On November 20, 2023, the Browns signed the former Baltimore Ravens quarterback to fill a gap after losing Deshaun Watson for the rest of the season. Expectations in Cleveland were not high, especially after losing running back Nick Chubb to a knee injury that required surgery.

But in an almost magical twist, Cleveland has gone 11-5 so far, the third-best record in the American Conference, and a huge amount of that is down to Joe Flacco.

A star is reborn

Flacco has 1,616 yards with 13 touchdown passes and eight interceptions in the five games he has played under Kevin Stefanski, positioning the Browns to not only return to the playoffs but to also tentatively dream of a trip to the Super Bowl.

“I am very lucky to be on this team. I didn’t imagine being here, especially in this big city. You could feel it, that atmosphere; I couldn’t deny it,” Flacco said at the end of Thursday night’s game.

Stefanski makes history

With Thursday’s victory, coach Kevin Stefanski became just the second head coach in franchise history to achieve multiple seasons with 11 wins or more, joining the legendary Paul Brown .

Despite the victory, the coach insisted that this is just the beginning of the journey, recognising the great job that Flacco has done on the field since taking the helm of the Browns offence.