Joe Flacco was sat on his couch. Now the Super Bowl isn’t impossible

In a season where even the best teams have flaws, the veteran quarterback only needs to be competent when he has a brilliant defense backing him up

When the NFL season started, Joe Flacco watched it like most of us: from the couch. Unsigned coming into the season, the 38-year-old stayed in shape and threw with his brother just in case an offer came along. But he was mostly shifting his focus toward a coaching career.

Then the Cleveland Browns called after their $230m man Deshaun Watson went down with a season-ending shoulder injury. He started last week and was average, though significantly more productive than the Flacco we saw play for the New York Jets last season. In Sunday’s statement 31-27 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, Flacco was better, certainly above average. Maybe even very good. We’re talking about Flacco here so it’s never going to be a jaw-dropping fireworks show, especially at this point in his career, but boy is he solid. He ended Sunday 26-of-45 for 311 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. He was savvy, including getting the coverage to bite on a fake to Kareem Hunt on the opening drive that left tight end David Njoku wide open for the first of his two scores. There were mistakes and a few missed opportunities but mostly Flacco played like an experienced and reliable game manager.