Browns announce QB Joe Flacco will remain starter for rest of 2023 season

Cleveland has its starting quarterback for the remainder of its season.

After turning back the clock with 311 yards, three touchdowns and an interception to lead the Browns to a 31-27 victory over the Jaguars on Sunday, 38-year-old Joe Flacco received the QB1 nod from head coach Kevin Stefanski.

Asked if he Flacco would be on top of the depth chart for the rest of the way, Stefanski gave the obvious answer after such a clutch performance: "Yes."

"Played well," Stefanski said regarding Flacco. "You expect him to get better as he gets more comfortable in our system with our players, those type of things. But we just talked about him and all our guys, doing their job, giving us their best, and I thought that's what he did."

Flacco got Sunday's game started off with a six-play, 75-yard scoring drive highlighted by a 34-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open David Njoku.

Three punts followed, but thanks to a Cleveland's defense piecing together a first-quarter shutout, the Browns had the opportunity to go up two scores on their first possession of the second quarter, which again ended with a 30-plus-yard strike from Flacco to Njoku.

That was the theme of the game for the Browns, who often came alive in spurts under Flacco and were able to hold on against a late surge by the comeback-minded Jags.

"It was definitely an ugly game," Flacco told CBS' Evan Washburn. "Mistakes on both sides. Definitely didn't play the cleanest game on my end, but I have a feeling that's the way this team kind of likes it. They really react well in times like that. Listen, I've been here for a couple weeks, and I've been watching them on TV for the last bit, and that's kind of what I've seen. Hey, we'll take them any way we can get them."

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