Flacco may manage Browns into playoffs
- col-aaron-dorksen
- December 14, 2023
- 920
A few thoughts from the week in sports …
Joe Flacco is making NFL front office executives and fans rethink what they thought they knew about having a successful offense in 2023.
Turns out all the Cleveland Browns needed to breathe new hope into an injury-riddled season was for a 38-year-old, pocket-passing father of five to get up off his couch and rejoin the NFL.
Flacco was unemployed all season until out of desperation the Browns signed him to their practice squad on Nov. 20.
And now he’s passed for 565 yards and five touchdowns in two starts for Cleveland, which is 8-5 and has an 80% probability of qualifying for the playoffs. After a strong effort in a 29-19 loss at Denver, Flacco passed for 311 yards and three TDs in a thrilling 31-27 win over the playoff-bound Jaguars.
Flacco played in the final game of the 2022 season for the Jets but remained unsigned until the Browns called.
“I feel like a 10-year-old kid,” Flacco told teammates in the locker room while holding the game ball tightly after beating the Jaguars (8-5).
Coming into the season, it seemed all NFL fans could talk about was the importance of having an athletic quarterback who could pass, scramble, run and make highlight-reel plays — guys like Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen and, yeah, the Browns highly controversial Deshaun Watson.
But players like the 49ers’ Brock Purdy, the Broncos’ Russell Wilson and last week Flacco have shown a quarterback who can manage a game intelligently from the pocket, coupled with good defense and special teams, also can be a winner.
Look through the list of Super Bowl winning quarterbacks — even most recent ones — and you’ll see a lot more pocket passers than “hero ball” scramblers.
Media members and fans alike were saying for two years that Deshaun Watson was “just rusty” and “needs time to figure it out” before he was lost for the season with an injury. Watson only looked comfortable in a couple games, and all of his running got him injured.
Flacco sat out the entire season, left his home workout room and, for the most part, made the game look easy the last two weeks.
The signature play so far was a 41-yard touchdown pass to David Bell on fourth-and-3 at the Jacksonville 41 with the Browns hanging onto a 21-14 lead with 12:42 left to play.
Flacco read the blitz perfectly and found a wide-open Bell, who broke free up the middle for the score.
Browns coach Kevin Stefanski is 41, only three years older than Flacco, and looks like the slightly older brother. All-Pro defensive end Myles Garrett joked that they both have some grey in their beards.
“That was outstanding, an unbelievable play by the quarterback,” Stefanski told reporters when asked about the Flacco-to-Bell scoring play. “He's not hot; he's hotter than Hades on that play. We did not have that blitz picked up.”
Cleveland has seemingly had a curse over its football team since returning to the NFL in 1999.
Flacco is the 37th different quarterback since the return to start for the franchise. The list of names on that infamous “ouch” football jersey, with the C crossed out in Couch, is the most in the NFL since 1999.
Flacco is the fourth different starter for the Browns this season. If you count Joshua Dobbs, who the Browns traded to the Cardinals in the preseason and is now on the Vikings, Flacco is their fifth option at quarterback this season.
The Browns will enter their game against the Bears on Sunday with a really good shot to make the playoffs.
After taking on Justin Fields and the Bears, they'll tangle with another Ohio State alum in CJ Stroud and the Houston Texans on Dec. 24.
The New York Jets will visit Cleveland on Dec. 28 — it will be interesting to see if Aaron Rodgers is back — and then the Browns close the regular season at Cincinnati on Jan. 7.
Flacco doesn’t have anywhere near the athletic ability of the younger quarterbacks in the league, but he clearly has the experience, smarts and arm strength to win some more games in the NFL.
Art Modell moved Cleveland’s football team to Baltimore for the 1996 season and formed the Ravens. It’s been pretty much all downhill for the Browns since returning to Cleveland as a new team in 1999.
It would be straight out of a Disney script if a supposedly over-the-hill former Ravens’ Super Bowl MVP could reverse the curse of Modell.
That’s probably dreaming, and the Browns are dealing with injuries at many other positions, but at least “Joe Cool” gives us Browns fans a good guy to root for and a lot more optimism than we had a few weeks ago.
Big rule change for prep basketball
There are no more “one-and-one” free throws in high school or middle school basketball any more.
This is a pretty big change for how games are played, especially in the fourth quarter of tight contests.
The National Federation of State High School Associations changed the rules for free throws and fouls prior to this 2023-24 season.
Teams now shoot two free throws for common fouls when in the “bonus,” where they would have shot one-and-ones in previous years.
The rule for when the bonus is awarded also has been changed. Previously, teams would be awarded a one-and-one free throw when their opponent committed seven fouls in a half. Now the bonus will be in effect for five fouls in a quarter, and the fouls will reset at the end of each quarter.
“The rules committee studied data that showed higher injury rates on rebounding situations and saw this as an opportunity to reduce opportunities for rough play during rebounds,” Lindsey Atkinson of the NFHS said.
I talked to several area coaches, and none could ever recall seeing an injury on a “rebounding” situation during a foul shot. They’re still trying to figure out how to deal with one of the biggest rule changes in several decades.
“I fortunately have not witnessed one of my players or an opponent's player get injured on a free throw box out before,” Triway coach Ben Holt said. “With that being said, I always liked the one-and-one free throw because close games down the stretch should be about teams executing in order to win, and part of that is making pressure free throws. Some of that pressure is now gone due to having two shots.
“With the fouls resetting each quarter, there definitely is a strategy about fouling toward the end of a quarter to not let a team get a shot off, assuming you have fouls to give.”
It will be harder to make big fourth-quarter comebacks after teams miss the front end of one-and-ones.
“The pressure of making the first of a one-and-one is greatly reduced,” Holt said. “With that being said, players still need to make plays to win, and part of that is making free throws.”