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Joe Flacco, Elijah Moore 'super excited' about 'family reunion' together with Browns
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- Joe Flacco, Elijah Moore 'super excited' about 'family reunion' together with Browns
LOS ANGELES — Joe Flacco may have looked strange to a lot of people walking into the Browns locker room after signing with their practice squad nearly two weeks ago. Or, from his perspective, he may have felt like a stranger in a strange land, especially having spent 11 years with the Browns' AFC North rivals, the Baltimore Ravens .
Yet, in that strange land, Flacco found a familiar face — former New York Jets teammate Elijah Moore .
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"Yeah, I love Elijah," Flacco said this week as he prepares to start Sunday's game at the Los Angeles Rams . "Texted with him a couple weeks ago when I was driving my way out to Cleveland . I think he's a hell of a player. I was with him two years in New York, got to play a couple games with him his rookie year, a little bit last year as well. I think he's got a bunch of talent and he's a great kid, so it's definitely nice."
The two spent the previous two seasons together with the Jets, where Flacco appeared in seven games and started five. The first pass he threw in the 2021 season came with 4:19 remaining in a Week 10 loss to the Buffalo Bills , a 25-yard strike to, wait for it, Moore.
New York Jets quarterback Joe Flacco (19) celebrates throwing a touchdown pass to wide receiver Elijah Moore (8) against the Buffalo Bills during an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 14, 2021, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
That was a trend for the two while they were together. In seven games together in New York, Flacco targeted Moore 41 times, completing 25 of those, for 336 yards and two touchdowns.
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Now they're together again with the Browns. And on Sunday, they'll have a chance to rekindle that connection when Flacco starts for Cleveland as it plays at the Los Angeles Rams.
"It's like a family reunion," Moore said Friday. "Nah, whenever he came, I had sent him a text. It was like this little joke of us reconnecting. It was this joke of an old guy coming back to his old high school and the students and the teacher switch and they just do this little handshake. But I'm super excited to see Joe back out there."
Flacco is starting two weeks after signing with the Browns because their current starter, Dorian Thompson-Robinson , has been ruled out Sunday as he continues to work through the concussion protocol. He sustained the concussion on the next-to-last play of the third quarter of this past Sunday's loss at the Denver on a hit by Baron Browning .
Jets receiver Elijah Moore (8) helps up quarterback Joe Flacco (19) after Flacco threw an interception against the Baltimore Ravens, Sept. 11, 2022, in East Rutherford, N.J.
So now, with the Browns (7-4) in the thick of the AFC playoff race, Flacco is thrown into a high-pressure situation with just a week's time working with the first-team offense. Moore, though, believes no one is more suited for that kind of situation than Flacco.
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"Joe has a calmness type of aura to him to where like if you're ever hyped, he's not going to give you that same energy back," Moore said. "He's going to get the job done, but he's going to show you that he can get it done in a controlled environment, which you love because football brings a lot of emotions and Joe's the type of person, you ever watch him, if you call someone in motion, he's just going to be like, he's going to do little mannerisms to show that he has it under control and that's his personality. So major respect to him."
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Joe Flacco, Elijah Moore 'super excited' about 'reunion' with Browns
