Bengals Beat: Jake Browning Feels Like a Fall Guy For Offensive Woes, Ted Karras Knows Good Quarterbacks and Joe Flacco Is Another On The List

CINCINNATI — Jake Browning isn’t looking for sympathy, just some perspective and understanding.

Browning got the news on Monday that the Bengals were searching around for a new quarterback. On Tuesday, he found out that they were trading for veteran Super Bowl-winner Joe Flacco. On Wednesday, he started helping with on-boarding Flacco into the Bengals offense and on Thursday, he went through the full pads practice as the backup, back to the role he served with Joe Burrow.

The quarterback that led the Bengals to a last-minute 31-27 win over Jacksonville but stumbled to three losses as a starter in Burrow’s absence knows he didn’t perform up to his standards, throwing eight interceptions while only tossing six touchdowns in the three-plus games. In his first three games as a starter, the Bengals were held under 200 total yards of offense twice and before the fourth quarter last Sunday, they were being outscored 104-16 in a span of 11 quarters.

The offense was a mess and the Bengals had to do something. Browning could read the writing on the wall.

“I think there’s a lot of different things and that need to go into an offense doing well, and one of them’s quarterback taking care of the ball,” admitted Browning, who tossed three picks in the first 31 minutes Sunday. “But there’s a lot of lot of things that go into it. And so I think that’s part of it. I think at the end of the day, I need to limit some turnovers and stuff like that.”

What was also apparent in talking to Browning was his awareness of other factors that played into the offense struggling to put up just 16 points in 11 quarters, like a struggling offensive line with two rookie starters and the lack of any run game, Chase Brown yet to break out in five games so far this season. Browning was Cincinnati’s leading rusher on Sunday with 31 yards.

“I think there’s a lot of other things that kind of contributed to to our lack of offensive production,” Browning said. “And I think for me, I kind of point to the Denver game where I did take care of the ball, and we put up three points. So, I think, obviously, I’m not dumb or arrogant enough to think that I didn’t play my role in the offensive struggles. But, I think there’s a lot that goes into it, and what was communicated to me was that we’re trying to provide a spark on offense after getting beat pretty bad three games in a row.”

Ted Karras offered his support to his teammate and good friend.

“Jake Browning is one of my best friends. It’s a little bit weird for everyone,” Karras said. “But I think we have the guys and right make up and I think everyone in this organization is made of the right stuff and moving in the right direction to go get wins. We love Jake Browning and we’re excited to work with Joe Flacco as well.

“There’s nothing to say. It’s part of the business of football. It’s happened to mostly everyone. It’s happened to me before in my career. There’s not much to say.”

Browning believes he can still help the team in multiple ways, whether it’s running a scout team or simply understanding the game plan going into a week and helping others grasp it as well.

One thing is for sure, he’s going to spend any time feeling sorry for himself, knowing there’s work to be done.

“The communication to me for some of the games was, ‘Hey, we need to do some more to help you out.’ And then I had a really bad two and a half quarters against the Lions. And I think they took some bad losses and we’re trying to provide a spark. And so they decided to go a different direction… I’m not gonna walk around sulking because, I mean, no one cares how you’re feeling about it. It is what it is. And two, I got a little bit more pride than that to just be walking around, sulking around everywhere, so (I’ll be) staying prepared. I’m familiar with the business side of it, and it’s not like completely foreign to me. But yeah, I mean, this sucks.

“I’m socially aware enough, I think, to handle it on my own. I think it sucks. But everyone’s in the middle of the season. Welcome to pro football. If you don’t play well, you’re gonna get replaced. And that’s I’m going through. The general theme for myself is that anybody that is going through some adversity, whether it’s football or personal stuff, if you go through it and deal with it the right way, there’s no way you don’t come out the other end a better version of who you who you were. So, for me, it’s like trying to respond the right way. Obviously, I’m pissed, and if I wasn’t pissed, then I shouldn’t be in this locker room. And it’s important to me. I’m aware of the role I played in the offensive struggles over the last few weeks, but I’m also not shouldering the entire situation.”

Karras and QBs:
Karras has played center for Tom Brady and Joe Burrow in his career. Now, he gets to add another prolific passer to his list. When Karras snaps the ball to Flacco on Sunday, it will mark the third quarterback he’s played with that has Super Bowl experience.

“I was taking a nap (Tuesday) and had about 15 missed calls,” Karras said. “Very excited. I’ve been very blessed with the QB play in my career. This is another guy that I can learn from and really has done a lot of good in his career. Year 18, not the oldest guy on the team anymore.”

Karras didn’t waste any time with Flacco, going over silent cadence with Flacco on Wednesday, including base rules on the line operation.

“I think it was an aggressive move and hopefully it pays dividends,” Karras said. “Really a pleasure to snap to Joe Flacco. He’s pretty big. A big man. Excited to have him on our team. Been against him a lot in my career.”

Karras played on the Super Bowl-winning Patriots teams in 2016 and 2018 and the Patriots battled the Ravens often in the 2010s as one of their primary rivals in the AFC, along with the Broncos and Steelers.