Bengals QB Joe Flacco Will Face Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin for 23rd Time

CINCINNATI – If Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco, as expected, starts Sunday, it will be the 12th of his career in Pittsburgh, tying him for the most in the Super Bowl era.

Two other quarterbacks made 12 starts in Pittsburgh – the Bengals’ Ken Anderson and the Houston Oilers’ Warren Moon.

Former Cincinnati quarterback Andy Dalton is fourth on the list with nine.

For the duration of Flacco’s career, Mike Tomlin has been the head coach of the Steelers. And they’ve been division rivals of Flacco in 13 of his 18 seasons.

Sunday will mark Flacco’s 23rd career start against Tomlin, regardless of venue.

That will tie them for the fourth most meetings between quarterback and coach all time.

The record is 30 meetings between Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and former Cincinnati coach Marvin Lewis.

It was actually 32 if you include postseason meetings.

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan and former New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton are second with 25 battles.

Buffalo Bills quarterback Joe Ferguson and Miami Dolphins legend Don Shula met 24 times.

A 23rd meeting between Flacco and Tomlin will tie them with Bengals quarterback Ken Anderson and Steelers coach Chuck Noll.

Flacco’s 11 wins are tied for 11th most against a specific coach.

Roethlisberger holds the top two spots, with his 23 regular-season wins against Lewis nearly doubling his second-place total, which is 14 against Ravens coach John Harbaugh.

Peyton Manning is third with 13 wins against Jeff Fisher.

If Flacco wins Sunday, his 12 wins against Tomlin would be tied for fourth most with five other quarterbacks:

Brett Favre (Dave Wannstedt)

Peyton Manning (Jack Del Rio)

Tom Brady (Rex Ryan)

Jim Kelly (Don Shula)

John Elway (Marty Schottenheimer).

Taking the team element out of the equation, here are the passer ratings by a quarterback against a specific coach (minimum four starts):

Aaron Rodgers (Leslie Frazier), 130.7

Kirk Cousins (Matt Patricia), 128.9

Kurt Warner (Dan Reeves), 128.3

Steve Young (Wayne Fontes), 123.6

Drew Brees (Norv Turner), 120.6

Fran Tarkenton (Charley Winner), 120.1

Kirk Cousins (Mike McCarthy), 119.9

Deshaun Watson (Mike Vrabel), 119.5

Len Dawson (George Wilson), 119.1

Dak Prescott (Nick Siriani), 119.0

And the Best in Bengals History

Joe Burrow (John Harbaugh), 104.8

Carson Palmer (Romeo Crennel), 93.1

Joe Burrow (Kevin Stefanski), 92.6

Carson Palmer (Brian Billick), 92.6

Joe Burrow (Mike Tomlin), 92.4

Seeing Burrow own three of the top five spots in team history and all of them coming against division opponents, I wondered which quarterback has the best career passer rating in division games.

He’s just outside the top 10 among quarterbacks with at least 10 starts in division games.

Aaron Rodgers, 107.2

Brock Purdy, 106.1

C.J. Stroud, 105.4

Dak Prescott, 102.8

Jimmy Garoppolo, 102.2

Patrick Mahomes, 100.6

Steve Young, 98.2

Justin Herbert, 98.2

Kirk Cousins, 97.7

Deshaun Watson, 97.5

Jordan Love, 97.4

Joe Burrow 97.1