His First Start in a Year, Joe Flacco Felt Early Rust Give Way to Some Sharpness in Week 5
It has been almost a full calendar year since Joe Flacco had been a starting quarterback in the NFL. So some rust was only natural for Flacco, who started for the New York Jets in their 30-10 loss on Sunday to the Arizona Cardinals.
Flacco led the Jets on their lone touchdown of the game in the third quarter, cutting the Cardinals lead to 17-10. On the first couple of Jets possessions, he misfired a bit. There were a couple of errant passes and while the checkdowns and underneath routes often clicked for Flacco, not much down the field worked early on.
But as the game wore on, Flacco improved and settled in. It is to be expected considering he had only thrown two passes this whole season before Sunday.
“I definitely think I came out just a little bit tentatively for whatever reason and just made some throws like that, just trying to get a completion as opposed to throwing the ball like I know how to,” Flacco said this week in a conference call with the media.
“I felt like after the first two series really, I was able to settle in a little bit and actually start to play football and just play, throw the ball well and move when I had to and do all those things. So definitely, pretty accurate there, I would agree with that.”
Flacco finished 18-of-33 for 195 yards with a touchdown. Not numbers that jump out, but a solid performance.
He was hurt by several drops and being sacked four times. And while he led a terrible Jets offense on just two scoring drives, the offense still seemed more competent then in weeks past.
A season-high 21 first downs showed that the Jets could at least move the ball at times.
His 2019 was cut short, his first year with the Denver Broncos ending with a neck injury. Offseason surgery meant no training camp for Flacco and his first action came in Week 4, ironically against the Broncos.
It is unclear if Flacco is the starter moving forward for Week 6. Sam Darnold’s sprained shoulder remains uncertain for the Jets game at the Miami Dolphins this week.
“It’s really just the healing process that he’s going through right now and kind of how he would feel going out to practice and throwing and how far he can throw and kind of really how that would look,” Jets head coach Adam Gase said. “I know he’s trying to, they’re kind of trying to proceed with that just to kind of determine where he’s at with all that, that’s why the next few days will be critical for that, in the aspect of where we’re at on Wednesday.”
