kind of get drawn up a little bit. And Dave (Njoku) is an awesome guy to have catch those. That is his strength. Get him the ball while he’s moving down the field. And he’s a tough tackle. You can see his speed. I don’t know what he ran or anything, but you can see his speed and strength, obviously, when he gets the ball in those types of situations, he’s pretty special.”
Was your family here today?
“They were here today, yeah.”
Has it been tough to leave them behind?
“They don’t care. They really don’t care that much [laughing]. I think initially, every kid reacts differently. My second son definitely was a little bit emotional when I left initially, but ultimately they have their friends and they have all the things that are keeping them occupied. I’m the one that’s trying to hang around the facility as long as I can and stay around people as long as I can because I’m the one going back to a hotel room by myself. As long as I’m in the situations where I’m around people, I’m good. But when you’re back in a room by yourself, there are things that your mind has time to wander. And if they were three years old, I probably wouldn’t feel it that much either. But like I said, they are a really cool age. They want to hang out. They want to throw the ball around. My son brought a ball to the hotel, and I’m like, just sitting there on the chair just going like this. So, yeah, there are definitely things like that you miss. But listen, there’s no better profession than the NFL to spend time with your kids and have them be a part of it.”
Have they joined you in this victory yet?
“I haven’t seen them yet. I haven’t seen them yet. I’m sure they’ll pick on me for the bad plays. That’s what they’ll do.”
Joe, when you were waiting for some team to call and you saw this situation with the Browns, did you think they would be one of the teams that would call you or…?
“You know, it had gotten to the point in the year where there was probably a couple of times where I could have gotten called, but I didn’t. So, I was starting to think that I wasn’t. And especially even these guys, they didn’t call me until later in the week, so I kind of had thought the time had gone and passed, but they wanted me to come out and work out, and I was grateful to do it.”
Joe, off that we first met you said, I didn’t know if this was going to happen for me. I’m starting to kind of lose a little bit of faith to go from that to now. You’re one of five quarterbacks in NFL history to five touchdowns with a new team in your first two games, and now guys right to pick at the playoff race and got a chance to do something. What do you make of all of that? This whirlwind month for you.
“I think it’s a little scary to not sign somewhere in the offseason and not be at training camp somewhere. But I was trying to keep a positive light on it and look, spin it in a positive way and see all the benefits of possibly getting a call from a team at some point that needs somebody to help them win. So listen, I think it comes down to I didn’t have a choice. It wasn’t like I turned anybody down in the offseason. I probably would have had a tough time doing it even though I was at the point mentally where I don’t know if I would have wanted to go do it. Listen, obviously, life puts you in certain situations and you don’t know why you just got to make the most of it.”
Was this the ideal situation? When you’re sitting on your couch, are you thinking about playoff team and coming in and starting?
“Listen, we still have our next game. What do we have, four games left? But our next game, so listen, we still got to go take care of business and get better and better. And that’s really my main focus. I don’t want to look at what the situation I was coming in is. Like, listen, we still have to go out there and make the most of what we have.”
What have your teammates done to instill that confidence in you, that you talked about wanting to come in and show that. What have they done on the flip side, to show that confidence?
“I think it helps when you’ve been around a long time and these guys have watched you play growing up, there’s something about having an older guy in a locker room that guys like to come up and at least wonder why the hell I’m doing it. So, there’s always some kind of talking point and things like that. So, I think you get comfortable with people. I’m confident in the way I throw the ball and stuff like that, so I think when you go out and have good practices, that’s the starting point and then you got to go out and play well in the game. And I think we’ve done a decent job of kind of doing that so far so that you can have these guys build a little bit of that confidence.”
So how were you able to maintain that belief that you could go out and still play at a really high level considering when you look at even the record over your previous 17 starts, wouldn’t have necessarily stated that. But why did you believe in yourself so much and what did you think you were still going to be capable of if you got another chance?
“I think when you’ve played so many football games there’s a reality that sets in that you’re going to go through tough times and it’s your job to persevere and have belief in yourself. And I’m not saying that it’s always like 100%, like, yeah, I’m the best in the world. I got this. There’s a ton of times where you’re probably questioning it and you got to just continue to go and go and push and push and just try to get better and focus on the thing that you’re doing and that allows you to not think about all that and just go out and do what you love.”
When you first met with us, you basically said you think you still had something left in the tank. When you stand here after an exciting win and say, hey, I didn’t play my best today, how are you still evaluating what you have left? Is it just turnovers? Is it situational? How do you say, hey, that was really high level execution for what I’m capable of?
“Yeah, I think it’s just when you go back and watch the tape, are your eyes in the right spot? Are your feet in the right spot? Are you on time? It’s all that kind of stuff. So there was a couple of times today where I just felt like my feet weren’t tied in with my eyes and maybe my eyes were in a bad spot and then all of a sudden I was making a bad throw that I don’t usually feel like I’m doing like I’m doing. A couple of balls just came out bad today.
And like I said, I think it starts with maybe where my eyes and feet were and then it kind of just a chain reaction from.
Was there any confusion coming into the stadium thinking, I gotta go to the visitors locker room?
“It’s definitely a little different. It’s different perspective from the Brown sideline than I’m used to. There’s, there is something nice about having played a bunch of games in here and be able to come back and now call it home.”
What does it say about, I know you’ve only been here a few weeks, but for this team, this coaching set to win games with four quarterbacks in one season, which has only been done like eight times.
“Yeah, no, listen, you can’t say enough about what this team’s done all year. Just losing guys and continuing to succeed, whether it’s the run game or the offensive line, whatever it may be. I think you’ve got to give the coaching staff and all the guys in there a ton of credit for how they’ve been able to maintain their focus and still have the belief.
How much is that Kevin (Stefanski)?
“Yeah. Listen, I’ve only been around Kevin a few weeks, but he’s got a very good demeanor. He’s definitely a head coach, and I think he’s the first guy you’re going to have to look at when you talk about that kind of stuff.”
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