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Joe Flacco turns 41 years old in three short months.
He’s on his sixth team since 2018 and has had two stints in both Cleveland and with the New York Jets.
Flacco joined his new team — the Cincinnati Bengals — just two days ago and is prepared to start against the Green Bay Packers Sunday.
Flacco was Cleveland’s starter on Sept. 21 when the Browns defeated the Packers, 13-10. So the fact he’ll face Green Bay twice in three weeks is one of the more unusual stories of this NFL season.
For the Packers, though, this should be considered a blessing.
It’s been eight years since Flacco started a full season. He was out of football for most of the 2023 campaign.
And he was benched a week ago in Cleveland for undersized rookie Dillon Gabriel.
So the Packers (2-1-1), fresh off a Week 5 bye, should have a golden opportunity to get healthy against Flacco Sunday. And this time, they can’t afford to look a gift Flacco — err horse — in the mouth.
“I was thinking about just kind of ways he might try to come into this game having different players and a different scheme, already having seen what we’ve done this year,” Green Bay safety Xavier McKinney said. “So just trying to see if there’s going to be different ways where we can mix it up and show different things and play different things.
“So I’m going to take a look at that. I’m probably going to re-watch the Browns game just to try and watch and see what we were doing a little bit and try to go from there.”
Flacco was officially the winning quarterback when the Browns — an 8-point underdog — upset the Packers in Week 3. Truthfully, though, Flacco did little to lead Cleveland to a win that day.
Green Bay’s defense dominated most of the game, and Flacco completed 21-of-36 passes for just 142 yards. He was sacked twice, pressured repeatedly, threw one interception, no touchdowns and finished with a passer rating of 55.6.
But the Packers’ offense and special teams were inept, allowing Cleveland to score 13 points in the final 3 ½ minutes to rally for an improbable win.
Flacco will have far better weapons to work with this time around in receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, along with running back Chase Brown. Flacco’s lack of mobility, though, and Cincinnati’s dreadful offensive line — one that’s allowed 15 sacks this season — should help the Packers’ defense have a field day.
“You don’t really know how they’re gonna use him in this system,” Packers safety Evan Williams said. “That’s the fun part about it, right? You kind of go into this game not having a full sense of what’s going on and then you kind of just learn as you get on that field and see what their game plan is gonna be.
“What did he throw for against us last time? 130 or something? I feel like we did a pretty good job of limiting him last time. But again, it’s a completely different team and completely different targets.
“They have some good guys on the outside. It’s gonna be a challenge and he’s a guy who’s been doing it for a long time. You’ve got to pay your respect in that manner, but we’re gonna be coming for his head on Sunday.”
Flacco’s head has been on the chopping block several times in recent years.
He was the starter in Baltimore for a decade, then lost his job to rookie phenom Lamar Jackson midway through the 2018 season.
Flacco spent a year in Denver, where he was released, then underwent neck surgery. He was the Jets’ backup in 2020 and Philadelphia’s No. 2 in 2021.
He then pinballed his way around the league, including a second stint with the Jets, two stops in Cleveland and one in Indianapolis.
Flacco had a quick 250-mile drive east after being traded from Cleveland to Cincinnati Tuesday. And that should be good news for Green Bay.
Flacco’s better days took place a decade ago. And the fact Green Bay gets to face him twice in three games is a gift it can’t screw up again.
“I can say that I don’t think outside of a division game, I’ve ever seen the same quarterback on a different team,” Packers quarterback Matt LaFleur said. “So it’ll be interesting.”
Interesting, and fortuitous.
And this time, the Packers can’t waste such a golden opportunity.
