Bengals’ aggressive trade for Joe Flacco can be further explained by the opportunity their remaining schedule gives them
The Bengals are not throwing in the towel with a favorable schedule ahead of them.
There’s about a billion things more likely than the Cincinnati Bengals trading for a new starting quarterback in the beginning of October, but that’s the timeline we’re witnessing with Joe Flacco taking over entering a Week 6 road game against the Green Bay Packers.
Cincinnati is the definition of risk-adverse. Despite Jake Browning playing poorly, it was far from a given for the club to pursue, and then execute, a plan to replace him with an external option. There had only been two other midseason trades in franchise history prior to Tuesday’s deal. The reasoning for why No. 3 transpired must be solid.
Flacco is in the building now to raise the offense from basement in which it currently resides, and if it does improve, there’s opportunity for the Bengals to actually salvage this season.
Bengals have a weak remaining schedule they can now attack with Joe Flacco
It’s nearly been a month since Cincinnati was sitting at 2-0. The club is now 2-3, which is obviously less than ideal, but not a backbreaking position to be in considering only one of its AFC North rivals is ahead of them in the division standings. The Pittsburgh Steelers are 3-1, and the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns are both 1-4.
Three of the Bengals’ remaining 12 games are against the Ravens and Browns, which factors in to their remaining Strength of Schedule (SoS) of .420. They have the third-lowest SoS in the NFL, with only the Denver Broncos (.407) and New England Patriots (.305) below them.
Cincinnati may be on its third QB of the season in just six weeks, but the path to salvation isn’t as dire as it could be based on the first five weeks of the year. SoS isn’t a be all and end all metric of how good or bad upcoming opponents are, but on average, there are for more daunting schedules than what the Bengals have to deal with.
The AFC in general is in a weak position with just four teams being two or more games above .500. The Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans, two playoff teams from last season, sit with the Bengals at the 2-3 table. The Jacksonville Jaguars are one of three teams at 4-1, and their lone loss was in Cincinnati.
Joe Flacco’s stats vs. Packers from Week 3
- 21 completions on 36 attempts (58.3% completion percentage)
- 142 yards (3.9 yards per attempt)
- 0 touchdowns, 1 interception
- 55.6 passer rating
The opportunity in front of the Bengals can’t be seized if Flacco doesn’t prove to be the upgrade they need. Early dividends are important for keeping the locker room locked in for the next three months, especially if Joe Burrow can return before January.
How Flacco looks in his second game against the Packers this Sunday will tell us how capable Cincinnati can be against good teams, or how much a struggling team will need to rely on the struggling opponents ahead of them.
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