Joe Flacco Showed Some Promise in Leading the New York Jets Offense in a Week 5 Loss

Joe Flacco was far from the issue for a Jets offense that struggled to consistently move the ball in a 30-10 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

The now 0-5 Jets have many deficiencies on both sides of the ball but Flacco, a former Super Bowl MVP, was certainly not to blame.

In his first start since Week 8 last season when he was a member of the Denver Broncos, Flacco limited mistakes but seemed hampered by ineffective play-calling. Drops, including two by tight end Chris Henrdon, also didn’t help an offense that was effective at times but struggled with inconsistencies.

All told, it wasn’t splashy but Flacco was solidly effective, going 18-of-33 for 195 yards with a touchdown. His first start in almost a year showed some unevenness at times but also plenty of promise, even as the Jets offense sputtered.

“I think we had a decent amount of long drives today and at some point we just beat ourselves in those drives. With a team like us that’s struggling right now to get going it’s, in a way, good to see those long drives and keeping ourselves on the field and converting first downs, but at the same time, we just haven’t been able to get out of our own way,” Flacco said after the game in his virtual press conference.

“At some point we make a mistake that kind of kills the drive and I think that’s kind of what happened on third and fourth down. We’re going to have to go back and watch it, I don’t know off the top of my head exactly, but I just know that we’ve been doing something along the way to shoot ourselves in the foot.”

During the week, Flacco talked about the significance of this start. He saw action in Week 4, briefly spelling quarterback Sam Darnold for four offensive plays in a Thursday night loss to the previously winless Denver Broncos. Late in the first quarter, Darnold was sacked and driven into the ground by Broncos linebacker A.J. Johnson, the Jets quarterback suffering a sprain to his AC joint on the play.

Flacco threw two passes in that game for 16 yards before Darnold would return. But it showed that Flacco, despite offseason neck surgery and being released this offseason by the Broncos, wasn’t washed-up.

And he said during the week this was a chance for him to prove a point about his viability as a starting NFL quarterback. The 35-year old, while a bit rusty, did nothing to dispel the idea that he could step-in somewhere and be effective.

“It’s definitely exciting to get back out there. Definitely there were parts of my game where I felt like I had I haven’t played or practiced in a long time, but there were times I felt like I was able to move and do some things like you were talking about, getting those first downs with my legs and it always feels good to be able to do that and get into a little bit of a rhythm or try to get the offense into a little bit of a rhythm,” Flacco said.

“I think that’s one of the big things that we were kind of missing today. We had some individual plays that were good but we just weren’t able to stack anything on top of each other and get ourselves in that rhythm where we could put their defense on their heels a little bit.”

After the game, Jets head coach Adam Gase was unwilling to say that Darnold would return for next week. Flacco showed he is certainly capable of guiding a bad Jets offense and perhaps even being an upgrade.

“There was a lot of good. I’ll be interested when we go back and watch it to see how many drops we had,” Gase said about Flacco’s performance.

“I felt like we had some completions early that could have gotten us going and we either had a drop or something happened, whether it be a protection or a busted route. I thought he did a pretty good job. I know there are some throws that he wishes he had back or some decisions that he’d probably want to change, but it’s hard to say without watching the film.”

Wide receiver Jamison Crowder led the Jets with eight catches for 116 yards and a touchdown. The remainder of the Jets offense combined for 10 catches for 79 receiving yards.