CLEVELAND, Ohio — The scene is almost too perfect to script: 40-year-old Joe Flacco, once the face of the Baltimore Ravens franchise and Super Bowl MVP, returning to M&T Bank Stadium — this time wearing the brown and orange of the Cleveland Browns, the Ravens’ bitter division rival. As the Orange and Brown Talk podcast explored this week, this homecoming carries emotional weight that could potentially fuel an against-all-odds upset.
“I think once he gets there and gets inside that stadium and feels the love from those fans, because I think he will feel some love from those fans and sees teammates that he played with and they have this celebration going on ... I think it’s going to be a lot,” Browns beat reporter Mary Kay Cabot said on Wednesday’s episode.
The layers of narrative are remarkable. Flacco, the man who led Baltimore to a Super Bowl victory, now stands at the helm of the very team Art Modell controversially moved the original Browns to create. Adding to the drama, Baltimore is celebrating the 30th anniversary of that move this weekend, with pageantry and returning alumni expected.
While Flacco himself downplayed the emotional aspect — joking that he’s “been criticized my entire career for not showing enough emotion” according to Browns beat reporter Ashley Bastock — his teammates appear ready to embrace the storyline.
“David (Njoku) and Joe have become really, really close. So I’m sure David is going to be giving one heck of a pregame speech about winning this one for Joe. So I think that’s definitely going to be a rallying cry for these guys,” Cabot noted, referring to tight end David Njoku’s relationship with the veteran quarterback.
The Browns enter this matchup as substantial 11.5-point underdogs, a designation that has not gone unnoticed in the locker room. Cabot revealed that players like Jerry Jeudy and Denzel Ward are calling the spread “disrespectful,” potentially adding another motivational layer.
Host Dan Labbe believes this emotional setup creates a pathway for Cleveland to potentially pull off the unthinkable. “If you want to talk yourself into an upset, it’s that Joe Flacco wants to go to Baltimore. He wants to get a win there. His teammates want to win it for him,” Labbe said. “Like, if somebody’s going to go and place a bet on that moneyline or something, I think that’s the starting point.”
The podcast crew acknowledged that while Baltimore remains the favorite, stranger things have happened in the NFL — especially early in the season and in divisional matchups. The Ravens themselves experienced a similar letdown last season, following a heartbreaking prime-time loss by dropping a game to a struggling Raiders team.
For Browns fans looking for hope, the defense provides another reason for optimism. Currently ranked among the league’s best units after a strong showing against Cincinnati, Cleveland’s defense could potentially create problems for Lamar Jackson and the Ravens offense.
Could the emotion of Flacco’s return, combined with a motivated locker room and a stout defense, be enough to overcome the odds? The answer awaits this Sunday in Baltimore, in what promises to be one of the most emotionally charged games of the Browns’ season.
Want to hear more about Flacco’s return and the Browns’ chances? Don’t miss the full discussion on this week’s Orange and Brown Talk podcast, where the crew breaks down all the angles of this fascinating matchup and what it means for both franchises.
Here’s the podcast for this week:
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