On Sunday, the Cincinnati Bengals travel to Wisconsin to take on the Green Bay Packers in what many thought could be a Super Bowl preview before the season. For the record, no one thinks that now. While the Packers are still contenders at 2-1-1, the Bengals absolutely are not, losing the last three games after a 2-0 start.
These things happen when you lose your Pro Bowl quarterback for the overwhelming majority of the season. Sad to say, the worst is probably yet to come for Cincy, unless newly-acquired quarterback Joe Flacco can get things turned around.
But, there is an interesting storyline in this week’s matchup. The Packers, who lost in Cleveland Week 3 to a woebegone Browns team, will now face quarterback Joe Flacco for the second time this season…but for two different teams.
“He’s going to take all the reps and get ready to go,” Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said during his press conference Wednesday.
No quarterback in NFL history has ever defeated the same team twice in the same season while playing for two different teams. Although, in 1962 Jack Kemp defeated the New York Titans twice while playing for the San Diego Chargers and Buffalo Bills, but that was in the AFL.
Packers a little shocked to see Joe Flacco again
Packers’ head coach Matt LaFleur said that he hasn’t played the same quarterback twice in the same season for two different teams before. Let’s be honest, how many have?
Quarterbacks rarely get traded. It’s even rarer that starting quarterbacks get traded. Multiply that by X amount of times that the starting quarterback gets traded in-season and then now calculate the odds of playing the same team twice due to scheduling odds.
The point is, it’s really odd.
“Outside of a division game, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the same quarterback on a different team, so it will be interesting,” LaFleur said Wednesday.
“I certainly was a little surprised,” LeFleur added.
The advantage for LaFleur and the Packers is two fold: He gets to see a quarterback for the second time and now he’s on a new team with four days to prepare.
“I’d say that Joe Flacco has been playing this game for a really long time and he’s been in a lot of different systems, so I’d bet that he’d have no problem picking it up in a short period of time,” LaFleur said. “I think the hardest thing for them is going to be the nuances of your cadence, your snap count, the rapport you have with the other players. Now, he’s pretty fortunate, he has some good guys to certainly throw to.”
Joe Flacco has Chase and Higgins now
The big downside to the Packers facing Flacco this time around is that his wide receiver situation is just a little bit different. No more Jerry Jeudy and whoever else, now it’s Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, regarded by many as the best wide receiver tandem in the NFL.
Outside of last week against the Lions when Chase caught six balls for 110 yards and two touchdowns, and Higgins who caught three passes for 22 yards and a touchdown, the pair has largely been silent in the absence of Burrow. If Flacco can just be competent, the duo should pose major problems for Green Bay.
Packers’ quarterback Jordan Love may actually have to put some points on the board now.
“It was not, ‘See you in a few weeks,’” Love said Wednesday when asked about facing Flacco a second time. “I was not expecting that one. But that’s how the NFL is, man. Crazy stuff happens. Obviously, it’s probably weird for the defense going up against him, pretty close timeline. We’ll see. It’ll be interesting for him. New team. New situation. We’ll see.”
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