Joe Flacco couldn’t stay Cinderella forever. Now the Browns’ season is finished.
The Cleveland Browns deserve credit for making it this far. Saturday’s 45-14 Wild Card defeat to the Houston Texans marked the end of an 11-6 season, setting the record for most victories in a single season since 1986. This occurred despite five different starting quarterbacks, including XFL icon PJ Walker (terrible), fifth-round rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson (overwhelming), and Jeff Driskel (insignificant).
You have photographic memory if you can name 13 out of 30 of these actors.
That is not who we are here to speak about. This is the story of a revived Joe Flacco and the dangerous combination of explosives that eventually left the Browns coated in soot after riding high to the end of the regular season.
Flacco was one of the most compelling tales of the 2023 season. In November, the 38-year-old veteran was unemployed and waited for someone to call him back to the gridiron. And while the New York Jets, for whom he’d played the previous three seasons, declined despite the fact that their passing game was pure poison, another club with a formidable defense was waiting.
Cleveland added him to their practice squad on November 20. By December 3, he was the team’s starting quarterback. He finished the season with four straight victory, propelling the Browns into the playoffs and providing a foundation of optimism for a crowd that needed three rock battle victories to secure the franchise’s first Super Bowl trip.
Flacco was never going to be the one to lead them there. He was a weakly fastened cannon, shooting into the air with his coordinates slightly off. His average throw depth of 8.7 yards downfield was the second-highest of his career, according to SIS.
His 24 deep passes (20-plus yards beyond the line of scrimmage) in five weeks surpassed Kirk Cousins’ total from eight games this season. His 11 completions on those passes equaled Bryce Young’s total for the year.
This was the type of risk that a man nearing 39 years old with nothing to lose could handle. His 14 touchdowns in fewer than two months as a Brown were as many as Deshaun Watson, acquired for three first-round picks and given $235 million fully guaranteed before playing a snap in Cleveland, despite more than 20 allegations of sexual misconduct dating back to his playing days with the Houston Texans.
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