Troy Aikman issued some strong commentary during Thursday night’s game between the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals about Joe Flacco’s feelings on moving positions.
During Baltimore’s touchdown drive in the second quarter, Flacco split out to wide receiver as Lamar Jackson entered the game to take a snap at quarterback. The play was a 5-yard rush by Jackson, setting up a 2nd-and-5 from the Cincinnati 8.
Flacco’s showed extreme disinterest during the play, mostly standing straight up and not moving. Aikman, who was calling the game with Joe Buck for NFL Network, said Flacco was “not happy” about having to move.
“If I’m Joe Flacco, I’m not happy about it,” Aikman said. “Joe’s not going to say anything, but I can tell you deep down, he doesn’t like it. If you’re a pocket passer, you’re the quarterback, you do not like running out to the wide receiver position and letting somebody else play quarterback. It’s as simple as that. They talked to me about it one time … that was not gonna happen. I don’t think Joe’s real thrilled about some of the things within that system with Lamar Jackson within that offense.”
Though Flacco has never publicly said anything of the sort, one has to wonder whether there was more to Aikman’s comments than pure speculation. Those comments paint Flacco in a negative light; Aikman surely would take great care before saying anything like that. Perhaps that subject has come up in talks between Flacco and Aikman.
