The Bengals made a big move last week, trading for veteran quarterback Joe Flacco. Although he wasn’t one of the big names that were rumored, he may just be the perfect fit.
Flacco has a huge arm, big-game experience, and has seen just about everything the NFL can throw at you.
Let’s take another look at Flacco’s first action in stripes.
In this clip, you can see how quickly Flacco reads the defense and gets the ball out.
Initially, Flacco looks at Andrei Iosivas on the slant, but as the linebacker (56) gets wider, he goes to the other side. He finds tight end Tanner Hudson in the back of the end zone for the score on 4th Down.
This was a big-time play to get the Bengals on the board after a long drive.
The first half was rough, but Flacco seemed to get in sync with the offense pretty quickly in the second half.
I knew Flacco could process quickly and had a big arm, but I was concerned about how he’d be able to mesh with his receivers. It was impressive to see him hook up with Ja’Marr Chase on this pass. He put it behind Chase, but the two seemed to be on the same page with what they were seeing from the defense.
This was an impressive connection for two guys who have been playing together for less than a week.
Joe Flacco is a 40-year-old, 18-year veteran who was never known for his scrambling. Still, the talk of him as a broken-down old-timer who can’t move has been extremely exaggerated.
This is exactly the type of pocket movement that he will need to utilize in order to keep the play alive and find the open receiver.
This time, it was enough to hook up with Chase Brown for the 2-point conversion.
Flacco was an excellent addition for the Bengals. He has the processing ability and arm to run the Bengals offense effectively and efficiently. We got a glimpse of what he can be for Cincinnati in the second half and it shows great promise for the rest of the season.
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