“I just hit my (index) finger on a helmet like you always do and I looked down and it was just all bent up and dislocated,” the Cincinnati quarterback said.
As backup Jake Browning went into the game, the 40-year-old Flacco held his hand out as a trainer pulled the dislocated digit back in place.
Flacco said he’d never done that before in his 18-year career and after he tried passing on the sideline to see if he could withstand the pain, he said he didn’t want Browning to “have too much fun out there.”
After his replacement completed his first pass, Flacco trotted back out. He had his index and middle fingers wrapped together with black tape, but his first pass attempt sailed high to Tee Higgins who was going deep down the sideline.
On the play, Higgins tangled with New England defender Carlton Davis III who would be flagged for pass interference.
Higgins crashed to the turf, the back of his head banging hard against the ground. He lay motionless for a few minutes as 10 Bengals sidelines personnel crouched around him and the Paycor Stadium crowd went silent.
Eventually Higgins was helped to his feet and he grimaced as he was eased into the front seat of a motorized cart.
He lowered his head into his hands for the ride through the underbelly of the stadium to the dressing room where he was diagnosed with a concussion.
Out on the field, Flacco ripped the tape from his battered finger and after the ball had been moved down to the 17-yard-line he took the next snap and feathered a pass over a defender to Mitch Tinsley in the end zone for a touchdown to cut the Pats lead to 23-20.
That’s as close as it would get. New England got another field goal and Flacco had one last chance to work his magic.
But without Higgins and suspended receiver Ja’Marr Chase on the field, he didn’t have the team’s best weapons and the Bengals lost 26-20 and fell to a disappointing 3-8.
Flacco wasn’t at his very best Sunday. He threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown, but that damage was lessened some because Pats quarterback Drake Maye did the same, throwing a pick that Bengals safety Geno Stone returned for a score.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
After the game Bengals coach Zac Taylor and every player you talked to sang Flacco’s praises.
Taylor noted the way he played through pain, not only from the injured finger, but with a severely strained AC joint in his throwing shoulder he suffered in a sack by the New York Jets a month ago, an injury that has kept him from practicing most days during the week since.
“He didn’t owe anything to this team,” Taylor said. “He could have taken the easy way out and nursed an injury and said, ‘I need more rest,’ and all that stuff. He didn’t do that.
“We haven’t lost games because of Joe Flacco. He kept giving us a chance to win, but we haven’t been able to do it as a team. Joe has done everything possible to help us turn this around.”
“He’s tough as nails,” said tight end Noah Fant.
Yet for all his gritty heroics, Flacco was not able to snap the disjointed Bengals back into contention after joining the team on Oct. 11 following his demotion and then trade by the Cleveland Browns.
It was hoped he could stop the downward spiral that had come after Joe Burrow was lost with a toe injury in the second game of the season.
The failure to right the Bengals sinking ship – they have now lost eight of their last nine games, including four in a row after he debuted with a stunning win over Pittsburgh five days after he joined the club – is not on him.
The Bengals defense submarined several of his efforts and Chase’s selfish action last week took a toll in the Pats game.
Spitting on the Steelers Jalen Ramsey last week cost Chase a $520,000 fine – the equivalent of one game’s paycheck – and got him suspended for the Pats game.
Flacco could have used Chase Sunday, especially on that last drive with Higgins out.
The Bengals playoff dreams now are all but dead. No 3-8 team in NFL history has ever made it into the playoffs.
Once again the team will try to latch onto a miracle to pull themselves from the mire.
They play in Baltimore on Thanksgiving evening and it’s likely Burrow will be back as the starting quarterback.
Some may question why you’d play Burrow at all when the biggest concern is not the playoffs but his long term health.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
“Winning is important,” Taylor said. “We want to win and Joe (Burrow) gives us a great chance to win.
“We’ve watched Joe Burrow for six years. He’s worked really hard. He wants to win a football game. And we’ve got to find a way to win a football game so we can remember what that feels like.”
Some Bengals players admit focusing first on Flacco’s age when he first walked into the dressing room with gray in his beard and an NFL resume that goes back to when they were kids.
“I’ve been watching him since I was 6 or 7 years old,” said Tinsley.
Receiver Andre Iosivas was about the same age and initially felt the Bengals were getting an old man:
“At first you felt that’s the vibe he was gonna give off, but he can still chop it up with the boys. It’s definitely an interesting dynamic.”
As the talk and the anticipation moves off him and onto Burrow, Flacco did admit, as a competitor, he wants to be out on the field:
“This is what I love to do…but at the same time I feel fortunate to be in this situation. Going out and lacing them up with these guys has been a lot of fun. I’ve felt at home and had a blast doing it.
“I’m trying to be excited for a guy trying to work his way back…I feel I’ve put my head down and worked hard. When you’re out there battling on the field with these guys, you can look each other in the eye and know you’ve been going about it the right way.”
Veteran linebacker Oren Burks talked to me a couple of weeks ago about the lessons Flacco has imparted on the young players in the dressing room.
Sunday some of those young players brought it up.
“He came in and acted like a true professional. He’s an easy guy to play for,” Iosivas said.
Fant, a seven-year veteran, agreed: “I love him. We’ve got a lot of young guys and he showed them what it means to be a pro. He’s a battle-tested guy who’s great to have in the locker room.
He helped the young guys more than they might know. That’s why I look at Burrow and him the same.”
And that is something to remember as the focus moves off Flacco and onto Burrow again.
Maybe he didn’t straighten out the disjointed Bengals the way everyone hoped, but he left a blueprint for the young players on how to be better pros and that’s something that eventually will help them get their old form back.
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