The Cincinnati Bengals expect their new acquisition to be ready and raring to go for Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers.
The Bengals completed a blockbuster trade for veteran quarterback Joe Flacco from the Cleveland Browns on Tuesday. Five days later, the 40-year-old will suit up as the starting signal caller for his new team.
Head coach Zac Taylor revealed on Wednesday that one of his first conversations with his new player was to tell him that he will be named QB1 for this weekend’s matchup.
Taylor said that he immediately got on the phone with Flacco after the news of the trade broke to firstly welcome him to Cincinnati and secondly to personally name him as Sunday’s starter.
‘I’ve only met him once before he came here, but I know his game,’ Taylor said Wednesday after announcing Flacco would start.
‘Played against him I don’t know many times, a lot of times. Very comfortable with his style, concepts he’s been good at, things that fit us that we do. The terminology there is a lot of carryover, more so than what I would have anticipated, so feel like we can get him up to speed quickly.’
Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor confirmed that Joe Flacco is their new QB 1
The veteran quarterback was acquired by the Bengals in a blockbuster trade from the Browns
The Bengals’ acquisition of Flacco came amid a disastrous start for the struggling 2-3 franchise.
After a 2-0 start, the Bengals have dropped three straight and have been outscored 113-37 in defeats to the Vikings, Broncos and Lions since losing Joe Burrow to a toe injury.
Jake Browning stepped in for Burrow, who is expected to be out for the remainder of the season, but was benched by Taylor after just three starts.
In those three games, Browning completed 64.1% of his passes and threw five interceptions.
As a result, the front office explored the trade market for a new starting quarterback and landed on the 40-year-old Flacco.
‘He’s a great passer,’ Taylor said. ‘We’ve got to expand all areas of our offense to be better, to be efficient, to run the ball better, to protect, all that kind of stuff. The No. 1 trait you’re looking for is a guy that can operate your system and throw the football. Joe’s always been a tremendous passer in this league and have seen it. We’ve got tremendous weapons he can play around and so I’m excited to watch him do it.’
Flacco debuted in 2008 and has played in exactly 200 NFL games. He opened this season as the Browns’ starting quarterback, and he nearly led that team to a win over the Bengals in Week 1.
In Week 3, Flacco’s Browns beat the Packers, 13-10. Flacco, who completed 21 of 36 passes for 142 yards and an interception on September 21, already has game-planned for Green Bay’s defense, and there’s not much around the league that he hasn’t seen from defenses.
Taylor said that he immediately got on the phone with Flacco after the news of the trade broke
Jake Browning has been benched by the Bengals after losing the last three games
‘It’s different than a young quarterback coming in trying to learn the system and understand what a defense is trying to do to challenge you,’ Taylor said.
‘He’s played Green Bay this year, so he’s already gone through a week of prep. That’s the nice part. The communication and the weekly rhythm is maybe different and unique. He’s already prepared for this opponent. He gets a chance to refresh himself on that, while at the same time learning our system and our terminology and our verbiage and how we operate. He hasn’t played there this year, so the crowd noise and all that stuff is different, but at least he’s got some experience playing against them.’
The Bengals move forward with Browning as their backup and former Packers backup QB Sean Clifford as the third-string option on their practice squad.
Browning stood at his locker after Wednesday’s practice and wasn’t happy about being benched.
‘Welcome to pro football. If you don’t play well, you are going to get replaced. And that’s what I am going through,’ he said. ‘Obviously, I am (miffed). If I wasn’t (miffed), I shouldn’t be in this locker room. It’s important to me. I am aware of the role I played in the offensive struggles the last few weeks, but I am also not shouldering the entire situation. I went through yesterday, watched my throws, came up with some stuff that I want to work on.’
