Add All-Pro guard Joel Bitonio to the list of Cleveland Browns players happy that veteran quarterback and Super Bowl XLVII Most Valuable Player Joe Flacco didn’t take a job with the “Inside the NFL” television program earlier this season.
“You have a quarterback, he’s a Super Bowl champion, Super Bowl MVP, unfortunately beat up on the Browns when he was (with the Baltimore Ravens),” Bitonio said about Flacco while speaking with Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. “It was just like, ‘I’m one of the guys.’ I remember the first thing I talked to him about was if he felt old being around the young guys. He’s like, ‘Honestly, I’m 38, but I feel like I’m 25 around the guys. Everyone makes me feel young.’ And since then, he’s taken his time to be part of the group.”
Flacco joined the Browns after the Week 11 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers last month following Deshaun Watson’s season-ending shoulder injury. The 38-year-old played instead of rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson and former Cleveland backup PJ Walker over the past two games, and Flacco is now Cleveland’s full-time QB1 until further notice after he completed 26-of-45 passes for 311 yards with three touchdowns and an interception in a win over the Jaguars.
“It’s underratedly impressive,” Bitonio added about Flacco potentially saving Cleveland’s promising season. “I’ve been on some bad teams that have gone through three or four starting quarterbacks. Those teams don’t win games. You go 1–15 and 0–16 in those seasons. For [general manager] Andrew Berry and coach [Kevin] Stefanski to have us just playing resilient football, it’s the most cliché thing ever, but it’s going 1–0 every week. You don’t know who’s going to be the quarterback or what situation you’re going to be in, but the focus on the week is like, ‘Hey, we’re going 1–0 this week no matter what.'”
As of Monday afternoon, the ESPN Football Power Index gave the Browns an 80.8% chance to make the playoffs. Cleveland began Monday holding the No. 5 seed in the AFC, but the Browns could potentially rise up the standings via a win at home over the 5-8 Chicago Bears this coming Sunday.
On Monday afternoon, oddschecker listed the Browns as three-point favorites against the Bears. Perhaps Flacco and company will use such a line as bulletin board material as they prepare to welcome Chicago to Cleveland Browns Stadium.