BEREA, Ohio — On Sunday, the Browns will face the Jacksonville Jaguars at home—but who will start at quarterback for Cleveland remains to be seen, with the team opting not to name either Joe Flacco or Dorian Thompson-Robinson to the role yet and waiting until closer to game day.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski declined to announce the starter on Friday, noting that both Flacco and Thompson-Robinson are available after the latter cleared concussion protocol.
"Both guys practiced this week. Both guys practiced well. I've got faith in both guys, but not going to name a starter," Stefanski said. "You don't have to, I guess is probably the best way of putting it."
Throughout the week, Flacco had gotten most of the work at practice with Thompson-Robinson limited as he waited to be cleared from concussion protocol. Flacco was preparing for his second opportunity to start for the Browns and the opportunity to play more football after not playing for nearly a year before signing with the Browns in November.
"It's invigorating for sure. It's exciting. This is what you want," Flacco said Thursday. "You want to think about doing your job and everybody else doing their job side-by-side and letting everything else take care of itself."
But with Thompson-Robinson out of concussion protocol as of Friday, the rookie is just as excited about getting back out there.
"I'm excited. I'm ready to go if it's me and my name's called upon. Just more so excited just to, again, have football back. When you get stuff taken away from you, whether it's injuries or whatever it is, that's primarily the main focus, just getting back out on the field. So that's what I'm excited to do, excited for Sunday and hopefully, it's going to be a good weather game," Thompson-Robinson said.
During the week, Thompson-Robinson didn't get much work with the receivers, but the limited amount of reps he got isn't daunting to him. He said he's been ramping up his individual work as he got through concussion protocol. After the first start he had—one that saw him named the starter 90 minutes before kickoff—he's prepared for anything.
"After the Ravens game, I think that game is the biggest blessing of my NFL career so far," Thompson-Robinson said. "Just nothing could really get worse than that week in my perspective. So I base everything off that and just, I've gone in there now in an NFL game and started with no reps with being told last-second, so I have to do it again. I can do it again. I have those reps now. I've been trained for that scenario or anything that's going to be thrown at me. So like I said, just overall more comfortable with this go-around than previous."
It seems more likely than not Flacco, who had the most work this week, will get the start. But for now, it's a wait-and-see game.
For the receivers who will be getting the ball from either Flacco, Thompson-Robinson or perhaps even both on Sunday, both quarterbacks have their strengths that they feel comfortable out there on the field.
"Both good QBs, different QBs," said rookie wide receiver Cedric Tillman. "What I like about Dorian, both competitors, but Dorian is going to fight and do all the things he needs to do, can scramble a little bit more. Joe is that veteran has that veteran presence, can really chuck the ball."
The situation is one the Browns have experienced before. With an important AFC game up next, embracing the resilience they've shown throughout the season so far will be crucial as they look to break their two-game losing streak and set their eyes on a playoff push.
Said tight end David Njoku, "It's been a crazy *** year this year, huh? Four quarterbacks...Honestly, speaking on that, it is a testimony to how tough this team is, and I really applaud this team for just facing all the challenges that we've faced this year. Starting running back goes out for the year, starting quarterback's out for the year. We have to improvise. We have to figure out who we are again, adjust certain things. This team this year really, really impressed me and surprised me how tough we are and how quick we can transition."
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