Zac Taylor: We'll start Joe Flacco vs. Packers this week

It’s official: Joe Flacco will start for the Bengals on Sunday when they play the Packers.

Head coach Zac Taylor told reporters that would be the case to start his Wednesday press conference.

“Played him a lot, watched him a lot. Brings great experience, great leadership,” Taylor said of Flacco. “His style fits our style of play, too. So, excited to get him out there.

“We’ll start him this week. So, he’s going to take all the reps, get ready to go. Already spent a lot of time meeting with us, getting up to speed. So, feel really good about where he’s at.”

Taylor had only briefly met Flacco before the club traded for him. But he’s still plenty comfortable with the QB because of his extensive experience. Plus, Taylor has coached against Flacco many times — including Week 1 of this season.

“So, very comfortable with his style, concepts he’s been good at, things that fit us that we do,” Taylor said. “A lot of the terminology, there was a lot of carryover — more than I would’ve anticipated. So, feel like we can get him up to speed quickly.

“He’s a great passer,” Taylor added. “And, again, we’ve got to expand all areas of our offense to be better, to be efficient, to run the football, to protect — all that kind of stuff. But the No. 1 trait you’re looking for is a guy that can operate your system and throw the football. And Joe’s always been a tremendous passer in this league, and I’ve seen it. So, now we’ve got tremendous weapons that he can play around. I’m excited to watch him do it.”

Taylor said Bengals director of player personnel (and de facto G.M.) Duke Tobin told him about the potential for the deal on Tuesday.

“Obviously, he asked my opinion of Joe. And I was excited that if we were able to make it happen, I’m on board, that would excite me,” Taylor said. “And so then he just came and said we got it done.”

The Bengals had someone drive Flacco and his wife down to Cincinnati from Cleveland, with his new team beginning to catch him up on the new scheme on the drive from the North to the South of Ohio.

But now that Flacco is with the Bengals, Taylor noted Flacco can bring a sense of confidence to the club until Burrow is able to return later in 2025.

“I think everyone’s just seen him been there, do that — won a Super Bowl, won a lot of games, and been successful in a lot of different places,” Taylor said. “So, I can’t speak for other people. But when you bring a guy in here with that experience, those skins on the wall, I think it’s significant and can mean something to guys. But they’d have to speak for themselves on that one.

“[O]ur No. 1 focus is winning every game we can possibly win and go to the playoffs and go deep into the playoffs. That is 100 percent our focus, regardless of who our quarterback is. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

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