Jim Ingraham: The Browns and their fans deserve Joe Flacco ... and vice versa

This is why we love sports. When things like this happen. Things totally out of the blue. Unexpected things. Wonderful things. Things nobody thought had any chance of happening. Joe Flacco things. When things like this happen, all you can do is shake your head and think to yourself, "This is why we go to the games. This is why we care." No NFL team, no NFL fan base more deserves what is happening than what is happening now with the Browns. This is like a Hollywood movie that would never get made because it was simply too outrageous. Nobody would believe it. Things like this don't happen because things like this can't happen, haven't happened. Until now. Until Joe Flacco, and the city to which the football gods sent him, in the twilight of his career, on a mission of mercy so outrageous that only a 38-year-old quarterback with a 28-year-old's arm and enough internal swag to think that he could actually pull it off. If you were there Thursday night for the latest flash of Flaccomania, you heard the cheers, you saw the magic, you saluted the scoreboard and applauded the Browns quarterback and the sheer audacity of what it is he is doing. This is why we love sports. For moments like this. For games like this. For outcomes like this, and for heroes like this. It's like even the football gods are now sympathetic for the kind of luckless season the Browns were having, for all the injuries they have endured that have taken away so many important players and hampered their ability to win otherwise winnable games for the most loyal fan base in the NFL. Fate finally stepped in, and stepped up: "Here you go Cleveland ... Joe Flacco ... Enjoy!" Thursday night, at Flacco Field, where the Browns crashed the playoffs by beating the Jets, it was hard to tell who was most excited by Cleveland's victory: the Browns fans, the Browns quarterback or the Browns players for the Browns quarterback. There are, with Joe Flacco, elements of the Roy Hobbs character in the great baseball movie "The Natural." Both are aging former heroes in their sport, rising to meet the challenge of creating and enjoying one final hurrah, one final victory lap. That Flacco had to wait this long this year for his chance has, today, undoubtedly left many owners of NFL contending yet quarterback-needy teams asking their general managers why they didn't sign Flacco. The short answer, of course, is, "Duh! The dude's 38 years old!" Tell that to the Jets. Tell that to the Texans. Tell that to the Bears. Tell that to the Jaguars. There is something to be said for good old-fashioned love of the game. Clearly, Joe Flacco, who waited almost a year for his phone to ring, has it. Having it, however, is a long way from showing it. The analytics nerds may think that hiring a 38-year-old quarterback is an invitation to disaster. Hopefully they were watching the Flacco-led Browns hang 37 points on a Jets defense that has given up an average of just 22 points per game this season. Prior to signing Flacco, the Browns were averaging 21 points per game. In their last four games with Flacco they have averaged 31 points per game. However, there is no way to quantify Flacco's effect on not just the Browns offense, but its defense. The whole team, really. As great as Browns kicker Dustin Hopkins and punter Corey Bojorquez are, neither one played Thursday and the Browns still beat the Jets by almost three touchdowns. In every way imaginable the addition of Flacco was a major game changer for the Browns this season, to the point where you wish it had happened sooner. There is no substitute for an experienced quarterback who has played in big games, faced big situations and does not panic when things do not go as planned. That Flacco was able to join a new team, a contending team, on the fly, having not played in an NFL game in almost a year, and be experienced enough and savvy enough to project that sort of calming "I got this" vibe in the huddle — those kinds of guys do not grow on trees. It's almost like Flacco instantly became the big brother that not just the quarterback room, but the entire roster needed. And the players have responded to him immediately. Sometimes having a 38-year-old quarterback is an asset, not a liability. Especially one whose personality, demeanor and resume are all a perfect fit for the team he is joining. For the Browns, Joe Flacco happened at exactly the right time. He's not just the guy who brought the charcoal to the picnic, but the guy who is enjoying the picnic more than anyone. Except for Browns fans. Contact Jim Ingraham at jingraham4@gmail.com and follow him @Jim_Ingraham on X.