Zac Taylor Responds to Mike Tomlin's Criticism of Browns for Trading Joe Flacco to Bengals

CINCINNATI — Bengals head coach Zac Taylor responded to Mike Tomlin's comments about the Joe Flacco trade.

Tomlin made it clear that he was surprised that the Browns were willing to help the Bengals, who clearly had a need at quarterback with Joe Burrow on injured reserve.

"To be honest, it (the trade) was shocking to me. Andrew Berry must be a lot smarter than me or us," Tomlin said. "Because it doesn’t make sense to me to trade a quarterback that you think enough of to make your opening-day starter to a division opponent that’s hurting in that area. But that’s just my personal feelings."

Taylor had a simple response.

"I was happy," Taylor said with a big smile and a shrug. "I was happy. That's my only comment."

The Bengals traded a 2026 fifth round pick to the Browns in exchange for a 2026 sixth round pick and Flacco.

Flacco started for the Bengals on Sunday against the Packers, just five days after the trade.

The Bengals host the Steelers this week on Thursday Night Football. Pittsburgh had success against backup quarterback Jake Browning in two matchups with him in 2023.

Flacco is not only familiar with the Steelers, but he's won his fair share of games against them. He's 11-11 all-time against Pittsburgh. He led Indianapolis to a 27-24 win over the Steelers last September.

"On the offensive side, the story is Joe Flacco," Tomlin said on Monday. "It’s reasonable to expect him to be significantly better in Week 2."

Flacco completed 29-of-45 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns in Green Bay. He's confident the Bengals can turn things around, despite posting an 0-4 record without Joe Burrow.

“For sure, for sure," Flacco said bluntly after their 27-18 loss to the Packers. "This is a long season, and I know it’s easy to be down on yourself in hard times, but you know, playing with confidence shows. So, we got to find a way to kind of get some of that back, but I think we do have the ability to do that. Listen, we got a big week coming up, and these division games are always good matchups and going in and playing a good game this upcoming week could help a lot with that. And today probably helped a little bit, but you still want to win the game.”

Watch the clip of Taylor and Tomlin below:

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