Joe Flacco made his first start for the Browns on Sunday, mostly acquitting himself well throughout the contest against the Rams.
But Flacco’s one mistake was the turning point of the Week 13 loss.
Cleveland had just gotten the ball back down by a point with 6:51 left in the contest. But on the first play of the drive, Flacco tried a deep pass to Elijah Moore that was well off and intercepted by safety John Johnson.
The Rams scored a touchdown five plays later and the Browns didn’t have a response.
After the game, Flacco was asked if he felt more encouraged by his overall performance or upset at the interception.
“Yeah, I’m just upset at myself,” Flacco said in his press conference. “Listen, I know I can play. I think every time you go take the field, you’re obviously proving to yourself and proving to other people that you can play the game but deep down I know I can play the game so that’s not my thought process at this point.
“My thought process is just disappointed in myself and these are the games that I honestly love to be in. They come down to the fourth quarter and they’re not pretty and they’re going to be tight. I think I excel in the games that are played tight and need to have good decisions be made. So to not come through in that kind of situation, it definitely stings a little bit.”
Flacco ended the game 23-of-44 for 254 yards with a pair of touchdowns and the interception. He started off hot, driving the Browns down the field for an opening-possession touchdown — a 24-yard pass to running back Jerome Ford.
The Browns will still enter Week 14 as the AFC’s No. 6 seed. But after dropping both games on a road swing out West, Cleveland will need to get back in the win column to keep that playoff push alive.
Flacco said he feels the Browns can still make a run to the postseason.
“I think you guys have watched these guys all year. They’re a resilient group and they’ve got a lot of talent,” Flacco said. “It’s one of the more talented teams I’ve been on in a while and you can tell that right away.
“So it’s not easy when you take these long road trips and you come up empty handed and right now we’re not going to be able to reflect too much, but hopefully when we get back in there during the week we can go out and have more good practices and eventually put this thing behind us.”
Despite the pick, Flacco looks like Cleveland’s best option at quarterback for the rest of this season.
