Browns turn to Flacco, 38, for start against Rams

Jake Trotter, ESPN Staff WriterDec 1, 2023, 04:31 PM ET

Jake Trotter covers the Cleveland Browns for ESPN. He joined ESPN in 2011 covering college football. Before that, he worked at The Oklahoman, Austin American-Statesman and Middletown (Ohio) Journal newspapers. You can follow him on Twitter @Jake_Trotter.

LOS ANGELES — The Cleveland Browns will start their fourth different quarterback this season, as veteran passer Joe Flacco will take over Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams.

Flacco, 38, replaces rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who sustained a concussion in last weekend’s loss to the Denver Broncos and remains in the protocol. Cleveland officially ruled out Thompson-Robinson on Friday, clearing the way for Flacco to make the start.

The Browns were already without Deshaun Watson, who underwent season-ending right shoulder surgery last month. PJ Walker has also started two games this season and will back up Flacco on Sunday.

Cleveland also will be without Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward on Sunday, as he will miss his second straight game with a shoulder injury. Myles Garrett (shoulder) will play.

Flacco was the Super Bowl MVP with the champion Baltimore Ravens during the 2012 season. He signed with Cleveland on Nov. 20. That move came a week after Watson suffered a fracture to his throwing shoulder.

“Joe’s a pro,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said Friday. “I’ve been around pros, he’s right up there. He does his job. Very, very intelligent.”

Flacco said Wednesday that the potential to start again is “definitely exciting,” especially after he remained an unsigned free agent during the first half of the season while waiting for an opportunity.

“There’s so many things that add to it now, having young kids and feeling their excitement about it,” Flacco said. “And when you are away, it puts things in perspective a little bit.”

Flacco, who has thrown for 42,320 yards and 232 touchdowns in his career, started four games for the New York Jets in 2022.

His past four touchdown passes came against the Browns in Week 2 last season. To cap New York’s improbable 31-30 comeback victory over Cleveland, Flacco threw the game winner to Garrett Wilson with 22 seconds left.

Several Browns players and coaches have praised the way Flacco has looked in practice this week, as he took snaps with the first-team offense for the first time.

“He throws a very pretty ball,” wide receiver Amari Cooper said. “I don’t know if it’s intentional or what, but when he drops back and he lets it go, the whole motion is like poetry in motion. It looks good.”

Since 1950, the Browns have started four quarterbacks in a season only twice before: in 2008 (Brady Quinn, Bruce Gradkowski, Derek Anderson, Ken Dorsey) and in 1988 (Bernie Kosar, Don Strock, Gary Danielson, Mike Pagel).

Cleveland, however, never has had four quarterbacks win as starters in the same season.

The last NFL team to have four different starting quarterbacks win a game in a single season was the 2015 Houston Texans, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

Since 1950, the Buffalo Bills (1961), the New England Patriots (1987, 1988 and 1989), New Orleans Saints (1998) and Carolina Panthers (2007) also achieved the feat.

Also Friday, Browns receiver Michael Woods II was suspended for the final six games of the season for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy. Woods, a sixth-round pick last year, tore an Achilles in the offseason and hasn’t been around the team all season.

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