'Quarterback' Ep. 4 Review: Show Goes Inside the Helmet to Detail Flacco's Baptism By Fire with Bengals

Episode 4 of the new season of Netflix’s “Quarterback” is titled “Too Much Static,” which on the surface appears to be in reference to the firing of Tennessee Titans head coach and former Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan.

The show opens with a shot of Titans quarterback Cam Ward driving to the team facility and then footage of the loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, which dropped Tennessee to 1-5.

After the title page, the show resumes with the breaking news of Callahan being the first coach fired in 2025.

Ward talks about how shocking it was for everyone despite the slow start, and the rookie quarterback throws some praise Callahan’s way.

That’s followed by a five-minute segment on Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield before the scene shifts to Joe Flacco on the practice field, which is where the real meaning of “Too Much Static” comes into play.

There are shots of Flacco trying to hear and repeat head coach Zac Taylor’s play calls on his first day on the job with the team, which is just five days before he’s expected to start in Green Bay.

The show interviews both Taylor and center Ted Karras about the whirlwind Flacco is facing.

“We have a very wordy language for our offense,” Karras says.

There also is a cameo from SI's James Rapien talking about the Flacco trade.

Bengals tried to keep season alive by acquiring Joe Flacco. — James Rapien talks about the Joe Flacco trade. | Netflix

There are multiple clips of Flacco struggling to get the calls right in practice before the scene shifts to Lambeau Field for Week 6.

The first highlight shown is one of Flacco taking a big hit on third down.

There are more shots of incompletions and Flacco sitting dejected on the bench.

In a later interview, he talks about one of his big screwups involving Ja’Marr Chase, who was lined up as the X receiver on the play.

“I called a play and tagged X something, X bang I think,” he says. “That’s a protection call, not a route. I didn’t even know what route he was running. I didn’t give him a route.”

Not surprisingly, Flacco throws well wide of Chase with the receiver breaking in and the ball going more toward the sideline.

“Listen, it was a crazy week,” Flacco says. “Sometimes thing take a little time.”

The show follows that highlights of Flacco stringing together completions and eventually hitting tight end Tanner Hudson for a touchdown.

The obligatory shot of the defense getting gashed for a touchdown run followed before a look at one of the plays of the year, Chase’s touchdown reception from Flacco when the receiver wasn’t even open.

“How in God’s name did Ja’Marr Chase catch that ball?” Bengals radio announcer Dan Hoard says on the game broadcast, which is played over top of the video.

Flacco walks to the bench and backup quarterback Jake Browning says of Chase, “He’s pretty good, huh?”

The two quarterbacks share a laugh and Flacco continues to cackle in disbelief while saying, “It’s crazy. I’m not even making very good throws. It’s insane.”

The show returns to the Bengals facility after the loss with more shots of Taylor talking to Flacco through the helmet headset in practice, which is where the true title of the episode comes into play.

Flacco would be having a hard enough time hearing, repeating and remembering each play call, even if the audio is crystal clear. But it’s not. It’s scratchy with a lot of static and blips.

A two-minute montage ensues with Flacco, Ward, Mayfield and Jayden Daniels all talking about how difficult headset communication can be with lots of shots of them covering the earholes on their helmets midgame to try to hear.

The episode returns to a more Flacco-centric segment as the Bengals prepare to play the Steelers on Thursday Night Football.

He’s forced to call a timeout. There’s a false start. It’s hardly a clean operation.

“The best thing you can do is not blink in those moments,” Flacco says. “Once the ball is snapped, you’ve gotta go play football.”

There are interviews with Flacco detailing the difficult and Taylor saying he doesn’t know what part of the call Flacco needs repeated when he asks for him to run through it again, so he has to go through the whole thing to try to beat the clock before the communication is shut down with 15 seconds left on the play clock.

There’s a highlight of Flacco throwing a touchdown to give the Bengals a 14-10 lead and as he heads to the sideline, Browning says “Every time you f—k up, the play has gone for 10 (yards).”

The two start laughing about the improbability of the success they’re having.

“Every play, it’s like what the f—k is this,” he says. “Then kaboom.”

There are more highlights as the game turns into a shootout, and one point Chase turns to injured starter Joe Burrow and says, “I know you miss this s—t, No. 9.”

The segment ends with Flacco’s deep pass to Tee Higgins that sets up the game-winning field goal and Taylor presenting Flacco with the game ball in the locker room.

With almost the entire first half of the episode devoted to Flacco, the back half focuses on Daniels, Ward and Mayfield.

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