The Cleveland Browns(11-5) are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2020 after dominating and routing the Jets(6-10) 37-20 at Cleveland Browns Stadium on Thursday night.
After Deshaun Watson went down with a shoulder injury in November, many thought the Browns had no shot of getting to the playoffs. P.J. Walker and Dorian Thompson-Robinson both struggled, and Thompson-Robinson is out for the season with a hip injury.
Enter veteran Joe Flacco, who was signed off the street by Cleveland in November. The 17-year veteran was outstanding against his former team, the Jets; he completed 19 of 29 passes for 309 yards and three touchdowns. The Browns had 429 yards of total offense and had no problems moving the ball against the Jets.
Browns coach Kevin Stefanski knows when players go down, others have to step up, and that’s what we’ve seen in Cleveland.
“You know, it’s the greatest team sport there is,” Stefanski said. “You hate to lose great players, and we lost some great players along the way. But go ask those guys; they tell you it’s a team sport. I know this. Those guys that weren’t with us tonight, they were with us tonight on the field, and they got our back, and we got theirs.”
Browns TE David Njoku, who had six catches for 134 yards, added: “Anything is possible. It’s just the will to not give up, the will to keep pushing through everything. Obviously, when Deshaun went down, it hurt a lot. When Nick (Chubb) went down, it hurt a lot. So many injuries this year that we have went through, but we didn’t quit. We rally together and push through. That is why I’m so proud of this team, but — we aren’t done yet.”
Back to Flacco, he has thrown for over 300 yards in four straight games, and Browns coach Kevin Stefanski is happy with how he’s leading the offense.
“Yeah, I think you guys know, just having watched Joe now, and we as coaches are getting to know Joe and that type of thing, but he battles like crazy,” Stefanski said. “Joe is, I think, very excited to have his family here watching him. It’s a special moment for them. Again, it’s a great story. I know you guys love this story, but I’m just happy for Joe. I’m happy for him having this success, being a part of a football team. He’s got something left in the tank.”
What the 38-year-old Flacco is doing right now is nothing short of amazing, but he’s trying to stay in the moment.
“Yeah, I don’t want to step back yet,” he said. “I mean, obviously, we’re going to have a three-day weekend here where I’ll probably get a chance to, but I want to try to stay in the moment as much as possible. Every now and then, you get a couple. Right, now it’s already midnight, but you’ll get a couple of hours here before I fall asleep that you’ll kind of get to lay around and think about how cool of a night it was. And hopefully, I’ll try to let those 2 hours linger as long as possible so I can enjoy it a little bit because, by the time you wake up the next day, you’re like, okay, that felt good, but we got to start to move on a little bit.”
The Browns have two things that travel: a running game and a top-flight defense; if Flacco can be steady and avoid turnovers, Cleveland has a chance against anyone in the AFC, which is crazy when you consider where they were six weeks ago.
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