CLEVELAND, Ohio — Browns quarterback Joe Flacco took questions from reporters on Tuesday with regard to being named the starter, his journey, and more.
Below is the transcript as provided by the Browns media relations department:
Does today feel any different for you than yesterday?
“No. Listen, it’s just business as usual. Go out there and get another good practice in, get some rest with the guys and continue to work towards what we’ve been all training camp.”
So, when did you know that you were going to get named the starter?
“When Kevin (Stefanski) told me. I mean, I don’t know. Like I said, you keep your head down and you just try to do your best, and I felt like I was having a good camp with the reps that I was given, and that’s all you can do.”
I know we’ve asked this a million times, but are there extra emotions attached, now that you’re 40 and it’s been a couple of years since you’ve been the week one guy?
“I don’t know if I was very emotional about it, but listen, you don’t take for granted opportunities in this league, especially to get one at this point in my career is definitely special, but like I said, it’s pretty much business as usual and just kind of trying to get better.”
Is it your understanding that you are the starter for the season?
“Well, we all know how that works. I mean, that’s everybody in the league, but it’s not really my job to look at it in that way. It’s just to go out there and play my game. Kind of like I’ve been doing all training camp and not worrying about all that stuff, just going out there, playing my game and being the best I can.”
Do you expect to play Saturday, and do you want to play? I assume you want to play.
“Yeah, I do expect to. You know, I think there’s a lot of value in preparing yourself to go play a football game and get your mindset ready for that.”
Now that this question’s been answered, where are you at and where do you feel this offense is at this point in getting ready for this season?
“I think we all feel pretty good. You know, now it’s like, listen, you only get a certain amount of reps out there, and I think we’ve made the most of it, and I think that’s every team in the league to a certain extent. I think the good thing about this week is, we kind of get to put ourselves through a little bit of a game plan and simulate what we would be doing during the year. I think that’s going to give everybody that extra confidence to take that next step.”
The old training camp saying is that the defense usually starts out ahead of the offense, but it seems like you guys have been gaining some steam recently. Why do you think offense takes a little longer to gel in an offseason?
“It’s so tough to tell these days if that is actually the case, just because you’re not out there with a ton of reps. But I mean, typically on offense – I’m sure defensive guys look at it exactly the opposite that we do. But on offense, one guy can mess up and it wrecks the whole play. On defense, one guy can be the only one to wreck the entire play. So, I think a lot of offensive guys at least view it opposite. I’m sure defensive guys will tell you differently, that they need to play together as well. But it truly is a team sport for a reason, and on offense, everybody needs to be on top of all their shifts, all their motions, all their post-game, all their post-snap changes and all that. If one guy happens to be a little bit off, then the play doesn’t work, and I think it always takes a little bit of time, to get all 11 guys operating on full cylinder. Especially when you’re rotating a bunch of guys in during training camp and you have a bunch of guys taking reps, it just makes it even a little bit harder.”
Where are you from a physical standpoint? The last time we saw you play here in Cleveland was two years ago and the calendar has turned a bit since then, of course. So where does 40 find you just in terms of arm strength, mobility and energy?
“Yeah, I mean, I hope that I’ve shown some people that over the last couple weeks that have watched the film and that we’ve been out there with, I feel as good as I ever have. You know, you get tricked a little bit when you’re in a locker room with all these guys. You just kind of assume you’re in your 20s and you keep telling yourself that, but I really do feel great. My arm feels just as good as ever. My legs feel really good right now to do the things that I’m going to have to do. So, I feel ready to go.”
Would a 22-year-old Joe Flacco believe he’d be starting as a 40-year-old?
“I hope that he would believe it, yeah if you told him. He’d probably be a little bit surprised that he’s actually still playing at 40 years old, but I hope that he would believe it for sure. It’s tough to go back. In a lot of ways, you’re probably a little bit more cocky as a 22-year-old than you are as a 40-year-old. So, I’ve probably come down to earth and mellowed out a little bit on certain things, and yeah, my 22-year-old self, I think, would believe it for sure.”
You touched on this for a second. You’re part of a small group now that has started, that’s going to start as a quarterback in his 40s. How much pride do you take in that?
”That’s interesting, man. It’s always one of those things that like, I think as a football player, you just want to play. But I think you have got to give a lot of credit to, obviously, Tom (Brady), for anybody even thinking about doing it. Obviously, there were guys before, you have Warren Moon and, I talked about it a couple weeks ago, Vinny Testaverde and other guys that have done it, but I mean he pushed the boundaries like he did in absolutely everything. No surprise that he did it in that way as well. But you know, I don’t think it’s necessarily something that I actively think about until people remind me with texts and things like that, and you guys ask me about it. I don’t think it’s a huge deal right now, but I’m sure when I look back on it, it’ll be pretty cool.”
Joe, you haven’t practiced with Isaiah Bond yet. His speed is well advertised. What does that 4.39 speed bring to the offense?
“Yeah, listen, I think anytime you bring that kind of speed to an offense, it can help a lot of things out. Run game, short passing game. I think when you have a guy like Jerry (Jeudy) on the other side who can really, we have a lot of confidence, can win against anybody. It makes it harder for defenses to kind of, you know, pay more attention to him and things like that. So yeah, it can open up all kinds of possibilities.”
We ask you all these questions about how’s your arm feeling, how are you doing physically? I feel like mentally it would be an advantage to be around longer. How much do you understand defenses now as opposed to when you were 25, let’s say?
“Yeah, listen, I think that as you get in the league, no matter what position you are, the part of it that you deal with mentally, that maybe is a little bit of a struggle, not an advantage, is that you got to fight the boredom and the monotony of doing it for so long. I mean, we’ve all been playing football since we’ve been teenagers, and at some point, we all will be done. So, I think when you can get into that 10-year area, there is a part of your brain that wants to make it, ‘oh, I’m doing this again’, and I think that I’ve been in a good position the last few years to get over that mindset. But I think that’s the one actual drawback that you have as an older player is that, you do have to fight some of that, or you had to fight it throughout your career. Now the advantage is, I think I’ve gotten over that to a certain extent, and now you feel very good about where you are, and all positions, but specifically a quarterback, you definitely should get better as your age climbs up because, you know, even if there’s things that you haven’t seen before and somehow somebody’s creating something new, it’s just the way that you react to that is a little bit more, you can tell, is a little bit more experienced than a younger guy, that it might throw him off a little bit. So, yeah, there’s definitely advantages as you get older in this league. No matter what position you are, if you can keep your physical health, then the more mentally sharp you are, the better you’re going to be.”
Have you heard from Tom Brady? I know Aaron Rodgers has got things to do this camp, but have you heard from any of those other guys that have made it past 40 and are still doing this?
“No, you know, I think that’s probably one of the things I’m not great at, is reaching out to people and leaning on people. I’m sure they’d be open to share whatever. So, I wish I was, to be honest with you, I probably wish that I would be better at that and be able to reach out to some of those guys and see how they’ve dealt with it because, obviously, nobody’s done it better. But I haven’t to this point.”
It’s a couple of weeks away, but it does seem like you’re primed to return to Baltimore in week two. They’re going to have a 30-year anniversary celebration. In the back of your mind, now that you know that you’re QB1 right now, does that creep into the back of your mind?
“I love playing in Baltimore. Such a special place. Unbelievable fans, division game. I mean, it doesn’t get much better than that. So, that is what the plan is, and it would definitely be very exciting.”
Joe, when you got here in 2023, it was real obvious how the locker room gravitated to you immediately when you walked in. Have you experienced a similar thing this year? Is it possible to recapture it? I know you want to keep that in the rearview mirror, and it doesn’t really factor into your scope on the future, but the way it came together felt so special. Are you able to recreate that this year?
“I think that’s all about going out there and winning football games. I think that’s the one detriment of having to split up reps so much during training camp is, you’d like to gain that rapport with guys, not just to show them, like, not just to get better on the field guys, but also show them like, ‘hey man, I’m the guy, you know, let’s go have some fun.’ So, hopefully over the next few weeks we can make that happen. It’s all about winning in this league. If you can look at that, then it’ll feel pretty special.”
Have you had the chance to talk to the other guys in the room after you’ve been named the starter?
“Yeah, I mean, Kevin came in the room and talked to all of us and then we all talked. We’ve all talked. I mean, yeah, we’re in there, we’re this close to each other every single day. I mean, there can be some awkwardness, but at the end of the day we’re all adults, we just want to be honest with each other, and we want people to be honest with us. At the end, if you get that we’ve all been through situations like this, you feel good about whatever it is. Honesty is the main thing. Looking somebody in the eye and having a conversation with them is the main thing. It doesn’t mean you’re going to be happy and all that with whatever’s happened and going on. But I think that’s all that any of us can ask for. So, listen, the guys in that room are extremely professional, and we all know how to handle ourselves, and we’re friendly. So, you know, it is what it is.”
What was your message to them?
“I didn’t have a specific message. You know, you’re just in there and you kind of address it, and then you go on as usual.”
Hey Joe, I think you said that you’ve had pretty much the same routine forever, but as you got older, maybe in that second decade in the league, did you change anything? Did you add anything to stay fresh?
“Listen, I think developing a routine in this league is super important for many reasons. You know, physically, mentally, making sure that you stay in the moment, I think is one of the biggest ones, is just concentrating on what’s important in that moment, not getting ahead of yourself. In terms of a physical aspect, I’m really lucky to be with my trainer and kind of progress as the years have gone on, and a lot of the same things, but always doing something new and more exciting. I mean, a couple years ago, it’s like, when you’re 12, 13, all through high school, I look back and I came to the realization, like, man, I was in really good shape because I was playing football, I was playing basketball, I was playing baseball, I was running around with my friends playing pickup games. Like, that’s a big part of how you stay in shape. So, when we get to adults and you get into the work world, you stop doing that thing, and it’s not like, just because I’m out here running around on a football field every day, yeah, I’m a little bit active, but it’s still only an hour and a half. So, I think I came to the realization, like, ‘oh man, I got to get back to doing some of those things,’ like playing games and having fun, because you’re just out there doing it and you are getting in shape, and you’re moving laterally, and forward, and doing all those things just to keep your body as active as possible.”
Is there anything that surprises you anymore?
“I don’t know if I have a specific, but, yeah, I can be surprised for sure.”
The teams you’ve been with since Baltimore, it seems like the four games in Cleveland stand out. Why do you think that is? Numbers wise? Wins?
“Well, listen, I think if you look back to this roster, they’ve had a pretty talented team. I think, specifically that year, I can attest to it, they had awesome guys up front, good running back room, good receiver room, really good defense. You know, to win in this league, you need to have a team and a coaching staff that’s ready to go. I think probably that Browns’ team, more than any of the others, were maybe a little bit more in that zone where they were ready to win. I mean, I was on some other talented teams too, maybe a little bit younger and not quite ready to get over that hump yet.”
When you talk about fighting off the board, did Shedeur (Sanders) bring a little bit of a different twist or spin to it? Because I just saw you guys laughing so often. Did his presence kind of help keep things sort of light and fun for you this camp?
“For sure. I mean, you’re always looking for that. That’s what being a part of a team is all about. You know, making those connections with guys, it puts us all in that better mindset. In order to play really well, you need to be in a great mindset, and I think having those relationships and being able to laugh about certain things, but also get your work done, is a big part of being successful.”
No one’s been as happy that you’re in the starting role than David Njoku, who’s been posting all over his Instagram. What is your relationship? Can you describe your relationship with David?
“Dave’s (Njoku) awesome, man. I mean, he refers to me by my full name. He’s been doing that since I’ve walked in the building a couple years ago. Dave has a lot of energy and he’s, most importantly, he’s a hell of a player. You just got to get the ball in his hands. That’s the biggest thing. Listen, I hope we can keep that enthusiasm going as the season starts and moves on, because he’s a lot of fun to be around, and if we get things going well, then this should be pretty fun.”
Does he call you Joseph?
“No, he just calls me Joe Flacco. He says my last name.”
What about Gage (Larvadain) calling you Mr. Joe Flacco? Is that kind of funny?
“It makes sense. I don’t know, in my experience, a lot of kids these days call their parents’ friends by their first names, and in my case, everybody knows professional athletes by their first name, so it kind of makes sense. But mister, yeah, if I heard him say that, I’d probably say, ‘hey, let’s cut it out on the mister.”
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