'Quarterback' Ep. 6 Review: Flacco Says Watt Knew What He Was Doing on Penalty and 'That's the Steelers Defense'

For the second time in the third season of Netflix’s “Quarterback,” we see a clip of Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt driving Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco into the turf.

The first time the show rolled the clip of the play, which resulted in Watt getting a 15-yard penalty for roughing the passer, was way back in Episode 1 as a brief shot in the opening montage.

The show dives much deeper into the play in Episode 6, titled “Toughness Is a Choice.”

After spending a lot of time on Flacco’s shoulder injury in Episode 5, the show circles back to the play in the Jets game when it happened as a way to set up his storyline for this episode.

Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield gets the first 3.5 minutes before the scene shifts to Cincinnati. As the footage of the play rolls, Flacco says, “It’s just part of the game. In the back of your mind, you know you’re gonna get hit. You’re in a car crash that you have no awareness of.”

There are scenes in Flacco’s condo with his personal trainer, Brian Kane, working on the shoulder during the bye week.

After some quick clips of Tennessee’s Cam Ward and Washington’s Jayden Daniels, we see the Watt hit.

In his postgame press conference, Flacco was asked about the hit and said “It’s just football. He did a good job of driving me into the turf.”

Shown on the sideline right after it happened, he says, “Man, he f—ked me up. He knew what he was doing, too. He was like, ‘I’ve got a chance to hit him here. I’m gonna take full advantage.

“It didn’t feel good,” Flacco adds. “But that’s football. That’s the Steelers defense.”

Episode 1 Review: Flacco's wife and son benched him after loss to Bengals
Episode 2 Review: Flacco rips 'swaggy' QBs as Shedeur Sanders stands next to him
Episode 3 Review: Flacco's wife, kids take center stage as he's traded to Bengals
Episode 4 Review: Show goes inside helmet to detail Flacco's baptism by fire with Bengals
Episode 5 Review: Funny Flacco quote goes viral as Bengals, media react to it

After another five-minute segment on Mayfield, the show returns to Cincinnati as the Bengals’ top two quarterbacks are moving in different directions.

While Flacco is dealing with discomfort in both shoulders, Joe Burrow is inching closer to full health.

There’s a shot of them at practice, comparing their grips and other mechanics. Burrow clearly has studied Flacco, recalling in detail his dropbacks and footwork.

Flacco describes his thinking in why he does it that way, and Burrow says, “I’ve always been the opposite.”

In an interview with producers, Flacco admits that Burrow returning to practice to open his window to return to play forced him to deal with some emotions that week.

“I’m trying to figure out if he would be the guy that week, knowing that even if I was the guy, it would be the last one.”

Head coach Zac Taylor says in an interview they felt Burrow could be ready to play against the Patriots but were concerned about the quick turnaround for a Thursday night game after he just came back, so the team elected to wait until Thanksgiving to play Burrow.

Flacco says Taylor was up front with him before Burrow returned to practice that he had been in the building a lot and was eyeing Baltimore as his return.

The show airs highlights of Flacco’s final game as Cincinnati starter and one final injury, when he dislocates his index finger by smashing it on the palm of a New England pass rusher on his follow through after a pass.

Flacco missed one play to get it popped back into place, then came in and threw a TD pass to Mitch Tinsley.

The show gets a close-up shot of the dislocation as Flacco walks off the field.

“I’m assuming that knuckle is gonna be bigger forever,” he says. “You should see linemen and some of their hands. Here I am talking about one little finger.”

After a quick segment on Ward and 6.5 minutes on Daniels, the show returns to Cincinnati, showing Burrow, Flacco and Jake Browning walking out to practice ahead of the Baltimore game.

“I knew I was going somewhere when as soon as he was healthy, he was gonna play,” he says. “I’ve been in his shoes, where if I’m ready to go and I say I’m ready to go, I’m playing. And I respect that.

“It’s hard in the sense that you want to be the guy,” he adds. “I love playing the game. I want to be out there. But it was easy to wrap my head around because he’s obviously the guy there.”

The first six episodes have been pretty Flacco heavy. Perhaps that’s because the finale won’t feature much of him after he returns to the bench.

Although there could be some clips from his news conference in March when he announces he’s returning.

For more on the Bengals, subscribe to our YouTube Channel and be sure to check us out on your favorite audio platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Amazon. Make sure you bookmark BengalsTalk.com for the latest Bengals news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns, and so much more! We're a one-stop shop for all things Cincinnati Bengals! Join the 65,000+ Bengals fans who subscribe to us on YouTube.

Add us as a preferred source on Google