Quarterback Joe Flacco (9.3.25)
Joe, can you share the story of your 38-yard run in your first game against Cincinnati?
“Yeah, it was a reverse. It was one of two reverses that we scored on, and I was supposed to hand it to Le’Ron McClain and he was supposed to hand it to the receiver. I think Le’Ron kind of forgot that was happening. I could have just handed it to the receiver, but I kind of just took it around the side myself. I was going to just go run, take the first down and get out of bounds. And I kind of got to that point, was like, all right, I might as well keep going. And, you know, the rest is history.”
You haven’t had a longer one since?
“No, I have not.”
Joe, what do you remember about that week making your first NFL start?
“I don’t know, man. Not much, honestly. I guess I could try to put myself back in that situation. You know, it was a camp where I didn’t get a ton of reps and, you know, found out that I was going to be the starter very late in the preseason. So, it was kind of all a whirlwind at that point.”
Does this feel any different to you than any of your other starts to a season?
“I think no matter how long you’ve been in it, how many games you’ve played, they all feel pretty similar. I think we’re excited to get going. You know, anytime you haven’t been at it for, six, seven months, you’re excited to get out there and get going and see what the team’s going to be made of.”
Starting against the Bengals, AFC North game, knowing that your very first start was, of course, against them in an opener. Just how kind of special is this? How excited are you for this?
“Yeah, I think anytime you open up against a division opponent, it makes it — you don’t want to say that much more important because they’re all important, but, you know, these division games, they can be tough, and they’re going to be a battle till the end, so you just got to make sure you’re ready to go. I think the way we prepare this week will kind of tell us a lot about ourselves.”
You kind of gave us a state of Flacco when you were named the starting quarterback, but now that you’ve been through the entire training camp in your 18th year, give us a state of Flacco – physically and mentally.
“I feel good. I think it’s just the constant reminders of just, play your role, do your part. This is a team game, and it’s about all of us going out there and preparing to do our job the right way. Getting through training camp and getting ready to go into this opener, I feel good. But, you know, hey, I think everybody usually feels pretty good, even if they’ve had a hard training camp. Everybody feels pretty good heading into week one. So, it’s a matter of realizing that this may be the last time you feel 100% and kind of just going in there with an open mind and having a lot of fun.”
Going back to the division, what makes the AFC North like such a special, an electric matchup? What gets you guys excited to go against each other?
“I think being in this division for a while, I mean, historically, you’re still — you’re playing against some teams that…you’re playing outside. You’re playing against good defenses. You’re playing teams that want to be physical. I’m sure if you go into these team meetings then, and you go into their offense and defensive meetings, I’m sure being physical is a big part of what they want to accomplish as a team. So, I think in this division, I think that’s what you think about, is that side of the game a little bit of a throwback. Now, obviously, teams are throwing the ball a lot, but that doesn’t take away the fact that you want to be physical and kind of impose your will on teams.”
Defense is such a mystery. They don’t show anything. How do you prepare for that? How do you know where to attack?
“Well, listen, I mean, you got to gather as much info as you can, and then you just got to trust your process and go out there and do what you do. And, you know, there’s going to be some things that I’m sure they’re going to surprise us with, and you got to be able to trust your fundamentals and go out there and operate as such.”
Is there maybe one core tenet that you’re expecting from that defense?
“Yeah, I don’t know if I want to share too much about what I feel like they’re going to do. But I think we, you know, have gone down the hole of what they’re going to try to do and obviously feel like, you know, we got a little bit of a beat on what that may be. But like I said, you never know what kind of game it’s going to turn into once you get out there and balls start flying.”
Joe, with the pressure that Trey Hendrickson applies, obviously he went to lead sacks last year. How do you, I guess, prevent him from knocking you off of what you want to do?
“Yeah, he’s a hell of a player. I’ve gone against him multiple times and he’s going to make his presence felt. You know, players like that, they usually find a way to do that. So, once again, for us, it just goes back to fundamentals, playing within ourselves, obviously, having a plan to take care of that and then not overreacting if he makes a play here and there. Just getting back to the core part of the game plan and trying to take care of as much as we can.”
Joe, you’re going to be the ninth guy in the NFL as quarterback to start a game at 40, when was the point that you thought that I could play at 40?
“I don’t think I’ve ever given it too much thought about whether I could play at a certain age or not. It’s just I still feel like I can play, and I don’t even look at it as I still feel like I can. This is what I do. I play football. And I’ve been fortunate enough to not really get out of that mindset. There’s been times, obviously, throughout my career where I wouldn’t have necessarily thought that this was going to happen, but I’m grateful to be in this position and excited to do it.”
Joe, you had talked a couple of times throughout training camp about how it wasn’t necessarily ideal in terms of getting every single one of those first team reps and making sure those guys knew you were the one. Do you feel like you were able to make up for that as time went on? And how do you feel about that whole chemistry piece now?
“I do. There’s so many things about every training camp and every situation that you’re in that aren’t necessarily ideal, but that’s not necessarily what’s ideal for the team. I think the best thing for this team was to kind of have the process that we had. And even though I may personally not feel like that was the best thing for myself, I can get on board and see how that was important for the team to go through this process. So therefore, I’m willing to kind of — and I have been willing to kind of play that role and go through that process and just be the best version of myself I can be. And now heading into the season, like I said, I think it was the best process for this team to go through that. And, yeah, I feel like there’s plenty of time for me to make sure that I got the reps and felt comfortable with all the guys around.”
Joe, I know we bring up the storyline of 2023 a lot, but comparing to that situation you were in to now, what’s your level of comfortability and confidence with the offense compared to then?
“Listen, it’s obvious that you…it’s obvious when you’ve called some plays in the huddle and practiced a bunch for months that you’re a little bit more comfortable in the offense than coming in a week later doing it for the first time. To quantify how much, you know, it’s hard to say. But I love the guys that we have in that huddle and the guys that we have in this locker room, and I think that’s an important part of it. So that’s where I think that it’s a little bit nicer to have been around here for the time I have because you make those relationships stronger, and those are the guys you’re going to be on the field with battling on Sunday, so you want to have those relationships.”
Joe, week ones are so, like, unpredictable, fluky, in a way. How do you feel, I know you talked a little bit about just kind of the vibes around training camp especially, but from start training camp on how have you guys kind of prepared?
“Yeah, because I think the focus on training camp is yourself. You know, it’s looking inward and finding out what we can better at, what we want our identity to be. And I think week one is a lot about doing those kinds of things. So, if we can kind of go out there and, you know, live up to what we’ve kind of set up for ourselves and the expectations we’ve set, then I think all those other things will fall into place. It’s about what we can do to kind of just play the type of game we want to play.”
When you are going up against an opposing quarterback who led the NFL with 43 touchdowns last year, how does that change your mindset going into this game? And just in general, what do you think about Joe (Burrow)?
“Listen, I think everybody’s a fan, in some respects, so you understand what those guys can do. But at the same time, you know, when you start worrying about things that are out of your control, then you don’t really play the way you want to play. So, I think for us on the offensive side of the ball, it’s just mastering our game plan and mastering the things that we can do to kind of play our role and, you know, do the best we can on our side of the ball. We have a lot of trust on the guys on the other side of the ball, and that’s ultimately going to be their challenge.”
And what do you think of as you’ve watched Joe Burrow these last six years, what do you think of him?
“Well, obviously, he’s done a really good job. I mean, he’s come into the league, and when he’s been behind center, he’s been able to go out there and have a lot of success. Make quick decisions but also have the field to extend plays when he has to, get the ball to his playmakers. So, he’s done a great job.”
Joe, shouldn’t it stand to reason having a full training camp with his team this year, compared to what happened in 2023, you feel you’re a better quarterback now than you were?
“I think that’s the one advantage…that is the one thing about quarterbacks is I feel like mentally, you do become a better quarterback, a more experienced quarterback. You’re always learning something. So, I feel if you can keep your physical attributes the same, or if you were just to just call those even, then, yes, I think as the years go on, you do gain knowledge and become better at the position.”
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