BEREA, Ohio — If Joe Flacco can bring the magic back to the lakefront like he did in 2023, the Browns will have a chance to remain in the playoff hunt well into November, and possibly make a run at the playoffs.
If he falters, the Browns won’t hesitate to turn it over sooner than later to their backup quarterback, rookie Dillon Gabriel, whom they loved in the draft and have been impressed with during his four months here. If Gabriel can then manage the offense efficiently and play clean ball, the Browns will still have a chance to remain relevant beyond the trade deadline Nov. 4.
But it all comes down to quarterback play this season.
How many times in the offseason have Browns players such as Denzel Ward, David Njoku and Greg Newsome II stated that they’re just a good quarterback away from winning?
It was the rallying cry they used to get Myles Garrett to want to stay, and the thought of Flacco returning was enough to pique his interest.
In 2023, the Browns were destined for elimination from playoff contention when Flacco stepped in and saved the day, going 4-1 down the stretch and throwing for 300 yards in four consecutive games to lead the Browns to an 11-6 mark and a wildcard berth in the playoffs. Granted, the magic ran out when he threw two pick-6s in the 45-14 loss to the Texans, but the Browns never would’ve been there in the first place without Flacco.
If the Browns can get the 4-1 version of Flacco, the one who threw 13 touchdown passes in those five starts, they’ll have a chance to more than double their win total from last season (3-14), and keep things hopping in the AFC North all the way until those final two games against the Steelers and Bengals.
A dominant defense will certainly help the cause, but the Browns need an explosive, high-scoring offense to keep pace with some of the offensive juggernauts they’ll play this season, including Sunday’s opponent, the Bengals. The Bengals finished first in passing last season and sixth in points scored, with Joe Burrow throwing an NFL-high 43 touchdown passes. Sounds astronomical, but Flacco’s 13 in 2023 would’ve totaled 44 over a 17-game season.
The Browns, on the other hand, eked out just 19 TD passes last year, less than half of Burrow’s total.
In his first interview of training camp, Garrett state that “the team’s going to go as I go.” But the truth is, the team’s going to go as the quarterbacks go this season. Premier edge rushers such as Garrett, Micah Parsons and T.J. Watt don’t necessarily translate singlehandedly into victories. The three have gone 2-9 in the playoffs with one sack apiece. A team like the Commanders, on the other hand, improved from 4-13 in 2023 to 12-5 last season primarily on the strength of their rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels.
It’s still a QB-driven league, and the Browns’ chances of making the playoffs will depend primarily on the performance of their QBs, regardless if it’s one or four of them.
If Flacco can wind up that big, cannon arm and fling it downfield to the likes of Jerry Jeudy, Cedric Tillman, Isaiah Bond, David Njoku and Harold Fannin Jr., the Browns will be able to score with the best of them, even the great Burrow, who has arm talent through the roof.
“I think he throws it better than, No. 1, a lot of people give him credit for,” Burrow said Wednesday. “And I think he’s one of the more natural throwers of the football that I’ve ever seen. He can spin it with the best of them. He’s got one of the strongest arms of all time. So he’s going to be able to put the ball when and where he wants to put it. Just gotta find ways to effectively move him off his spot, and I know that our defense will have a good gameplan for that.”
The admiration, of course, was mutual.
“Obviously he’s done a really good job,” Flacco said. “I mean, he’s come into the league and when he’s been behind center, he’s been able to go out there and have a lot of success, make quick decisions, but also have the feel to extend plays when he has to get the ball to his playmakers. So he’s done a great job.”
If Flacco reverts to throwing picks — he turned the ball over nine times in his last four starts in Indianapolis last season — he’ll find himself standing next to Stefanski on the sidelines and trying to help Gabriel decipher defenses. Even during Flacco’s whirlwind five starts here in 2023, he threw eight picks, which doubles the Ravens total from last season.
In 2024, Browns quarterbacks combined for an NFL-high 23 interceptions — 20 more than the Chargers and 19 more than the Ravens — and it contributed mightily to them finishing last in the NFL with a minus-22 turnover differential. That was six notches below the next two worst teams, the Raiders and Titans. If the Browns just finished middle of the pack this season with 12 or 13 picks, they’ll double their win total from that alone.
Clean, efficient ball by their quarterbacks coupled with an aggressive, opportunistic, takeaway-forcing defense can mean a season for the Browns that scoffs at the 4.5 over/under and Pro Football Talk’s No. 31st opening power ranking.
The Browns, afterall, still have arguably the best pass rusher in the NFL in Garrett, one of the best cornerbacks in the league in Denzel Ward, the No. 5 overall pick in defensive tackle Mason Graham, and Pro Bowlers on offense such as Flacco, Njoku, Jeudy, Joel Bitonio, Wyatt Teller and Jack Conklin. It’s certainly not a team devoid of talent, just one in transition and in search of their franchise quarterback, who might come via those two first-round picks in next year’s loaded QB draft class.
Flacco, who played 11 seasons for the Ravens, does have the advantage of knowing the AFC North like the back of his hand. He’s gone 9-12 against the Bengals, including 3-1 in his four opening day starts against them, all with the Ravens. If he can dispatch with the Bengals on Sunday, he’ll head straight into his old stomping grounds in Baltimore in Week 2 with a chance to start 2-0.
“I think being in this division for a while, historically you’re playing against some teams that you’re playing outside, you’re playing against good defenses, you’re playing teams that want to be physical,” Flacco said. “I’m sure if you go into these team meetings and you go into their offense and defensive meetings, I’m sure being physical is a big part of what they want to accomplish as a team.
“In this division, that’s what you think about is that side of the game, a little bit of the throwback,” he said. “Now obviously teams are throwing the ball a lot, but that doesn’t take away the fact that you want to be physical and kind of impose your will on teams.”
Of course, the big X factor for Flacco, now 40, is whether or not he’s lost a step since he was here last. Kevin Stefanski, for one, doesn’t think so. When revealing that Flacco told the team about his career-long 38-yard touchdown run in his opening-day victory over the Bengals as a rookie in 2008, Stefanski quipped, “I don’t know that we pulled it up. I don’t know if our tape goes back that far. But yeah, he can still move. The good Lord has blessed him.”
The other good thing for Flacco is that he feels caught up after getting very few reps in the beginning of camp while the Browns were conducting their four-way quarterback competition.
“I do,” he said. “There’s so many things about every training camp and every situation that you’re in that aren’t necessarily ideal, but that’s not necessarily what’s ideal for the team. I think the best thing for this team was to kind of have the process that we had. And even though I may personally not feel like that was the best thing for myself, I can get on board and see how that was important for the team to go through this process.
“Therefore I’m willing to, and I have been willing to, play that role and go through that process and just be the best version of myself I can be. And now heading into the season, I feel like there was plenty of time for me to make sure that I got the reps and felt comfortable with all the guys around me.”
Will he make beautiful downfield music with Jeudy like he did with Amari Cooper? Will he average an astounding 323 yards per game like he did during that improbable stretch?
It’s arguably the biggest question mark heading into this season, but if Flacco can defy the odds for 40-year-old quarterbacks and play like he did in 2023, the Browns can surprise the NFL this season, and their foes in the AFC North, by flirting with the playoffs until the flurries fly.
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