”Joe Falcco dominates” – ESPN reacts to Bengals come from behind to beat Steelers, 33-31

”Joe Falcco dominates” – ESPN reacts to Bengals come from behind to beat Steelers, 33-31

alongside Bryant McFaden here to offer thoughts. And we don’t have to go there just yet. I I want this to start on a celebratory note of both of these gentlemen. 41 and 40 years old, a combined 54 of 81, 591 yards, and seven touchdowns through the air. Emory Hunt on a Thursday night on a short week. This is the good stuff. Those are two great quarterbacks showing out right now. Yeah. And he stepped up big in the biggest moment. We are all all watching this ball game as a country and we’re watching two guys play their best when everyone is watching. Showing you that age is just a number. And I like the fact that they not only played well statistically, but they they played well situationally also. You talk about third downs offense, red zone offense. They were excelling in those situations, need to have it situations. This is where they also excelled as well. So you like that they went out there, balled out statistically, but balled out when their team needed the most. Joe Flacco had just a little bit more than Aaron Rogers. Mike Tomlin tried to warn us. He he some folks were saying, “Why is Mike Tomlin hating on Cincinnati?” Why is he worried about what type of transactions Cincinnati and Cleveland they had going on? He knew it. He knew it. And he said he didn’t understand. It didn’t make any sense. And most importantly, it was all about Cincinnati being next on the schedule. Because you can say whatever you want to say about Joe Flacco and where he is in this stage in his career, he still is more than a serviceable quarterback considering highlevel resources surrounding him. And that’s what he walked into when he became a Cincinnati Bengal. What we saw last week for Joe on the road, basically six days being in place there in Cincinnati, was basically the acclamation period for him, getting accustomed to the playbook and his new pass catchers. What we saw tonight was I’m acclimated now and all I have to do is just stand upright in the pocket and deliver the goods and I have the guys that can come down with those said goods at any given time. And that’s what he did. Remember what I talked about with the the my prop for Jamar Chase? I said one thing about Joe Flacco, he is going to target Jamar Chase. Remember he gave Jamar Chase 12 targets straight off the bus coming into Cincinnati. So what what what were you expecting for Jamar Chase tonight, easily surpassing his re reception prop? We saw that maybe in the first half. So when Joe Flacco did to Emy’s point, he was just comfortable and he was wheeling and dealing. And when anything was in question, guess who he looked for? Number one. And you know what? That’s what every quarterback should do when you’re playing in the same huddle as Jamar Chase. And when in doubt, look for one. I will say this, Joe. You know who we talk about a lot about Joe Flacco’s age and Aaron Rogers’s age. You know who looked old tonight? Jaylen Ramsey and Darius Slate. Yeah, Blacko looked younger than those guys how they played. And that’s where I’ I’d like to go next here after we do offer some accolade here to Jamar Chase in the win. His 16 receptions, the most in franchise history. So, not just going over that prop, but going over any receptions that anyone in that jersey has ever done before. He does it here on a short week with a 40-year-old quarterback. Mac, that is the what of it all. I’m more interested in the how and the why. Talk to me as a former Steelers defender about the standard you did not see met in this game. You get run on by the worst rushing attack in the NFL for 142 yards through the air. It was anything he wanted. Where are the breakdowns right now? Well, let’s start with the guys that put their hand in the dirt in the trenches. You talked about it. Chase Brown came into this game tonight averaging around two yards per carry. Every opposing defense that played against Cincinnati neutralized the running game totally. But Chase Brown tonight, guys, he averaged 9.8 yards per carry. In point, he averaged a first down. First down. He touched the football 9.8. Then outside of the running game led by Chase Brown, talk about the comfort that Joe Flacco had to work for. When you average that type of number per throw, you’re comfortable. You’re not rushing. So that is that’s the issue that I have when you talk about the steals defensively. When you talk about the mis the the the communication errors in the second and the third level it starts and it stops with the guys that put pressure on opposing quarterbacks. What did we see from Pittsburgh last week against Dylan Gabriel? They beat him up. They beat him up and when they beat him up they they took out the running game. One would have thought they would have had some of the same like success we saw last week against a inconsistent offensive line unit by Cincinnati, but little did we know Cincinnati had a game plan in place and they made sure they protected their 40year-old quarterback to the best of their ability for him to be at his best. I’m glad Mack uses the word comfortable, Emory, because comfort is one thing when you’re being protected well. Comfort is another thing when it’s a seven on seven and you’re still trying to learn the offense. man’s been in that offense for 10 days. I know they’re simplifying, but there’s verbiage. There’s computing power. We often overlook the ability of a quarterback to do that, especially at this age. We just assume that they’re going to walk in and know exactly where to go when. Are you at all surprised of the level of comfort for Joe Flacco in this offense this early? Not at all. Cuz we saw him hit what that bench route probably like five times in a row to Jamar Chase. That’s that’s week one teach tape. We all got that one. Yeah. So, but what what stood out to me the most, guys, was Orlando Brown, the left tackle, and Ammeris Mims, the right tackle. Tip your caps to those guys because they held those edge rushers in check. We thought this was going to be a great party between TJ Watt and Nate Herbig in the back field. And man, Ammeris Mims, the young tackle, right tackle, did a fantastic job tonight. And quiet is kept. These two teams play the same game. If we look at passing, rushing, red zone, third down, they were nearly identical. But what changed the game for Cincinnati was the two turnovers they were able to force and also you think back to when this game was 7 nothing and it was at fourth and one in the second quarter I believe and they were Pittsburgh was going to go for it. They tried to go for it. They got a false start had to back up kicked the field goal. It’s 10 nothing. That right there ignited the comeback for the Cincinnati Bengals because they went right down the field and scored a touchdown. And then that’s when we got the back and forth game between these two. So it shows you that hey we can compete with these guys. We can stop these guys. We saw their offense get confidence and then we saw their defense get confidence and turn the ball over. They had many critical plays. Yeah. So Flaco doing his 111 was outstanding because once he realized, hey, my tackles are doing a great job. I got two number ones and the tight end F had a big date like we all about to eat and everybody on that offense definitely got their mouths full with the food that he was delivering with that football and going around the yard. a master operator and shows it once again as he goes for 300 plus three touchdowns, no interceptions. It’s the sixth time in his career that he’s done that and he’s done it with four different franchises. Mac, I want to finish with you and on on a broader thought here for Pittsburgh because they’re now three and 16 on Thursday nights away from home since 1970. This is this is usually the way that things go. Give me the why in that, but also we’re looking at a team that is still the favorite to win their division, but has dropped from minus 160 up to plus 120. What does this mean in the grand scheme? You know what, that first stat, it’s just one of those funky stats, man, that just follow the Pittsburgh Steelers. And you don’t really know it until you know it, right? You when you throw out that stat because Thursday night is a prime time game and usually Mike Tomlin on prime time moments, he usually deliver wins. But, you know, I gave the number also during the pregame show. He’s Mike Tomlin is 0 and6 on the road on Thursday nights against AFC North opponents. He’s 0 and6 straight up. Straight up on the road against AFC North opponents. So, he’s struggled in these moments, especially on the road on Thursday night. Remember last year Thursday night, Famous Jamus gave him a an L on Thursday night in Cleveland. And remember that Cleveland Browns team was nowhere close to being competitive or relevant. But in that moment on Thursday night in Cleveland, guess what? They wield and they deal.

”Joe Falcco dominates” -ESPN reacts to Bengals come from behind to beat Steelers, 33-31