Cleveland Browns QB Joe Flacco has make a secret…..

The Cleveland Browns face the New York Jets in Thursday Night Football, hoping to clinch a playoff berth.

BEREA, Ohio — Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco said he cannot describe what it has been since he arrived with the Browns on Nov. 20–just five weeks ago.

Browns add Flacco, but DTR still starting QB | News, Sports, Jobs - Tribune Chronicle

Flacco said that he thought he was coming to a good situation and a good team when he first joined the Browns practice squad, but admitted that it has been better than he expected.

“I mean, you could probably say that just in terms of you think you’re coming into a good situation with a good team and there’s a possibility for this, but you never quite know,” Flacco said before practice on Tuesday. “It’s up to you and your teammates to go out there and do that. And I think that this has been, I think what I’ve probably noticed is that you kind of from the outside think this is a pretty good situation, but when you get here it’s an even better situation than you could have imagined.”

Flacco is off to the best four-game start in Browns history and is 104-of-175 (59.4 pct.) for 1,307 yards with 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions. His rating is 85.1. Flacco has thrown for more touchdowns and more yards in his first four games as the Browns quarterback than any other quarterback in franchise history.

Flacco said he has been caught up in the moment and has not had any time to reflect on what he has done in the first four games.

“I think to a certain extent you can look at the whole thing and do that if you want to, but like I said, I think when you’re in the moment you just kind of fall back into another season, another locker room, and going out there and playing football and when you’re on the field on Sundays and you’re playing football, you can feel like you’re at home,” Flacco said. “So that stuff kind of goes away. And like I said, I’m not really thinking about all that stuff at this point. If I wanted to, like I said, it could probably be all of it, but at this point it’s just go out there and play and try to make it as normal as possible.”

More importantly, Flacco is 3-1 as the Browns starting quarterback and in a position for the Browns to clinch their first playoff berth since the 2020 season and only their second since 2002.

Kevin Stefanski was asked how he thinks Flacco has been able to play as well as he has in such a short period of time.

“I’d say being around some of those veterans over the years, they’ve seen a lot of football, they’ve played a lot of football, they’ve been in different systems,” Stefanski sad. “So I think there’s guys that with that amount of turns and with that amount of years in different systems, they can come in and operate pretty quickly. Now, you have to be very intelligent and you got to work like crazy to do it. And I think Joe’s done both those things, but I think there’s enough similarity to the things that we’re doing that he’s done in the past, and I think he could lean into that experience.”

After all of those years with the Ravens and playing in Cleveland Browns Stadium, Flacco was asked what it would be like to clinch a playoff berth at home in front of those fans.

“I haven’t really thought about it to be honest with you, how they would kind of take it in, but it could definitely be a really cool moment,” he said. “You just have to go out there and make it happen on Thursday.”

Flacco said he has been pleasantly surprised with how quickly Browns fans and the city of Cleveland has embraced him after being the rival for all of those years.

“The city’s been unbelievable,” Flacco said. “I mean, I can’t say enough about how welcoming everybody has been, especially that is the one strange part I would say. Not necessarily putting on the uniform and playing, but just coming from Baltimore for most of my career and just seeing everybody out in your regular part of your day and how welcoming the city’s been.

“Back to the surreal thing, that would probably be a good answer for that,” he said. “It’s definitely been a little bit surreal in terms of how people have treated me around here. That stuff always feels good, so hopefully we can keep it going.”

Extra Points

Hopkins Out, DTR to IR: Stefanski said the K Dustin Hopkins will be out for this week’s game with the Jets with a left hamstring injury. Stefanski termed Hopkins’ injury as ‘week-to-week’. He injured his non-kicking leg on the 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown last Sunday.

“Dustin Hopkins is week to week with his injury,” Stefanski said. “He will not play this week.”

Stefanski said the Browns are comfortable with K Riley Patterson, who was signed to the practice squad on Monday.

“Came in, did a nice job in his workout,” he said. “Obviously, has production in this league in this season, so a guy we’re comfortable with.”

His experience was a factor.

“I think just the experience period is important when it comes to a kicker in this situation,” Stefanski said. “But a guy that I think had a good workout has good tape, believe in him.”

Stefanski was asked if it was better to be the kicking leg or the plant leg and he said he thought it was better the non-kicking leg.

P Corey Bojorquez injured his quad in the Texans game and the Browns signed P Matt Haack to the practice squad.

Stefanski was not sure if Bojorquez will be able to play.

“We’ll see, not sure yet,” he said.

Haack (6-0, 205) is in his seventh NFL season out of Arizona State. Originally signed by Miami as an undrafted free agent in 2017, Haack has appeared in 98 career games with the Dolphins (2017-20), Bills (2021) and Colts (2022). He has booted 429 career punts for 19,087 yards (44.5 average), landing 160 inside the 20-yard line.

Kickers and punters practiced at the stadium, so it is not known if Bojorquez punted. The Browns will issue an official injury report later on Tuesday.

DTR to Injured Reserve; Walker Signed: Rookie QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson is being placed on injured reserve with a hip injury suffered against the Texans. QB P.J. Walker was signed from the practice squad to the active roster to be the backup to Flacco.

“Dorian Thompson Robinson will go on IR with a hip injury, unfortunately, that he suffered in that last ball game,” Stefanski said. “So disappointed for both those guys.”

Stefanski said he is confident in Walker as the backup.

“Very confident in P.J.,” Stefanski said. “He’s started games for us, won games for us, come in and won games for us. He knows our system, so very confident.”

Thompson-Robinson, a fifth-round pick this year, appeared in eight games with three starts. He completed 60 of 112 passes for 440 yards with one touchdown and added 65 yards rushing.

Walker (5-11, 215) is officially in his fourth NFL season out of Temple. Originally signed by the Colts as an undrafted free agent in 2017, he spent time on the Colts’ practice squad from 2017-19 and with XFL’s Houston Roughneck’s in 2019, before joining the Panthers from 2020-22, where he started seven games. This season, Walker has appeared in six games with the Browns, making two starts. He has completed 54 of 111 passes for 674 yards with five touchdowns, while adding 30 rushing yards. Walker will wear No. 10.

Thornhill Practices: S Juan Thornhill (calf) was practicing during the part of practice open to the media on the side with the trainers, but he had his uniform on. With a short week, it is unclear if Thornhill will play after missing the past three games.