CLEVELAND, OHIO – SEPTEMBER 07: Joe Burrow #9 of the Cincinnati Bengals and Joe Flacco #15 of the Cleveland Browns embrace after the game during the game at Huntington Bank Field on September 07, 2025 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
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With Joe Burrow out until at least December with a turf toe injury and backup Jake Browning going 0-3 as a starter, the 2-3 Cincinnati Bengals made a trade with the Cleveland Browns on Tuesday and acquired Joe Flacco.
Flacco’s fast-paced first week in Cincinnati
Flacco, an 18-year veteran and former Super Bowl champion with the Baltimore Ravens, will be starting for the Bengals on the road against the 2-1-1 Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.
The quick turnaround from trade to acclimation of playbook and then to actually playing in a game is no easy task for Flacco and even admitted such on Friday.
“My head’s spinning a little bit,” Flacco said. “But just trying to come in here and have an open mind and figure out what we’ve got going on.”
How Joe Burrow is aiding Flacco
The good news for Flacco is he can lean on Joe Burrow to help him figure out what’s going on.
“I have spoken to Joe and of course, he can definitely help,” Flacco said. “Just little things that he’s kind of done, or how he’s seen this play or that play, it can kind of help speed up your process a little bit and help you relate it to something that you’ve done in the past.”
Can Flacco produce for the Bengals?
Immediate success in the Bengals’ offense will be an uphill battle, but the 40-year-old is embracing the challenge and yet another opportunity to start in the NFL.
“I feel like I have a lot to offer a football team,” Flacco explained. “I feel like I’ve put in a lot of work to this point. I feel like I’ve worked really hard to be a guy that gets to play in the NFL. I still feel like I can play the game at a high level.”
Flacco will have to play at a higher level than he did in Cleveland this season. Flacco was 1-3 as the Browns starter and completed just 58.1% of his passes while throwing for 815 yards, two touchdowns and six interceptions. However, Flacco’s lone win this season was against the Packers, but whether that bodes well for Cincinnati defeating Green Bay on Sunday remains to be seen. Flacco called playing the Packers this season “a little bit helpful” heading into the matchup.
“The fact that you’ve been able to watch them on film and kind of see what they do and actually go out and play against them and kind of see how physical they are and all that stuff,” Flacco said. “I still think just like any other football game though, it’s about kind of focusing on ourselves and what we can do best.”
Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase believe in Flacco
What Flacco does best is throw the ball with high velocity, and now he has elite receivers in Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins at his disposal. In fact, Chase and Higgins have both been impressed with Flacco in their limited time together.
“He’s still got an arm. I mean, he’s still getting it out there,” Chase said. “We’re going to see more when game time comes. That’s when you really get to see everything. But for right now, he’s throwing pretty good balls, and they’re not badly placed or anything like that.”
Higgins was impressed by how quick Flacco was able to pick up the playbook and noted that “he’s getting the grasp of the playbook easily.”
“The first thing I noticed is he and the coaches were going through the coverages in walkthrough,” Higgins said. “He was just like, ‘This and that and this and that,’ and I was like, ‘OK, yeah, he knows something. He knows what’s going on. He’s been here for a while.’ He’s loud. He commands the huddle really well.”
Flacco’s happy to be in Cincinnati
While Flacco says he didn’t have being traded to the Bengals on his “list of things that were gonna happen”, he’s rolling with the chance to lead another team, the seventh franchise of his career.
“I like to play football. If that’s in Cincinnati right now, then I’m all for it,” Flacco said.