BEREA — The new kid on the block isn't really a kid. In fact, he's closer to his head coach's age than he is many of his teammates.
For Joe Flacco , though, that's OK.
"I think it helps when you've been around a lot a long time and these guys have watched you play growing up," the Browns quarterback said after Sunday's win over the Jacksonville Jaguars . "There's something about having an older guy in the locker room that guys like to come up and at least wonder why the hell I'm doing it. So there's always some kind of talking point and things like that. So I think you get comfortable with people."
Flacco's teammates seem to be getting just as comfortable with him as well. It hasn't hurt that he's come in and been a stabilizing force for the Browns offense the last two weeks.
That force has been such that head coach Kevin Stefanski ended all of the drama about who will be his starting quarterback for next Sunday's home game against the Chicago Bears — and beyond — by naming Flacco the starter. That came after giving him a game ball for his 311-yard, three-touchdown performance against the Jaguars, which led him to tell his teammates, "I feel like a 10-year-old kid out there."
The 38-year-old may feel like a kid, but he's been the sage voice the Browns believe they need to push them over the finish line into the AFC playoffs.
"Yeah, it's vet leadership," right guard Wyatt Teller said Monday. "It was kind of funny in true vet fashion. He came over and he was talking to us. He was like, hey, look, this is the situation we got to get at this point. Once we do, we'll be all right. … And it's just that voice of reason at the end of the game where we're all having the same situational, shared, coach talks about it all the time — shared situational awareness. He was kind of the voice on the sidelines for all the guys. So it was cool."
Flacco reminded everyone after the game that he's still in the midst of a major transition himself. A month ago, he was just a father and husband in suburban Philadelphia hoping the phone might ring one more time to call him off the couch and back into the game he played for the previous 15 years.
That call finally came a week before Thanksgiving, when the Browns first brought him in for a workout, then eventually signed him to the practice squad. So Flacco left his wife and five kids and came to Northeast Ohio, where he admits the distance between family has actually increased the amount of time he's spent at the team facility.
"I'm the one that's trying to hang around the facility as long as I can and stay around people as long as I can because I'm the one going back to a hotel room by myself," said Flacco, whose family was in town for his home debut Sunday. "As long as I'm in the situations where I'm around people, I'm good. But when you're back in a room by yourself, there are things that your mind has time to wander."
For now, the mind wanders as to what the addition of Flacco can do for the Browns the remainder of the season. They sit at 8-5 and are holding the top AFC wild card spot in the playoff standings as the No. 5 seed.
Two of the Browns final four games are against teams that are among the six AFC teams sitting at 7-6. That includes a Christmas Eve road trip to play the Houston Texans and the regular-season finale at the Cincinnati Bengals .
First, though, is a game against the 5-8 Bears, who have won two in a row and three of their last four. It's the kind of game that has tripped up previous Browns teams in these moments.
It's moments Flacco has experienced plenty of times before, especially over the first 11 years of his career while quarterbacking the Baltimore Ravens . It's why his Browns teammates have been so quick to buy into him.
"The man, other than one play, he was fantastic, and we can expect that," All-Pro defensive end Myles Garrett said after Sunday's game. "No one's going to be perfect and he's just picking up things as he goes. But the man was sharp. He made the plays that he needed to make. He picked up those old legs and got a first down. The guy, he's doing it all and he's just giving his all for this team and I've got nothing but respect for him, and the rest of the guys as well."
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 brings veteran leadership to Cleveland Browns' locker room
