{"id":350047,"date":"2025-09-07T22:45:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T22:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/350047\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T22:45:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T22:45:17","slug":"joe-flacco-on-loss-to-bengals-his-two-interceptions-operating-the-offense-and-more-transcript","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/350047\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Flacco on loss to Bengals, his two interceptions, operating the offense, and more: Transcript"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND, Ohio \u2014 Browns <\/a>quarterback Joe Flacco took questions from reporters Sunday after the game with regard to the loss to the Bengals<\/a>, his two interceptions, operating the offense, and more.<\/p>\n

Below is the transcript as provided by the Browns media relations department:<\/p>\n

I know you\u2019ve been through a million of these, but how do you process a game that felt like you guys had really good chances?<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, it\u2019s tough. I felt like we did a lot of good things, but we also did a lot of things that get you beat. You know, we just kind of felt we kind of played like an inexperienced team a little bit today. Like I said, we did so many good things. We were able to move the ball, and then just ultimately come up short. It definitely hurts to feel like you could start the season 1-0 and not do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Can you talk about the fact that, I know you really trust Jerry (Jeudy), I know you really trust Ced (Tillman) and nine times out of ten that they\u2019re going to make those plays?<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, listen, it\u2019s football. You know, I\u2019m wishing that I had the ball a little bit better and, maybe I\u2019m wishing I just threw it on his chest as opposed to doing what I did. And I think we\u2019re all looking at those plays and probably thinking about them and just like, you know, we\u2019re going to have to go home tonight and try to fall asleep with those things on our thoughts, and it\u2019s hard. Listen, when you lose football games, that\u2019s what happens. You\u2019re going to have plays where you look back on and think about and, those guys, they played a really strong game for us today. Like I said, I think when you look at this film, you\u2019re going to see a lot of guys that did a lot of really good things. We just had some MA\u2019s (missed assignments) that really, really bit us.\u201d<\/p>\n

How do you feel about just the overall offensive operation for the first game?<\/p>\n

\u201cPretty good. You know, I feel like we had a lot in, and I feel like we handled it for the most part. But at the same time, you could tell that we were young. I mean, there was times where we probably didn\u2019t have a ton of time on the play clock and we were moving around a little bit. So yeah, we got to get used to being able to do some of those things and not let it kind of slow us down that half a step or whatever it may be, but we did a lot of good things with that as well. I think they tried to throw a lot on our plate, and I ultimately think we did a decent job of handling it. But at the same time, you look at those few plays that got us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe, what did you see from Dylan Sampson, and how he was able to make plays?<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I thought he looked really good. I mean, when you get him the ball in a little bit of space, the first guy wasn\u2019t making the tackle. And I think the amount that actually keeps you on the field, it keeps those chains moving, wears the defense out that extra a little bit. Makes sure they\u2019re running to the ball. I think that was the key today for him, is just making that first guy miss. And I think he did that a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

You\u2019re heading into Baltimore next week. How do you feel about that? Obviously you\u2019re going back to Baltimore. It\u2019s going to be really emotional, but do you feel maybe a little bit better about this offense, knowing what you guys went out and did today? If we just eliminate those couple of mistakes, like, maybe you guys can be better than people think.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s definitely, listen, I mean, you can\u2019t listen to the outside noise. We\u2019ve been trying to build something all off season. There\u2019s definitely things that we\u2019re going to be able to look at and build off of for sure and say, man, like, look how well we did that. We just can\u2019t let the things that were negative affect you. You know, like this league can be harsh when you don\u2019t win, and it can come down on you hard. But at the same time, it is week-to-week. You go out there and you play the way you know how to play the next week, then that last week is forgotten about and you\u2019re feeling really good. You know, we\u2019re in here, if we\u2019re in the locker room in Baltimore at 1 pm next week and we won the game, we\u2019re going to be feeling really damn good. So, it\u2019s just that balance of like trying to take the confidence from the things that we did do well and the things that we didn\u2019t do well, those things seem to stick around and kind of invade your mind a little bit easier than the good things. So, it\u2019s a matter of just not letting that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe, you\u2019ve been around the league a long time and seen a lot of football. What do you say to a guy like Andre (Szmyt), who is probably feeling the world on his shoulders right now?<\/p>\n

\u201cWho\u2019d you say there?\u201d<\/p>\n

Andre.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah hey, I think the problem is that you forget this is a team sport sometimes, because there\u2019s such a spotlight on you because of certain points in the game and what happened. And what you\u2019ve got to remember is that we\u2019ve all been in a situation where we\u2019ve all made mistakes before that have been a big part of costing us a football game. You got to shake it. It\u2019s not just on you. It\u2019s a team sport. We\u2019re all going to be in there and rally together. Nobody wants to be in that situation and not come up for your team. But we\u2019ve all been there and can understand not doing it. I think if you\u2019re able to kind of take that in, then you can use it to make you better in the future. So hopefully that\u2019s, we can help him do with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

How impressed are you by what your defense is able to do after that first drive?<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, man, I mean you could, you start to feel it at the end of that third quarter there, like, oh man, they\u2019re not really going to let these guys do too much. It just honestly, like in the beginning of the week we talked about the AFC North and like the types of games that you play, and it was a similar game that you always play in this division. It wasn\u2019t a ton of scoring. There was some early on, but our defense played a really good game in a very winnable game. You know, they let up two drives maybe in those first two drives and that was it. And they played lights out after that. So, you know, I think we could all feel that. I think on offense, we were ready, and I think we were confident too. I think we did feel confidence in going out there and putting points on the board, and we just weren\u2019t able to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe, when you guys had the missed extra point, it\u2019s a long game and you\u2019re playing with a pretty young football team, there\u2019s a lot of young guys on this football team. What is your role in making sure that they understand after that, \u201cLet\u2019s go get this.\u201d Do you have to be verbalizing that with a lot of these young guys or what?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, listen, like, you know, I think you can say little things here and there, but once you take that field, you\u2019re worried about the task at hand. And I honestly don\u2019t think like these games are so long and plays happen here and there all the time. You know, most guys don\u2019t blink in those situations. They understand what our goal is as an offense and it doesn\u2019t change just because of something that happens here and there throughout the course of a game. It\u2019s a 60-minute football game and you know, the task at hand is always kind of the same once you take that field. I thought we did a pretty good job of kind of focusing on that today, we just weren\u2019t able to execute quite as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you go into thinking it was going to be a game where you would need to put together 12-play drives? I think all three scoring drives were real long.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. You put your game plan together to go put points on the board and you\u2019re aware of how games can turn out and all the different things that you might have to do. I mean, our first series, I think was 20 plays or something like that. You know, I don\u2019t know. We haven\u2019t ran that many. You know, we\u2019re running 10 more plays than that in practice. You know, so to do 20 plays straight and kind of, you know, be able to still go out there and operate the same way, I don\u2019t think you\u2019re ever planning on, \u201cHey, in order to win this game, we\u2019re going to have have a couple 12-play drives.\u201d If you\u2019re planning on that, you\u2019re usually not going to win the game because it\u2019s so hard to maintain that many, you know, long drives and actually score as much as you want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you feel like when you have more time with these receivers and they know every single week that you\u2019re the guy they\u2019re taking care of, do you feel like now the chemistry, the camaraderie will come because obviously, you didn\u2019t have as much as ideally you would\u2019ve liked to?<\/p>\n

\u201cFor sure, yeah. There\u2019s some things that we can be better. And I think obviously the more time you spend together doing things and the more confidence you get from doing things well, then we\u2019re all going to be doing a little bit better. That\u2019s my job. That\u2019s part of my job this week, and we talked about it earlier, is making sure that we get motivated from the things that we didn\u2019t do well and do that by looking at the things that we did do well and kind of getting it in the right mindset to come out and do it next week. There is a lot of pressure in this league. You know, you feel like everybody\u2019s looking at you. I don\u2019t necessarily think that\u2019s the reality. So we just got to make sure that nobody kind of falls into that trap. We got a lot of good football players, a lot of guys that did a lot of good stuff, and we didn\u2019t do some stuff that well, that happens. We got to be able to overcome that and be strong mentally. If we want to be the team that we think we can be, then little things like this, like they\u2019re good tests. We\u2019re going to have to be able to overcome things like this at some point. So it might as well happen now and let\u2019s face it head on and see who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe, I apologize if you were asked this but as a captain and senior member of this team. Did you say anything to (Andre) Szmyt after this game? <\/p>\n

\u201cListen, we\u2019ll run into each other in the locker room, and we talked about it a little bit. I think when you\u2019re in these situations, you think all eyes are on you. And the thing you got to remember is this is a team game. It\u2019s the ultimate team game. It\u2019s so cliche to say that, but it is. We\u2019re all in there. We\u2019ve all been in that situation. If you\u2019ve played this game long enough and you love this game, we\u2019ve all been in that situation where you, you know, don\u2019t perform exactly the way you want to for your team. I know how that feels. And I can look at every guy in that locker room and they know how that feels. We\u2019re in it together. You know, I think it is a hard thing when you don\u2019t do things as well as you want to. You do think your teammates are, like, looking at you saying, man, if Joe just would have done this, we would, you know, what the hell was he doing? It\u2019s hard to not think that way. So at some point this week, yes, I\u2019ll be in the office throwing darts with him and look him in the eye and make sure that I can give him the confidence to go out there and do his job. Because we\u2019ve all done it. And it\u2019s probably not if he has the, if he\u2019s the player he wants to be that he thinks he is and he wants to be. This isn\u2019t going to be the last time that he\u2019s going have to deal with something like this. You know, when you play as much football as you want to play, if you\u2019re able to do that, then you\u2019re going to have to deal with these things every now and then. So he, you know, he\u2019s got to keep his head up and just continue to go out there and do what he\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

How about the fact that Quinshon (Judkins) could be back on the field as soon as, maybe even next week. What kind of, how much encouragement does that give you about this run game and this offense?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s exciting for him. I mean, we got to see him a little bit in the spring, and he, you know, he looked like a hell of a ball carrier. So, you know, listen I think all the pieces, you know, we\u2019re going to need all the pieces at some point, and different guys are going to need to step up at different points in the season. I think he\u2019s a big part of what this football team could be, so it\u2019s good to have him back. And, you know, I\u2019m excited for him to kind of get in there and feel like he can be part of the team again.\u201d<\/p>\n

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