CINCINNATI — The Bengals had a long list of quarterback names they were interested in before whittling things down to Joe Flacco in the last two weeks. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer broke down the saga this week.
The Bengals had 13 names on the list, including Colts embattled passer Anthony Richardson.
After being blown out at home by the Lions in Week 5, Taylor and his offensive coaches sat down to discuss a bucket of quarterbacks that could be upgrades—guys who were good No. 2s behind strong No. 1s, No. 3s with some experience, or young guys with promise,” Breer wrote. “On the list, culled by Duke Tobin and the personnel department, were Stetson Bennett, Derek Carr, Kirk Cousins, Tommy DeVito, Flacco, Jimmy Garoppolo, Josh Johnson, Drew Lock, Tanner McKee, Davis Mills, Anthony Richardson, Russell Wilson, and Jameis Winston.
“The coaches narrowed the list to five, with the goal being to find the best guy to keep the team in the AFC playoff race for long enough to give Joe Burrow a chance to return with something to play for. Flacco emerged as the most viable option. He was affordable, yes. But it was more than that—his ability in the dropback game would allow the staff to run the closest thing to a Burrow offense, which in turn would maximize the talent on hand. All that AFC North experience was a factor, too, with the Bengals still having five division games left.”
Flacco came in and played pretty well against the Packers despite only a couple of practices to get up to speed leading into the 27-18 loss.
He has another chance to show he was the best option of the group tonight against Pittsburgh after posting a season-high 68.5 ESPN QBR in his debut. Cincinnati really needs another repeat performance or better to have a realistic hope of hanging around the AFC playoff race.
A loss to Pittsburgh would drop their playoff odds even further from a current 8.1% chance on ESPN’s Football Power Index.
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