Joe Flacco sounded completely unaffected Tuesday about being named the starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns.
On Monday, Flacco was officially named Cleveland’s Week 1 starter — a result that was hardly a surprise considering the rest of the team’s QB room. Flacco beat out the injured Deshaun Watson, former first-round pick Kenny Pickett, and rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders.
The 40-year-old QB has a Super Bowl ring and 17 years of NFL experience under his belt. The man has been here before, and certainly acted like it when asked by reporters about winning the job.
“Listen, it’s just business as usual,” Flacco said, via Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio. “Go out there and get another good practice in, get some rest with the guys and continue to work towards what we’ve been all training camp. . . . Like I said, you keep your head down and you just try to do your best, and I felt like I was having a good camp with the reps that I was given, and that’s all you can do.”
Flacco was later asked about whether he felt the job was most likely going to be his for the rest of the season. With his experience comes the knowledge that most quarterbacks, save for a select few, can lose their starting jobs at a moment’s notice.
“Well, we all know how that works,” Flacco continued. “I mean, that’s everybody in the league, but it’s not really my job to look at it in that way. It’s just to go out there and play my game.”
Flacco has some familiarity with the Browns, with whom he had his magical five-game run to close the 2023 regular season. The stretch earned him that season’s Comeback Player of the Year Award.
Flacco suited up for the Indianapolis Colts last season, throwing for 1,761 yards with 12 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. Indy went 2-4 in Flacco’s six starts for the team.
