QB Joe Flacco (6.11.25)

Joe, as we come to the end of the spring, you feel like personally, you’ve accomplished what you wanted to get out of this?

“Yeah, you know, for me, it’s about just kind of getting your feel back and getting the ball off your hand while making sure you’re going through your reads the right way. So, I feel great with that. You know, I feel like I’m getting through things and spinning it well, and, you know, the other things will come, and it’s not like I’ve had a million reps, so it’s tough to kind of get in a groove and do those things. But as far as when I’m out there just kind of getting through everything and just the vision of it all, I felt good, felt comfortable.”

 

As you kind of watch Shedeur (Sanders) with you a little bit. And the dance thing during mic’d up was really funny. But is he kind of bringing, you know, a lightness and some laughter and fun to the whole thing? 

“Of course, yeah. I mean, listen, that’s honestly how a lot of rooms and locker rooms are anyway. But yeah, obviously, like, you can see the interactions. And it’s like that in meeting rooms, too. Sometimes we’re laughing together, sometimes you’re chuckling because of whatever, you know, they’re thinking as the young guys. But I usually, I would say I’ve had a smile on my face a good portion of the time I’ve been here this spring, so it’s been a lot of fun.”

 

Is he going to be able to get you to do that dance?

“No, no. I don’t know what dance he was talking about, but he’s not getting me to do anything.”

 

But you will pose for a picture? 

“Yeah. That was kind of harmless. That wasn’t that embarrassing. That was like, lightly, mildly embarrassing. Well, whatever, you know. And all I was doing was copying somebody else. I can do that.”

 

You’ve been kind of load managed here in OTAs. Is that going to continue summer ball? 

“I don’t know what the plan is exactly. But you know, I trust Kevin (Stefanski) and that he has a plan for all this, and, you know, that’s really all I can do. You know, listen, I’d love to go out there and take 120 reps a day and get in the groove and do all those things, but like I said, the coaches have a plan, Kevin has a plan, and my job is to just trust that, go out there and do the best I can.”

 

I know it’s a small sample size, but what have you seen in Shedeur (Sanders) and Dillon’s (Gabriel) progression and growth.

“Yeah, listen, I try to remember putting myself in their shoes being young and I’ll say to them like they’re not letting things bother them. They seem to be pretty comfortable. They’ve been able to relax themselves, come out here and have good practices, find completions. They’re mostly not forcing the ball and things like that. You know, maybe some of the times those completions, maybe they could have put the ball somewhere else. But I think for young quarterbacks to be able to not try to force things and sometimes just take the check down and take the low guy can show a lot of growth and can show some maturity and I think they’ve both done that a little bit.”

 

Joe, we’ve seen in 2023 play action, you’re very good at it. Does it go back to the (Gary) Kubiak year in Baltimore or were you always…?

“I think even before that, you know, when we kind of started with Cam Cameron when I was a rookie, we still had a good amount of that in our game. I think with the type of zone run game that we do in this offense and how that’s paired with the passing, you know, with our play action game, I do think it’s just good stuff. And when you get into a rhythm and you can kind of you learn how to tempo your drop and get your eyes in the right spots, then yes, I obviously enjoy doing that.”

 

I was talking to Kenny (Pickett) a little bit about you guys being sort of from the same area, spending some time in the off-season and getting some guys together…But can you just talk a little bit about how that might look and who will you invite? 

“Yeah, you know what, I don’t know. I haven’t thought too much of it. You always get questions about what you’re going to do over these five weeks. And honestly, I’m 40 years old. I’m going to continue to do what I’ve been doing the last few years. If something does happen to come together, it will be nice. The fact that a couple of us are right in that zone and maybe we can pull some. But honestly, like, you know, those things, it’s more about kind of just getting together and spending time with the guys than it is throwing the ball around. It’s just building rapport and getting to know guys and that’s the most important thing.”

 

Joe, Tommy (Rees) told us that sometimes your stories interrupt the meetings. Is that true? 

“Yeah, it’s true. I think we all have a little bit of – you know, Shedeur (Sanders) might throw something out there, and then I can just kind of build off of that. Who knows? But we all have stories. Yes, there’s – I mean, listen, I can think of one time we had a meeting at 9 o’ clock, and I think were lifting at 9:20. So we had 15 minutes and somebody started it off with… we were talking about – This wasn’t even a football story. We’re talking about vacations and do you actually like going on them? And I was like, you know, sometimes, but not necessarily. And that turns into five stories, and next thing you know, it’s 9:17, and you’re like, all right, guys, see you later. So, yeah, that can happen. But throughout the course of my career, that’s like, you know, that happens on Fridays in the season. You know, you’ve prepared, you’re ready, you’ve kind of covered everything. And sometimes you tell stories for 15 minutes. It’s kind of what, you know, that’s what being a teammate and getting to know these guys is all about. So, it’s a lot of fun to do that.”

 

Kevin was talking about social media and the 24/7 news cycle and blocking it out, how have you seen that evolve in your career? 

“Yeah, well, I think when it initially came in, I think Twitter started right around ’07, ‘08. I came in ‘08 and I can remember, like, the first time I walked into the cafeteria of Baltimore and somebody was like, ‘Hey, you mind if we tweet this?’ And nobody knew what that meant. I think the evolution has kind of come from that’s a method to kind of see some stuff and have some fun to, like, it’s the main news source. So the difference now is, like, that everybody’s getting their stuff from there and it’s treated a little bit more seriously because that is the main news source, but you still have the same thing you always have, which is a million different opinions. So it, like, it kind of blends like your actual news source with a bunch of other stuff. And, you know, now I think we live in this world where just, like, everything you see on there’s a good portion of people that are taking whatever you see on there, very seriously. And sometimes that’s not the case, you know, but you just have to… I don’t know. I’ve been on Instagram. That’s the only thing I’ve ever logged in on in my life. I won’t download the other things because I don’t miss them. Like, I, like, yeah, if you told me you’re taking Instagram away, like, I’ve been on it. I’m too far down the road. But, like, Twitter and all those other things, I won’t even download it on my phone just because I know it’s a trap to just, you know, get sucked in.”

 

So you’re not gonna do the dance on TikTok then?

“No TikTok dances. The fact that people – that is different too this generation, the fact that people want to get on their phones and show people the most, like, that’s embarrassing. You’re an adult. Like, be an adult, like, it’s just like, I can’t wrap my head around that. And, like, I get it. Like, you have kids and, like, you want to, like, you want to, like, have fun with your kids. Like, well, like, have fun with your kids in private. You know, that’s what I think.”

 

Does that make you more guarded, Joe? 

“I’m not guarded. I don’t think I’m guarded at all. I think, honestly, if you talk to me in person, I’ll tell you a lot. I’ll be pretty honest with you. But, like, yeah, on social media, no chance. No chance. Just part of me. There’s a piece of me at times where like, gosh, should I be this guy that kind of, like, does this a little bit like, that? I feel like in order to have a good social media, you do want to be honest and, like, show what you do in your life, but it’s just like, that’s a job in itself.”

 

Can you emphasize with younger players who maybe don’t have the same perspective that you do, like, the reality it is for them?

“It’s just different. I mean, listen, if I grew up when they did, I’d probably be – my personality is what it is. I don’t think I’d be dancing on camera, but, yeah, I would be more similar to them than I would probably admit.”

 

Joe, becoming a leader, developing chemistry, is that mostly organically, how that happens this time of year or does someone have to say, we’re going to golfing, we’re going to do this, things like that?

“I think things happen organically. I think guys feel – first of all, when it comes to leadership on a football team, you have so many dominant personalities. And at the end of the day, Kevin Stefanski for the Cleveland Browns is the leader. I don’t care how many leaders you have on the team that play. Like, you have to fall in place and buy in to what the head coach is preaching, and then it’s your job to kind of facilitate that as a leader, but ultimately as a player. Players respect guys that show up, play well, work hard, and then everything else kind of happens organically depending on your personality and things like that. But first thing you got to do is take that field and show that you can play some ball, and then everything else kind of comes together.”

 

I know this part of camp is limited for you guys, but for you, what do you think the most important thing is taking away from minicamp heading into that break, and then looking ahead to training camp?

“It’s just kind of giving yourself the reminder that you can do it, get some confidence back, get some confidence heading into the off season, so that when we come back for training camp, we feel like we’re a team that can go win football games. And I think a lot of the off season is just getting that feeling back, you know, and it doesn’t matter what kind of season you have the year before. You’ve taken three months off, you’ve been in a weight room, you’ve been getting back, and every time you take that field, you got to give yourself that reminder, like, ‘oh, yeah, this is where I want to be, and, man, I can do this. I love doing it. And to go out there against your team and to actually complete some balls and bat balls down and do all the things that everybody’s doing, it just gives you that little reminder like, ‘okay, yeah, we look good. We’re going to compete. And I think when you have that confidence going into the training camp, you know, it gives you that little bit of an edge.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How does it make you feel that a guy like Myles Garrett, who had such a turbulent off season when he sat down with Andrew Barry, one of the things that got him excited about coming back was the fact that he had a pretty good idea that you were going to be here, too. And I heard Joel (Bitonio) say similar things. How does that make you feel? 

“Yeah, while were just talking about relationships and teammates and listen, it feels good to have players to feel that way about guys and to maybe have sense that maybe you’re felt like that towards a little bit, too, just because we’re all trying to be good football players. And usually when you get those feelings towards guys, it means that you’re working hard and doing those right things. And it always feels good for somebody to kind of pep you up and say, ‘Hey, man, you did a good job today.’ So when you have good relationships, it’s another version of that.

 

Joe, the way Dillon (Gabriel) and Shedeur (Sanders) look at you, was there a guy when you came in Baltimore that was sort of that person for you? 

“I don’t know, quite the same. But I came in with Kyle Boller and Troy Smith, so they were kind of like competing and you know, were kind of all in that room together. And then shortly after that, Todd Bauman came into my room and he was probably 36 or 37 years old at the time. And he had been around the league a little bit, played in Minnesota and Green Bay, Jacksonville. I think he’d just come from Jacksonville. And Todd was awesome to me. He was kind of in Baltimore by himself. His family was back in Minnesota. And he’d take me out to dinner and go out for a drink here and there and just an unbelievable person. And I appreciated it in the moment. But looking back also, it was a nice, it was something that kind of calmed me down. Like you had a good relationship with somebody in the room that you could feel comfortable around and you felt was genuinely rooting for you to go play well.

 

We heard Dillon (Gabriel) yesterday, he talked about asking questions and how valuable that is. Is there a specific area that most of the questions, advice, focus. 

“It’s tough to say. It’s a little bit of everything. I mean, I don’t know if I mentioned it before, but they were even asking me about cadence. You know, we’re trying to sound the same with everybody. And a lot of these guys in today’s game, like you’re so used to no huddle and not even doing a cadence anymore. Listen, I was that same way. Like in college, we were in nothing but shotgun and pretty much all no huddle. But back then in these camps, you were forced, like coaches really forced you to kind of adapt. And these days it’s kind of, you know, more of that college style has kind of leaked into the NFL a little bit. But you hit certain teams where you’re still doing those things. And I think it’s questions related to that. You know, calling plays, the volume of the offense. How do you kind of manage those things and you know, stuff like that.”

 

What do you like better under center? Shotgun? 

“I think everybody likes being in shotgun, but I love being able to go under center in this league because you cannot live in the drop back world. I don’t care who you are. Because even the guys that are in shotgun all the time, they’re doing RPOs and they’re doing other things to kind of mix and match and get easy completions and things like that. If you’re just living in three step and five step drops and you’re letting the defensive line pin their ears back and come after you, you’re going to have a tough time. So I love the fact that we can go under center and kind of marry the run in the pass. I think that’s just huge. I think teams do it in different ways and for us it’s getting under center a little bit and I love it.”

 

Do you ever remind them that at least they don’t have two-a-days?

“Every now and then those stories come up. I remind them that my first three years before that CBA hit and John (Harbaugh) ran hard camps as it was. I think he learned from Andy Reid. I told him we had 110, 120 plays scripted. We would run a two-minute period and it’d be like, ones, twos, threes, ones, twos, threes, all right, twos, let’s go. You get one more. And it was like, whoa, like we just did a 45-minute, two-minute period. And like, listen, when I’m telling the stories, of course I embellish a little bit. I probably add a half-hour to each practice. But it was different, you know, and the difference was that even when it got easier in like, 2011, I think everybody that had been playing at that point had been through two-a-days at some point in their life. Guys that come in the NFL now have never done it. They’ve never done it. We’re out there for an hour and 15 minutes and guys think it’s hard, like our OTAs were over two hours for sure in Baltimore, like when I was younger.

 

Is this pre-embellishing the time? 

“Pre-embellishing. I’m not embellishing on that. It was legit when in 2011 we came back from the CBA and you could do a max of three hours on the field. We did a max of three hours. We did that three hours on the field. A horn blew. No, stretch. A horn blew. We all ran on the field and then the horn blew at the end of practice and we all ran off. And it’s just not like that anymore. I do tell the guys, I don’t want to go back to that. But there is value in doing that every now and then. There just is. But there’s no way we’re doing it anymore.”