Mike Tomlin was welcomed back from the Steelers' bye weekend last Tuesday with news that the Cincinnati Bengals had swapped a Day Three draft pick with the Cleveland Browns for the rights to 40-year-old quarterback Joe Flacco.
Other than it being the first trade between the Ohio teams since the Browns returned to the NFL in 1999, it might not have meant much to most.
But it meant a heck of a lot to Tomlin, whose Steelers will face Flacco and the Bengals on Thursday night.
Flacco, 40, opened the season for the Browns and started four games. He threw only 2 touchdown passes to 6 interceptions, which forced his passer rating to bottom out at 60.3, last in the NFL.
But in less than a week, Flacco started for a Bengals team flailing without injured starter Joe Burrow, and kept the Bengals close in Green Bay by completing 29 of 45 passes for 219 yards and 2 touchdowns without an interception. His passer rating Sunday was 90.9.
For the Bengals, who opened the season 2-0 before Burrow's toe injury, Flacco provided a reawakening of sorts. With Jake Browning at QB, the Bengals scored only 16 points in two games and three-quarters of a third before scoring three fourth-quarter touchdowns in a blowout loss to the Detroit Lions. The Bengals traded for Flacco two days later.
The Bengals (2-4) lost their fourth straight game Sunday, but with Flacco they appear to have regained their offensive explosiveness.
"On the offensive side, certainly the story is Joe Flacco." Tomlin said. "It's reasonable to expect him to be significantly better in Week Two. He's been in the stadium with them; they've been in the stadium with him. They understand his demeanor, how he deals with circumstances. I would imagine they worked hard a week ago on developing timing and cohesion. I'd imagine it's taken a significant step after having done so under some live football circumstances. I saw him make some anticipatory throws even last week. I thought he was significantly better as the game wore on.
"And so certainly we've got a full week's work ahead of us in terms of minimizing a veteran, savvy, talented thrower like him, coupled with the eligibles that they have. That certainly has our attention."
Is it difficult for a new quarterback to play with less than a week's preparation?
"It doesn't appear to be hard for Joe Flacco," Tomlin said.
"He can throw the football, and he's always been able to throw the football. Arm strength, arm accuracy, anticipatory passer, fluid movement through progressions, that's always been his game."
It helps that Flacco has one of the finest receiving duos in the league at his disposal. Ja'Marr Chase had 10 receptions for 94 yards and a touchdown Sunday in Green Bay, while Tee Higgins had a season-high 5 receptions for 62 yards.
This was the receiving duo Tomlin had in mind this offseason when he brought in cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey, Darius Slay, and Brandin Echols, and it was probably the duo he had in mind in 2023 when he drafted Joey Porter Jr.
"Absolutely," Tomlin said. "You better have some corners taller than me if you're dealing with the likes of Tee Higgins and people like that, and so certainly.
"That's something that we talk about as a collective, the intimacy of divisional relationships. It's just a component of the game. You better stack up good against those that you compete against, in a lot of ways. And so, I'm sure people acquire secondary people to match up with that collective. Baltimore took a first-round corner in Nate Wiggins the other year, I'm sure, with that group in mind. The Bengals have taken right tackles in recent years I'm sure to minimize T.J. (Watt)'s impact in that relationship. That's divisional play. That's what makes it so challenging and so exciting."
The Steelers had their complete secondary healthy for the first time Sunday in their 23-9 win over the Browns, and the pass defense put up its best statistics of the season.
After allowing a passer rating of 92.2 through four games, the Steelers allowed a passer rating of 66.3 against the Browns. After allowing an average of 11.8 yards per reception through four games, the Steelers allowed 7.6 yards per reception against the Browns.
Ramsey and Porter were the key returnees from a health standpoint, with Ramsey's return surprising QB Aaron Rodgers.
"I just can't say enough about the level of respect I have for him," Rodgers said of Ramsey after Sunday's game. "If there was any question about the type of person that he is – take away the incredible player – but the person and teammate, I think he just showed all of us the kind of guy that he is by going out there and playing today."
"It's certainly a shining example of what professional football is about," said Tomlin. "But I doubt that any of us are surprised by it. Just having been around him since he's gotten here, that's very consistent behavior with what he's displayed throughout. And personally, for a guy like me who has scouted him since he was at Florida State, I certainly know that's a component of his football character. So I'm certainly not surprised by it. But it doesn't mean that we don't appreciate it. Not only do we appreciate his willingness to play, we appreciate his playmaking, and you need both in order for it to be real, and he certainly provided both."
As for Porter, who returned from a three-game absence, Tomlin said, "I thought it was a good game, first game back. I look forward to him to continue to get better. Certainly got a big test coming on Thursday night."
