Can Joe Flacco Keep It Up?

By Greg Newland on December 12, 2023

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The Cleveland Browns offense continues to flourish with Joe Flacco as they defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars and moved to 8-5.  With this win the Browns not only move to the easiest portion of their schedule, but they also solidify their Wildcard chances as the meat of the pack remains at 7-6.

In the final four games of the season the Browns host the Bears, travel to Houston to play the Texans, host the Jets, and then travel instate to host the Joe Burowless Bengals.  At this point, the team has a legitimate chance to run the table but should be able to lock up a playoff spot with just two wins.

What will be extremely interesting is to see if the Browns still have a chance at a division title.  The Ravens currently have a two-game lead but must play the Jaguars, 49ers, Dolphins, and Steelers to close out the 2023 season.  Those first three opponents are division leaders, and Mike Tomlin continues to be the one coach with Jeff Harbaugh’s number.

One thing is for sure, if the Browns are going to make a run, Flacco must continue to play at an elite level.

Can Flacco Continue?

I’ll admit, I was skeptical after the Rams game that Flacco still had it.  While his stats were incredible, at the end of the day you can’t ignore that the team lost by more than two scores and a costly interception ultimately sealed the game in the fourth quarter.

But after another amazing performance where Flacco threw for 311 yards and three touchdowns, I don’t think it was just a fluke.  The Jaguar’s defense was certainly missing some pieces in the secondary, but this is the best overall team the Browns will face the remainder of the regular season.

Not only does Flacco still have elite arm strength and accuracy, but he also has not lost his finesse moving around the pocket.  He is by no means a great athlete, but he has an innate skill to escape pressure and find a way to extend the play.

The biggest difference I noticed from the Rams game to last week was his internal clock.  When the Rams brought pressure a few times you saw Flacco make a few erred throws and his accuracy was certainly affected.  And while pressure is the ticket to rattle Flacco, he looked far better vs. Jacksonville at making his progressions.

There is no doubt in my mind that Flacco can continue this level of play for the rest of the season.  While he may be 38 years old, he doesn’t have a ton of miles on him in the last few years, so his body is relatively fresh.

What we haven’t had in Cleveland for more than two decades is a quarterback who has the brain power to pick apart zone and check the ball down, as well as a gunslinger who can make the tight throws and push the ball down the field.

I’m not saying that Deshaun Watson won’t get to where Flacco and Kevin Stefanski are as far as a rhythm, but right now you are seeing this offense be everything that everyone anticipated.  The most important thing now, the offensive line must protect him.  Flacco can buy time when needed, but Flacco can’t take the big hits like Watson or Dorian Thompson-Robinson can at this point.

Defensive Injuries are Concerning:

One could argue that the Browns defense really only gave up one touchdown on Sunday.  Two of the Jaguar’s scores came off turnovers when they were given an extremely short field.

So, while the defense certainly returned to form on Sunday, injuries are still a major concern up front and in the secondary of this unit.

Not only did Denzel Ward and Juan Thornhill miss the game on Sunday, Cameron Mitchell, and Grant Delpit both left the game as well.  It was a huge surprise that Ward didn’t suit up on Sunday, Thornhill has been battling a calf injury all year that has hampered his play the last few weeks.

It was a huge disappointment to see Delpit leave the game after signing a fresh 3-year deal on Saturday night.  He started the game with six tackles including a sack before leaving with a groin injury.  At this point, we don’t have a ton of details, but it feels like a good chance he could miss at least a week of play.

This secondary is elite when healthy, but if the starting two safeties and the best cover corner continue to miss time, you are going to see a drop-off in production.  We say guys like Ronnie Hickman and D’Anthony Bell play well in their absence, but Jim Schwartz is going to be forced to more zone coverage if they don’t get healthy.

Up-front we are seeing nagging injuries as well.  Myles Garrett was far better last week, but he still wasn’t himself and the lack of pass rush from his side of the ball puts even more pressure on the rest of the defense.

Za’Darius Smith nor Ogbo Okoronkwo missed significant snaps on Sunday, but both were on the field after the snap multiple times and required medical attention.  At this point in the season, it feels like the group is fighting through nagging injuries and it will only take one big one to set back the entire unit.

The playoffs will certainly keep this unit hungry and fighting through the pain, but the Browns need to catch a break when it comes to the injury front.

It’s easy for us to look forward as fans, but the most important thing now for the Browns is to take one game at a time.  If they can do that, this team can still achieve every goal they set to start the year.

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