QB Joe Flacco (9.21.25)
Joe, to start with Andre (Szmyt), I mean, two weeks ago, you know, you talk about. You never know what I mean, everybody sort of goes through moments like he had been. You know, just the difference in the emotions that came around for him for getting that opportunity.
“Yeah, just like you said, we talked about it. I mean, today was like, a day full of situations like that we can talk about forever, just like that. He got his chance a couple times there, hit two field goals for us, down on the end, then the extra point. You never know when you’re going to get your chance, and, you know, you have to be ready to respond again. Well, like I said, I mean, today was a day completely filled with that type of thing. I mean, you could probably imagine, but you don’t really know because you haven’t experienced it. But when you’re running out in the field, you know, after however many minutes of not putting a point on the board, it’s hard. It’s hard, and you got to be able to keep a straight face and somehow keep it together. And, you know, we talked all week about playing complementary football, and I don’t think until you experience it, you truly understand, like, what that could possibly mean. But today, like, I feel like we, like, spoke it into existence today, and we came out of here today because of it.”
Joe, you’ve probably been in those situations many times in your career, and you have to get that ball down and spike it to set up the field goal. So just take us through that sequence.
“Yeah. You know, you go in and you tell everybody, ‘Hey, we got to get down. We got to clock it here, so get down, clock.’ And then you get in the play and you just trust on the fact that you’ve practiced it a million times, you know, at the end of the day in training camp and throughout the spring and all that, and that everybody’s going to get up, get set. The guys that need to be on the ball are going to be on the ball. The guys that need to be off the ball are going to be off the ball. And you give them one last little check and you spike it. And we did it exactly how you want to do it.”
Joe, how grateful are you that Kevin (Stefanski) is giving you the opportunity to work through some of these early growing pains of the offense. I know Quinshon’s (Judkins) coming through a little bit. Kevin said he’s, you know, sticking with you going forward, even though this was kind of tough sledding today, I know you guys are without two captains and stuff. But as you guys are growing together, how grateful are you that you get to keep going and maybe see the vision here what this team could be?
“Yeah, that’s what it’s all about. You know, I talked about it. It’s hard. It’s hard to go out there and play games like today and, you know, keep it together, but that’s what football is sometimes. And I mean, we have talked about it. The type of events that we have, just going out there and capitalizing on turnovers and not making mistakes yourself, you know, it wasn’t pretty today and there were – you know, it was tough. There were times where there probably were guys down the field that were open, and it’s just, I didn’t make it happen. And you feel for the group as a whole. I mean, everybody wants to go out there and perform and put up numbers, points, yards, all that stuff. And part of your job as a quarterback is to get that done. But also, your job is to win a football game and just play your role in whatever that may be. I think today, as tough as it can be, we won a football game, and it was hard. It’s hard when you’re in your own stadium and you can’t put points on the board and everybody feels it and you feel it, but you got to keep going out there and doing your job and having faith that, you know something’s going to happen and we’re going to get it done.”
Why do you think it was so hard for 55 minutes or whatever it was?
“Well, they’re good. We’re not quite where we want to be, and they’re a good team.”
So when we see Quinshon (Judkins) breaking off those two runs like that and piling in for the touchdown…
“You can take a deep breath, you know, it’s nice when you just paint the ball up and see a little bit. You see something split kind of as you turn it around and he’s taking off down the field. So, I think it’s a testament to our O-line for springing him one, and great job by him for hitting it and getting as much as he could.”
Future looks bright with him.
“He’s a good player. He’s got a good head on his shoulders. That’s the biggest thing. You know, he wants to do it the right way and he’s fully bought in, so he’s got a good future.”
Another play on that drive was Harold (Fannin Jr.), that third down where he was able to kind of shake out of the tackle, pick up the first down, just hits all…
“You’ve seen it all, all year. I think in the three – we’ve only played three games, and how many times have we seen his ability to just break out of tackle, it’s pretty crazy, right? Yeah, he’s strong. I mean, he’s big, but I think because he’s just so strong and put together, you don’t even realize how big he actually is. Strong hands, I don’t think we realized. I don’t know if we realized how quite how hard he was going to be the tackle, but man, does he do a good job with the ball in his hands.”
I know you’ve done this forever, but what are your emotions like when Grant (Delpit) gets the pick and all of a sudden the ball’s at the four yard line and then Shelby (Harris) gets the blocked field goal and looks like you’re going to be down with 20 seconds left?
“Yeah, just like, just do your job like you’ve done, it’s been hard, but you stuck to it all day and just done the simple things, done your job each play, continue to do that, have faith that everything else is going to take care of itself and we’re going to get an opportunity, and that’s what happened.”
Last week you kind of evoked some really good defenses when you talked about your time in Baltimore. Like, what more can you say about this defense today?
“Yeah, I mean, I wish I didn’t speak it into existence so much. I don’t know how many games like that I can deal with, but I mean, guys, I don’t think anything needs to be said about them, look how they played. I mean, it was unbelievable. Every time you looked up, it seemed like they had Jordan (Love) on the ground and that’s a good running team. They were able to control the clock here and there, but you know, we also weren’t able to do what we wanted to do on offense to kind of move the chains. They’re really good.”
Were you proud of the fact that you didn’t press this game, that you didn’t force it and that you stayed playing within yourself even though…
“Yeah listen, yeah I am, but you know, that’s what we have to do right now. And listen, we could very easily not have won this game and it’d be a different story, but I’d still be feeling a similar way in terms of just doing my job. And it may not look pretty and you know, it could be tough but you know, you got to kind of rely on the team that we are right now to kind of come through with what we did today. And you know, I’ve seen crazier things, but this was definitely one of those hard-fought crazy wins.”
Joe, can you talk about the passing to (David) Njoku on that final drive. Just a pretty gutsy call with that much time left on the clock to set up the game winning field goal?
“Yeah, we practice that all the time too. You know, we’ve run off slants and Dave (Njoku) is a big guy. They brought the guy right up the middle, kind of opened up the middle of the field. It was one-on-one man coverage. Dave’s big, so I wanted to give him the opportunity. I didn’t have to worry about it getting blocked at the line or anything like that. And he would get a little bit of a position on the guy and get as much as he can before having to go down. We do have to go down quick in that instance. So that’s the call that we kind of go with. And we have faith in Kevin (Stefanski) calling it and our guys running it. And now it’s just about, you know, getting up to the line and spiking it.”
Joe, when you were talking last week about the recipe and the defense is playing so well, is this what you envision, just maybe not as hard like offensively?
“I’ve been here, man, I’ve been through these games and through these types of wins and I don’t think – when we talk about playing complementary football, sometimes it’s hard, you know, and I don’t think guys can truly know how hard it is until you deal with it and you do it and you’re like, ‘Okay, man, that’s hard.’ But wins like this, they do a lot for a team and they have the ability to do a lot for a football team and give them belief in a lot of other things. So, we got other things that we need to work on, but getting wins any chance in any way you can. Hey, like I said earlier, I don’t know how many of these I can deal with. If I have to deal with 14 more of them, then I will. That’s – you know it is what it is.”
Tell us about a compliment that you received this week because Kevin (Stefanski) had you guys all walking around complimenting each other.
“No, I was very thankful that he didn’t ask me and put me on the spot. And I don’t need compliments. You know, I think we got a bunch of tough-minded guys in that locker room and you know, when you’re out there on the field with them throughout the course of 60 minutes, you’re proud. You can hold your head up high to be out there with those types of guys.”
So you didn’t give one either?
“I did not. I did not. I mean, maybe I did in passing, but I was not called on by Kevin (Stefanski) during the week.”
Kevin talked about blinders, putting the blinders on. And, you know, you have to, kind of always, you look for them, how do you balance that? Like enjoying the moment, enjoying, you know, a game like this?
“You don’t enjoy that till the very end. I mean, there was not a lot of enjoyment today until the very end. I’m sure you can ask the fans. And if you’re a fan of Cleveland Browns football, I’m sure that, you know, maybe when the defense is out there, they were cheering, but I’m sure there was not, like, a ton of enjoyment until the very end. And I get it, man, it’s hard. I mean, this was not like, yeah, you’re not necessarily enjoying yourself. I mean, you’re still grateful to be out there, to be on the football field. You’re not like, out there just loving life, getting your butt kicked, and you can’t put any points on the board and all that. You know, you’re a piece of you. You know, like, there’s always that inner battle. You are a little embarrassed. And there’s that piece of you that wants to, like, just put your head down and hide, you can’t do that. That’s not what being a professional in this sport is all about. You have to be able to hold your head up and take it. Like, just take the onslaught of crap that possibly may come your way. And you just got to continue to go out there and believe and, you know, listen, things went our way this game down the stretch, and you could say that, and that would be the end of the day. But there is more to it than that. The fact that were able to stick with it and not. We didn’t have a bunch of guys bailing out and quitting on the team, throwing temper tantrums on the sideline. I’m sure guys felt like that. I’m sure there’s those feelings in guys to want to do that, but we didn’t. And like I said, it may be easy to just say the ball bounced our way, but, like, those things matter too. Like being able to keep yourself together, like four moments, like, we got at the end of the football game, like, that matters.”
You might have been asked this, and I’m sorry, but did you hear any of the boos out there?
“Everybody heard boos. If you’re in that stadium, you hear boos. Yeah. And it’s not the boos like, that’s hard. The boos are just a reaction to us not doing as well as we want to. That’s the hard part. So, yeah.”
And how do you feel about, like, when you hear those boos, do you just lock you in even more? Block them out?
“Well, like I said, I mean, you’re a person. You’re human. Like, there’s a piece of you in there that, like, it hurts you a little bit. You know, you want to. You want to react to it, but you can’t. I mean, I talk about it a lot. Like, that’s being a pro and being in this sport. You can’t be that guy. You will not survive. But, yeah, like, we’re all human. I’m sure that affects people in not a positive way, but you got to be able to rally and at least put on, at least fake it and then go out there and bring it to life.”
# # #
***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.***