It's a bold strategy for the Cincinnati Bengals to pin all their hopes on a newly traded-for, 40-year-old quarterback in Joe Flacco to spark their offense. He's a grizzled old man in football years; quite immobile and about to play behind a leaky offensive line with no rushing attack to speak of.
There is a chance, though, that Flacco's many years of experience, and his third different AFC North team, could elevate the Bengals' entire unit. Flacco's most dynamic weapons in Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins certainly believe that way as of now.
Nobody knows how the Bengals-Flacco trade will play out at present, but one NFL insider is more hyped than most. And part of the reason is that Flacco doesn't have to do anything special to keep Cincinnati afloat in the playoff race.
Albert Breer applauds Bengals for Joe Flacco trade, which implies optimistic Joe Burrow outlook
In a recent article for The MMQB, where he led with the Joe Flacco trade storyline, longtime NFL insider Albert Breer gave his glowing take on the Bengals' bold deal. He even went so far as to agree with the notion that Flacco to Cincinnati is a "game-changer."
"I think that Joe Flacco is [a game-changer] in two ways. One, he doesn’t need to be great. He just needs to be average, which would give the Bengals a level of quarterback play they just weren’t getting from Jake Browning, who, for whatever reason, wasn’t throwing it or seeing it the way he did two years ago (his arm really died the past couple of weeks). Two, the idea isn’t that Flacco’s going to run off seven or eight consecutive wins before handing the reins back to Joe Burrow—it’s to keep the team alive through a reasonable schedule."
Flacco's main focus should be on not putting the ball in harm's way. He tends to have more arm arrogance than most even at this late stage of his career, and can get into trouble forcing tight window throws.
Turnovers were a big part of what led to Flacco's benching with the Cleveland Browns — and it's a huge reason why Jake Browning was ejected as the Bengals' QB1 in favor of him.
Across four games for the Browns this season, Flacco threw 2 TDs and 6 INTs; Browning had 8 INTs in his four appearances, losing all three starts.
The mere move to aggressively move off Browning for Flacco, as Breer implies, shows the Bengals have confidence in their current group — and that they expect Burrow to return down the stretch. That's perhaps the biggest takeaway from the trade in and of itself.
The change of scenery for Flacco should have him thinking and playing differently than he did in Cleveland. The Bengals are 2-3 and still are in the hunt for the postseason. Nobody expected anything from the Browns no matter who was starting at QB, and they've lost four of their first five. No big shock there.
As for Breer's reasonable schedule point, it'll get a little better for Flacco and the Bengals before their Week 10 bye. That said, my goodness, what a start Flacco has before him. First up is a trip to Lambeau Field to face the Green Bay Packers in Week 6, followed by Thursday Night Football against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
At least the AFC North tilt with Pittsburgh is at home, as are the next two Cincinnati games versus the Jets and Bears. Those are gettable, particularly since Flacco will have extra time to prepare for Gang Green.
It'd be nice if Flacco could somehow pull off one huge upset before then. A 5-4 record entering the bye looks a lot better than 4-5.