GREEN BAY — Micah Parsons, Jeff Hafley and the rest of the Green Bay Packers defense may very well be seeing a familiar face across the line of scrimmage next Sunday at Lambeau Field. 

The Cincinnati Bengals, having lost three straight games after a 2-0 start and reeling without injured starting quarterback Joe Burrow, swung a trade with the Cleveland Browns on Tuesday to acquire Joe Flacco.

Yes, that Joe Flacco, who helped the Browns beat the Packers, 13-10, on Sept. 21.

The trade included a pick swap, with the Browns sending the Bengals Flacco and a sixth-round and the Browns acquiring a fifth-round pick in return.

Benched by Cleveland in favor of rookie Dillon Gabriel last week heading into the Browns’ loss to the Minnesota Vikings in London on Sunday, the 40-year-old Flacco is in line to start against the Packers after the Bengals’ back-up, Jake Browning, threw eight interceptions in the wake of Burrow’s injury.

Flacco was hardly impressive in the Browns’ win over the Packers, completing 21 of 36 passes for 142 yards with no touchdowns, one interception and two sacks (55.6 rating).

“He’s going to get rid of the ball quick,” Hafley, the Packers second-year defensive coordinator said before the matchup in Cleveland. “Shoot, when I was with the Browns [as an assistant], he was with the Ravens, so we went up against him many times. I have a ton of respect for him. He sees the field really well. He can still make all the throws.

“He gets rid of the ball really fast, so you’re just not going to fool him doing base stuff. He’s going to see it, he’s going to know where to go with the football, so we’re going to have to get more creative and try to figure out ways to not allow him to know what we’re in. That’s a great challenge.”

Parsons, the Packers’ star edge rusher, said that same week that his goal was to sack Flacco, since Flacco was among the quarterbacks he’d never taken down. Rashan Gary got both of the Packers’ sacks on him in Cleveland, so this would give Parsons another shot at him.

“Really just getting after Flacco [is my goal],” Parsons said that week. “I haven’t had Flacco yet. I need him. I want him.”

Flacco has helped teams each of the last two years salvage their seasons and clearly the Bengals are hoping he can do that for them until Burrow, whose toe injury required surgery, possibly returns to action sometime in December.

In 2023, Flacco was named the Associated Press comeback player of the year after leading the Browns to a 4-1 record after they lost starting quarterback Deshaun Watson to injury. Flacco threw for 1,616 yards and 13 touchdowns during his time as the starter and the Browns miraculously made the playoffs.

Flacco also started six games last season for the Indianapolis Colts, replacing an injured Anthony Richardson, completing 65.3% of his passes for 1761 yards and 12 touchdowns. The Colts were 2-4 in his six starts.

The Bengals and head coach Zac Taylor had to do something given Browning’s eight INTs, with Taylor acknowledging that “the amount of turnovers that we’ve had” has been a major issue.

On Monday, in the wake of Browning throwing three interceptions ina  37-24 loss to the Detroit Lions, Taylor refused to say whether Browning would start against the Packers.

“We’ll see where it goes,” Taylor said. “Like all personnel decisions, we’ve got to evaluate it. Jake’s been very accountable for how the game went for him. I’ve got to be accountable for how the game went for me, as well. So we’ll continue to progress here through the days.”

The Bengals released Brett Rypien from their 53-man roster and Mike White from their practice squad on Tuesday, leaving them with Flacco and Browning on their roster and former Packers back-up Sean Clifford on their practice squad heading into Sunday.

Now in his 18th NFL season, which includes 11 with the Baltimore Ravens along with stints with the Browns, Colts, Denver Broncos and New York Jets, Flacco has a career passer rating of 83.3 over 195 regular-season starters.

But he did help the 2012 Ravens to a Super Bowl title, throwing for 1,140 yards with 11 touchdowns and no interceptions (117.2 rating) in four playoff wins.

“The guy’s a Super Bowl-winning quarterback,” Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said during the week leading up to Packers-Browns. “He worked with my brother (Mike) a little bit with the Jets, and Mike, he just raves about the person. And then, you know, he’s one of the purest throwers I’ve ever seen on tape.

“Obviously I’ve gone against him a few times, so you’ve got to be really dialed in, in terms of your coverage, because it’s going to be tough to fool him. There’s nothing that he hasn’t seen.

“I think a big key is just going to be able to try to get him off the spot, get pressure to him. I always tell our guys, whether it’s our quarterback or anybody else, it’s hard to throw from your back. So I think that’s going to be critical.”

​COPYRIGHT 2025 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.