Joe Flacco’s key to instant success as Bengals starting quarterback is as simple as it gets
Joe Flacco wants to keep things simple in his first start for the Bengals.
Not every quarterback could be able to start a regular season road game on a new team after just five days and three practices. That’s what the Cincinnati Bengals are expecting out of Joe Flacco.
Flacco is taking over as QB1 in Cincinnati after it cost a Day 3 pick swap to get his 40-year old arm down from Cleveland. He’s now on his fourth different team in as many seasons, and he’s in the midst of his 18th year in the NFL.
Seeing pretty much everything for nearly two decades is an inherent advantage if he can get the ball where it needs to go, but in the middle of his crash course to be one with the Bengals’ playbook, Flacco is relying on a different kind of wisdom.
Joe Flacco wants to keep things simple
It’s an odd sight for a third starting QB six weeks into the season to take questions for a press conference inside Paycor Stadium, but that’s what Flacco did for the first time in Cincinnati Friday afternoon. Just another pitstop in his elongated career.
When asked by local media how that experience may help him navigate such a chaotic week, he showed a different kind of perspective.
“I think, in this kind of environment, in this situation particularly, I think I can get in trouble kind of thinking I know everything. I think the best way for me to do it is just keep it simple,” Flacco told reporters. “You know, I think a lot of the times when you’ve played a lot of ball, and when you’ve been around a lot of ball, you can get to the point where you overcomplicate things and you’re just making things harder on yourself. Honestly, I think my experience in this regard is going to help me, in the sense that I don’t have all the answers, just keep it simple.
“Go play football and, you know, I think that’s the best way to kind of make sure that we play consistently, stay ahead of the chains, and do all those things.”
That’s a lot of words when “Keep it simple, stupid” was right there for him to use.
If the solutions are simple, then so are the problems at hand. Flacco is being inserted into an offense that ranks dead last in EPA/drop back and second-to-last in drop back success rate since Week 3. Unsurprisingly, the Bengals are 0-3 in those three games and have lost by an average of 25.3 points.
It’s impossible to achieve any success when the failings are that evident throwing the football. Finding easy completions, utilizing superstars Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, and simply avoiding turnovers can turn blowout losses to, at the very least, competitive contests.
Flacco won’t have the playbook memorized when kickoff rolls around at 4:25 p.m. ET Sunday at Lambeau Field. That’s okay. Cincinnati just needs him to do the simple things correct, fulfilling his mindset in the weirdest week of his career.
Cincinnati Bengals News
Packers expert breaks down what should really concern the Bengals with Micah Parsons on the opposing side
Parsons will be a problem for Cincinnati.
