REPORT: Joe Flacco’s Super Bowl MVP experience resonates with his teammates
It’s not often that a Super Bowl MVP quarterback is available in the middle of the season, but the Browns are glad they found one.
Browns coach Kevin Stefanski says the arrival of Joe Flacco, who went from his couch to Cleveland after Deshaun Watson’s season-ending injury and is now preparing to lead the Browns into the playoffs, has meant a lot to his teammates. Stefanski calls Flacco’s experience, as a player who won a Super Bowl MVP with the Ravens, important to the whole team.
“Joe, it’s the been there, done that. I mean, he’s been to the Super Bowl, won the Super Bowl,” Stefanski said, via Cleveland.com. “He’s been in those big moments. So, I think he carries that with him. He doesn’t tell anybody that. I mean, the players know that. But in these games, when you’re in the huddle and you have a guy that you trust in those moments, I think it resonates with the offense, certainly, and probably with the team as well.”
Flacco is taking Sunday’s regular-season finale off because the Browns have already clinched their playoff position, but he’ll start for the Browns in the wild card round as they attempt something that no one would have thought possible a few months ago: A run to a second Super Bowl for Flacco.
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Some voters consider picking Lamar Jackson as NFL MVP, but not as first-team All-Pro quarterback
In most years, the announcement of the All-Pro team and an inspection of the votes points directly to the eventual league MVP. This year, it might not be as obvious.
Some voters, we’re told, are considering whether it’s appropriate for 2023 to vote for Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson as MVP, but not as the All-Pro quarterback. Technically, it’s permissible. “Value” (which isn’t defined) and, say, an assessment of All-Pro based on statistical achievement (there’s no specific guidance on All-Pro, either) could justify regarding Lamar as the MVP but someone else as the All-Pro quarterback.
Here’s an important point of clarification. They don’t want AP voters to declare their voting intentions prematurely. Personally, however, I’ll have a very hard time not making the MVP — regardless of position — a first-team All-Pro at the position he plays.
Some are nevertheless wrestling with this question. Jackson is 14th in passing yards. (Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa currently leads the league.) Lamar is fifth in passer rating. (49ers quarterback Brock Purdy ranks first.) Jackson is tenth in passing touchdowns. (Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott is first.)
Lamar Jackson is the overwhelming leader in rushing yards for quarterbacks, with 821. (Both Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and Bills quarterback Josh Allen have 15 rushing touchdowns; Lamar has five.)
It’s difficult to unbundle MVP from All-Pro. In 2021, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was 10th in passing yards and sixth in passing touchdowns. He still won both MVP and first-team All-Pro.
The best evidence to make Lamar both the MVP and first-team All-Pro comes from 2011. That year, Rodgers was the MVP, and Saints quarterback Drew Brees was the NFL offensive player of the year. Rodgers, not Brees, was the first-team All-Pro. If stats drives the All-Pro bus, it should have been Brees, who threw for 5,476 yards that season, shattering Dan Marino’s 27-year-old record of 5,084.
This year, there won’t be a single 5,000-yard passer — unless Tua throws for 549 on Sunday night. Peyton Manning’s single-season touchdown record of 55 is even more safe; Dak has 32. It’s highly unlikely that a quarterback will be the offensive player of the year. Even if Tua or Dak or another quarterback other than Lamar Jackson were on track to be named offensive player of the year, the 2011 Rodgers-Brees precedent shows that, when it comes to All-Pro quarterback, value trumps numbers.
Bottom line? If history means anything, anyone who makes Lamar the MVP should also make him the first-team All-Pro.
