Quarterback Ep. 1 Review: Joe Flacco's Son, Wife Bench Him on Their Fantasy Teams After Week 1 Loss to Bengals

If you thought Peyton Manning and the producers of the Netflix documentary “Quarterback” would ease into the Joe Flacco storyline for a couple of episodes before his trade to the Cincinnati Bengals, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

The first episode of Season 3 – titled “Face of the Franchise” – devotes more time to Flacco (14 minutes) than any of the other three quarterbacks: Jayden Daniels (12), Cam Ward (12) and Baker Mayfield (7.5).

After a three and a half minute opening that starts with Cam Ward’s selection as the No. 1 pick, the show lays out how all four quarterbacks entered 2025 with something to prove.

Manning does the voiceover, saying “This season, it’s not just about the hype. It’s not just about the hits. It’s all about surviving the hardest position in sports.”

When he talks about the hits, the show features a clip of Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt burying Flacco in the turf in the Week 11 game in Pittsburgh.

After the opening and title screen, the show features Mayfield first, followed by Daniels.

The Flacco storyline kicks in at the 17:30 mark with a shot of him and his wife, Dana, in their New Jersey garage looking at the red Corvette he won for being the MVP of Super Bowl XLVII.

Joe Flacco's Corvette — Feb 3, 2013; New Orleans, LA, USA; Detailed view of the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette won by Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco (not pictured) following the game against the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The car is dusty, and Flacco says he hasn’t driven it in at least five years and has no idea where the keys are.

“You keep your trophies stuffed in the attic somewhere, and this is just a bigger version of that,” he says. “We are not getting in. This car would not start. No chance.”

The family gave the producers pictures of him driving his kids around the Corvette many years ago, which the show airs.

“I do not fit well in this car,” Flacco says.

The scene pivots to scene in their house where they detail how they met in high school and started dating right before graduation but made it work with both off at college.

Dana says Flacco initially told her he wanted eight kids.

They settled on five in rapid-fire fashion, four boys and one girl. At the time of filming, they were in seventh, sixth, fifth, third and second grades.

That’s followed by highlights of Super Bowl XLVII, which the Ravens won 34-31 against the 49ers, and Flacco and his teammates celebrating after the final gun and footage from the parade.

Feb 3, 2013; New Orleans, LA, USA; Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco (5) is hoisted by teammates after winning in Super Bowl XLVII at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

His Super Bowl MVP is a silver football that is in just as poor shape as the Corvette.

“It’s tarnished as heck. Nobody’s touched this in like 12 years, 13 years,” Flacco says. “These are things that you think you’re gonna care about a lot. I guess the idea is ‘Yeah, that’ll be cool to have an office and put some things up. Then you ultimately don’t really care that much about it.

“Like this ring,” he adds, showing off his diamond-encrusted Super Bowl ring. “My kids like to look at it. I guess that’s ultimately what it’s for.”

Flacco talks about being with the Ravens for 11 years and how much turnover he saw on the roster, then the show plays clip of the team drafting Lamar Jackson in 2018.

That leads into the rattling off of all his trades and other transactions from 2019-2025, including him celebrating leading the Browns to the playoffs in 2023 and winning the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award at the NFL Honors event a few months later.

After a quick four and a half minutes on Ward, the show returns to Flacco. Producers are interviewing him at a hotel in Baltimore ahead of the Browns’ Week 2 game against the Ravens.

He recounts how his oldest son, Daniel, was born the morning of a Week 2 Ravens-Browns game in Week 2 of 2013 and how all the memories are coming back. Flacco had decided he would miss the birth to play the game.

The Ravens won 14-6, and there’s a clip of then-Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh congratulating Dana for getting the job done on her own in his postgame press conference.

“It was a cool day,” Flacco says. “We won a football game, and we’re still talking about it 12 years later. It’s a cool story we’ll be talking about the rest of our life in some way.”

After some shots of Flacco meeting with former teammate and tight end Dennis Pitta and Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti on the field pregame, the focus shifts to Dana and Daniel in the stands for one of the funniest highlights of the episode.

Daniel tells Dana, “If dad goes off, I’m gonna crash out.”

Dana: “What do you mean?”

Daniel: “I benched him.”

Dana: “I hope he goes off.”

The show cuts to a home interview with Dana, and she says she plays fantasy football, too, and admits that she also benched her husband after his poor Week 1 performance against the Bengals.

Unlike the day Daniel was born, things didn’t go as well for Flacco in this Browns-Ravens game. Flacco and the Browns lost 41-17 as he threw for just 199 yards with an interception and two sacks. He also lost a fumble that was returned for a touchdown.

The segment ends with announcers saying that if Flacco is going to turn the ball over like that, the Browns should just see what they have in rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders.

Cam Ward and Brian Callahan — Sep 7, 2025; Denver, Colorado, USA; Tennessee Titans head coach Brian Callahan talks to quarterback Cam Ward (1) in the first half at Empower Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The also is another Bengals connection to the show with Ward’s head coach being former Cincinnati offensive coordinator Brian Callahan before the Titans fired him after a 1-5 start.

Ward and the Titans nearly beat the Broncos in the season opener, but one of the reasons they didn’t was a Callahan mistake the show zeroed in on.

Trailing 13-12 with 10 minutes to go, the Titans were in field goal range and facing third and 24.

During a timeout, Ward asks to see the third and long calls on the play sheet.

“We just want to be in field goal range,” Callahan tells the rookie. “We need to take the lead right here.”

“I’m not gonna take a sack,” Ward promises before Callahan allows him to pick the play he wants to run.

Ward takes a sack and fumbles, and the Broncos convert it into a touchdown drive and 20-12 victory to kickstart a 14-3 season that earned them the No. 1 seed in the AFC.

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