Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Flacco has played against the Pittsburgh Steelers 22 times in his career, and every matchup has come with Mike Tomlin as Pittsburgh’s head coach. Tomlin has a lot of respect for Flacco, as evidenced by his comments today bashing the Cleveland Browns for trading him to the Bengals, and Bengals head coach Zac Taylor is confident in his new quarterback’s ability to beat Pittsburgh, noting that the familiarity he has against them plays a big role.
“I think it matters,” Taylor said Monday via the team’s YouTube channel. “He knows their style of play; he knows their level of aggression on defense and [has] played against most of their guys over there. He was in Indy last year, played against them. He’s played them as much as anybody has, he’s probably played them more than anybody has in this league that’s currently playing, so I think he has a great sense of what it takes to win.”
Flacco has the most passing yards against the Steelers in their franchise history, as he’s thrown for 5,028 yards in his 22 games against them. He came off the bench in Week 4 last season and led the Colts to a win over the previously unbeaten Steelers, and he’s certainly familiar with the style that Tomlin wants to play and how the Steelers play defense after playing for the Ravens from 2008-2018.
After beating the Steelers last year, Flacco said it was “crazy” to have the chance to play against the Steelers again. He’ll have another go at it, although not with the team he probably expected. After opening the season as the Browns’ starting quarterback, they benched him for Dillon Gabriel and traded him to Cincinnati last week. Instead of playing against Pittsburgh in Week 6, he’ll have the opportunity in Week 7, and he’ll no doubt be looking to pull off another upset like he did with Indianapolis last year.
He’s got a cadre of weapons, including WRs Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. And he looked solid in his first outing, especially given how little time he had to prepare. Flacco threw for 219 yards and two touchdowns and didn’t turn the ball over. The Bengals are desperate for a win, and a home divisional game on a short week with a quarterback who knows the Steelers and Tomlin quite well has them feeling confident they can right the ship after four straight losses.
Of course, the familiarity with Flacco goes both ways, as the Steelers’ defense has seen him and Tomlin has coached against him a whole bunch. But Flacco got the upper hand last year, and the Steelers will try to make sure that it doesn’t happen again on Thursday.
