Joe Flacco Replaces Anthony Richardson: Game Analysis

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00:00We have ourselves a fascinating situation on Sunday night.

00:09I'll tell you quite frankly, if it was not for the Anthony Richardson, Joe Flacco swap,

00:14I would have buried this game in the party over segment as someone going to Eagles Jaguars

00:18today.

00:19I was none too pleased to see my game flex that a Sunday night football for cults Vikings,

00:25but Minnesota has levels of intrigue.

00:27No doubt what we get from Joe Flacco today is going to be a major talking point.

00:34Good bad solid.

00:36No matter what it's going to for many people be this referendum.

00:41But I think again, it's important to pull back on what is still to me, one of the more

00:45stunning decisions in recent memory, because we saw an opposite move made a few years back

00:53by the Miami Dolphins when they were playing well with Ryan Fitzpatrick.

00:56And they said, it doesn't matter to as the franchise get them in.

00:59Nope, nothing else matters.

01:01The cults again have kind of flipped this on their head.

01:04They see the playoffs in their mind within reach.

01:07And clearly in that someone within that organization believes Flacco gives them the best chance

01:13to win today.

01:15And perhaps they have then put the what's supposed to be future of their franchise on

01:21the back burner.

01:22Anthony Richardson was the fifth overall draft choice just a year ago.

01:27He has started 10 NFL games.

01:30He's left a handful injured.

01:32So this is a guy who I think has played seven full games within the NFL.

01:37Call it six if you want to count the game where he popped his head and left for a snap.

01:40Quite frankly, it is incredible to me still for a team to make this type of decision with

01:46the Indianapolis Colts.

01:48And I think now we'll spend a lot of the year wondering, when does Anthony Richardson

01:53get back out there?

01:55But we'll take it from the top, Donnie, your thoughts as we sit here and have had even

01:59more time to digest the decision that was made to put Joe Flacco in for Anthony Richardson.

02:05It's the right move.

02:06If you feel the time is now where you think you can make a playoff run, you have to put

02:09this guy in.

02:10And that's Joe Flacco.

02:11He's shown over the past year and a half that he can resuscitate a team that's struggling

02:14a quarterback, step in and basically be an old man at sea and still be able to complete

02:19the deep ball to keep everybody involved.

02:21When you're running Shane Steichen's offense, it's apparent the guy's very creative.

02:24He's running a simple system that says, just play point guard at quarterback.

02:28You want to throw deep?

02:29We got guys running deep.

02:30You want to throw intermediate?

02:31I got a great running back in the back.

02:32Let's utilize everything.

02:33Everything wasn't being utilized here.

02:35And I think last week, the tap out, I think would make a little bit too big on that because

02:38it is going to get the national highlights.

02:39How could a quarterback ever do that at this point?

02:41And maybe if he thought twice, but you know what?

02:43Pressure went back to the huddle and said, call run play here at this point, or let's

02:46just call something simple so I can just throw it out here and let a wide receiver screen

02:49go off.

02:50But so many things are happening behind the scenes that we aren't privy to at this point

02:54because you're right, Kevin, you're not going to take the top three pick a year ago that

02:57you're trying to evaluate in a playoff race and say he just can't play.

03:00I just think there's bigger pictures like Zeke Elliott gets suspended today.

03:03I wonder why he was.

03:04Well, news comes out.

03:05That's not showing up the meetings.

03:06He's being, you know, a little bit, a little bit extra, say the least here during the week.

03:10Stop the man this year.

03:11We don't know if that's happening with Anthony Richardson.

03:13But I'll tell you one thing.

03:14You'll continue to hear these stories if Joe Flacco goes on the road today in Beach, Minnesota,

03:18and they'll say, you know what?

03:19Hey, maybe a couple more weeks on the bench.

03:20But if Joe Flacco gets pounded six times this game and they lose, you'll be calling for

03:24Anthony Richardson to be back in there.

03:25And rightfully so.

03:26No, I agree with that.

03:27I think the biggest reason for the change was the completion percentage.

03:32Again, we talked about it and something that he struggled with, Kev, coming out of Florida,

03:36right?

03:37He was a, you know, a physical phenom.

03:39We knew we could throw the ball a ton.

03:41He can run like the wind.

03:43He's big.

03:44He's physical.

03:45Has all of those attributes.

03:46But they wanted to cultivate that talent to the next level and he's shown glimpses.

03:50I will say this.

03:51I am not putting Anthony Richardson on the same level as Bryce Young right now.

03:56I don't think it's a similar situation.

03:58I think Bryce Young, from what I've seen in regards to his play up until this point, not

04:03the same player that we saw at Alabama.

04:06Something's missing there.

04:07Again, the pocket presence, the ability to just understand the offense up until this

04:11point, completely different than Anthony Richardson.

04:14I think Anthony Richardson needs a little bit of honing.

04:17However, that being said, to Donnie's point, they are trying to challenge, you know, as

04:22a wild card and potentially make the playoffs.

04:25We're on the cusp of that with Gardner Minshew last year in a backup role and the ability

04:30for Anthony Richardson to maybe take two or three weeks off to see what he's doing wrong

04:35and maybe get a better understanding of the offense or maybe work on completions and his

04:40accuracy, I don't think is a bad look for the franchise.

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