Flacco said Sunday he had landed awkwardly on his throwing shoulder after taking his lone sack of a 39-38 loss to the New York Jets, on the second-to-last drive. He went back to the locker room during the Jets’ final drive to take the lead and returned in time for the last series that unfortunately stalled out to seal the game.
After the game, Flacco said he was feeling good, but Taylor said Monday he was understandably sore. On Wednesday, reports surfaced that he was dealing with a sprained AC joint.
“We’ll see what we can potentially get out of him (Thursday),” Taylor said. “We’ll just work through the week. I think right now it’s 50-50 on what it will end up on Sunday.”
If anyone is capable of being ready for a game without practice reps, it’s Flacco. He arrived via trade on a Tuesday night after the gameplan for Green Bay was already in place and started that Sunday, then made a quick turnaround to a Thursday Night Football game against Pittsburgh in Week 7.
Taylor said the training staff and coaches have a plan in place to see what Flacco can do physically this week, but Taylor admitted he doesn’t know the challenges of playing through an AC joint sprain.
“He wants to play in the game, so kudos to him,” Taylor said. “He’s been here three weeks; he wants to play. I hate speaking for him, but that’s what he’s told me. He’ll have to work through the week to see if he’s able to do that. It’s a throwing shoulder. It’s painful. Golly, a guy who wants to do that, wants to get out there and play with something like that, credit to him. We’ll go through the week and see where it ends up and have Jake ready to go, too, and see how it plays out.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Flacco had been brought in to provide a spark to Bengals offense full of talented weapons after Browning struggled to move the ball and avoid turnovers in four games after Joe Burrow exited in the second quarter of a Week 2 win over Jacksonville.
The Bengals averaged 217.3 yards of offense and 12.3 points in Browning’s three starts, but they averaged 378.7 yards of offense and 29.7 points per game in the last three games with Flacco. Browning threw six touchdowns and eight interceptions over his four appearances, while Flacco has thrown seven touchdowns with no interceptions in almost the same amount of time.
Taylor said he’s been happy with Browning’s response since the Bengals acquired Flacco to replace him, and he still has confidence that Browning can win games.
It helps the offense as a whole has experienced some success and brings more confidence now than a few weeks ago, but perhaps the shakeup at the quarterback spot was a good reset for Browning, as well. Offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher said Browning has responded with the “right approach.”
“Jake’s a pro,” Pitcher said. “Jake’s a guy who’s always carried himself with confidence. He’s continued to put the work in. He’s as disappointed as I’m sure he was. Part of him probably remains, with how things have transpired … He’s done his job. He’s helped Joe (Flacco) and at the same time prepared himself should the opportunity arise where he needs to play. I feel very comfortable if that’s the direction it ends up going. Again, both of them are just getting ready.”
Browning’s struggles with turnovers were what ultimately led to his benching, which makes the Bears a concerning opponent to face this week. Chicago leads the league in turnover margin after forcing five fumbles and picking off 11 interceptions through a 4-3 start.
Safety Kevin Byard has four interceptions, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds adds three, and defensive lineman Montez Sweat has forced two fumbles.
“When you’re No. 1 in the league in turnover margin that says a lot about how you’re playing, so it’s a real challenge for our guys to protect the ball, protect the quarterback,” Taylor said. “They’ve got a good unit over there and they’re well coached.”
Taylor said the starting quarterback decision could come down to gameday and a pre-game workout. The Bengals will also have to prepare for the possibility of Sean Clifford being on the bench if Flacco can’t go.
Cincinnati has a bye next week, so Flacco would have an extra week to recover if he didn’t play this week.
“We’ll weigh everything in there,” Taylor said. “… There’s certainly an element of protect him from himself, there’s certainly an element of you have to trust him, how he feels and how he communicates and I trust 18 years (experience) and he’s probably played with injuries before, ‘I can do this’ or ‘I can’t do this,’ and so, I think we’ll get good information as the next couple of days go by and make our decision on what we need to do.”
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