Who would have thought that the Cleveland Browns, a franchise that has been searching for a definitive franchise quarterback since *checks notes* Bernie Kosar in the early 1990s, would finally find that guy in the person of Joe Flacco, who will turn 39 on January 16, and was sitting on his couch without an NFL team less than two months ago? That’s exactly what’s happened, and Flacco has become one of the league’s more improbable and satisfying stories in the league this season.
Since Flacco became the Browns’ starting quarterback in Week 13 — the fourth starting quarterback head coach and offensive shot-caller Kevin Stefanski has had this season — he leads the league in passing attempts (175), he’s second in completions behind Jake Browning of the Cincinnati Bengals with 104, he leads the NFL in passing yards with 1,321, and some of the throws he made against the Houston Texans last week in a 36-22 win were just ridiculous for any quarterback of any stripe.
Let’s start with Flacco’s 75-yard touchdown pass to Amari Cooper with 12:16 left in the first half. Cooper set a franchise record in this game with 265 receiving yards, and this is where it all began. Cooper was the backside iso receiver, Houston’s defense went mostly with the passing strength to the right side, Cooper was one-on-one with cornerback D’Angelo Ross, and Flacco zinged the ball right where Cooper could come down with it.
Flacco’s 21-yard pass to Cooper with 1:37 left in the third quarter from a similar concept. This time, the Browns motioned to four-strong to the right, putting more emphasis on that side, and it was Cooper against cornerback Stephen Nelson for the win.
But the Flacco throw of the day was his 21-yard touchdown pass to tight end David Njoku. The Texans were in 2-Man to one side of the field and Quarters to the other, and Flacco had two defenders converging on his target when he made the throw. But Flacco also knew that he had Njoku on linebacker Denzel Perryman as the primary defender, and the middle of the field was open, and Flacco would have no problem making that throw.
Let’s go back a week to this 51-yard touchdown pass to Cooper against the Chicago Bears with 3:18 left in the game. This was a similarly preposterous throw — you don’t see many quarterbacks threading it deep into three defenders like this, and coming out with a positive result. Cooper ran a deep crosser between two verts in a reduced split, and Flacco somehow got it in there in a way that was more than medium rare.
“Yeah, that’s what he can do, and that’s a tough coverage to beat in that scheme for us,” offensive coordinator Bradley Van Pelt said. “There’s a Cover-2 corner on the backside [Terell Smith] that almost got underneath of that. In the quarterback room, we’ve always referred to that as the steak dinner throw. So if you throw an interception to that corner, you owe the whole room a steak dinner at the Marble Room. So I’m glad it didn’t happen for us, but that’s tough coverage, and his arm strength got that ball there.”
In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into what Flacco brings to the Browns’ offense, and how he’s able to maximize every part of Stefanski’s playbook. A tough go for the New York Jets on Thursday night. For all of Gang Green’s defensive excellence, they struggle against deep passes out of play-action, which has been Flacco’s game. This season, the Jets have allowed four deep completions on 10 attempts of 20 or more air yards for 160 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 127.1 – sixth-worst in the league.
You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os,” featuring tape and advanced metric analysis of all Week 17’s biggest NFL matchups, right here:
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