Joe Flacco's success in Cleveland would not have been duplicated with Jets

The chants rained down throughout the Browns' 37-20 rout of the Jets that was in no way as close as the score might indicate. Fans packed inside the building once affectionately nicknamed the Factory of Sadness needed their savior to feel their appreciation -- so they screamed his name over and over and over.

Flacco … Flacco … Flacco.

The 38-year-old Browns quarterback, signed off the streets on Nov. 20 and named starter four days later, clinched Cleveland’s playoff berth with his 309-yard, three-touchdown performance. He’s now won his last four starts -- a fairytale writing a somewhat unfathomable new chapter each week.

On the other sideline, though, rested a team with no such joy. The Jets, too, needed a quarterback -- all the way back in Week 1. They chose not to pursue Joe Flacco, were eliminated from the postseason two weeks ago, and now watched as he lit up their “championship-level” defense to send the Browns where the Jets haven’t been in 13 years.

Could this magical run have been theirs? Could they have been experiencing what they were instead witnessing? Did they make a mistake?

No, they didn’t.

Flacco deserves immense amounts of credit for what he is accomplishing, but none of this would have been possible with the Jets.

Coach Robert Saleh and GM Joe Douglas are coming back in 2024 -- Woody Johnson made that official a week ago. That’s fine, justified, even, if ownership prefers to give the two a chance to see a season through with quarterback Aaron Rodgers instead of blowing it all up now. But that does not absolve the men of their mishaps that have the Jets in this position.

It is Douglas who, during his five years, has failed to field a competent offensive line. Yes, injuries derailed the unit this season, but they were below average even with their five paper starters. It is Douglas who, with plenty of game changers there at No. 15 (Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Zay Flowers), chose a defensive end who is limited to a handful of snaps each week. It was Douglas who, with money to spend, poorly distributed it to players woefully underperforming when the team needed them (Allen Lazard, Billy Turner, Mecole Hardman).

Saleh’s hands are just as messy. Excuses reign supreme for the Jets’ (6-10) on-field struggles instead of accountability and rectification. The Jets lost Rodgers four plays into the season, yes. They are a better team with their Hall of Fame quarterback, yes. But Rodgers does not erase the alarming number of times this team shows up to games ill-prepared (18 career losses by double digits), out-schemed (as Lazard and Garrett Wilson have said), or play undisciplined (league-leading 146 penalties this year).

Those are all contributing factors to why the Jets will not make the playoffs (again) this year. But maybe more than anything is that both men decided, before Rodgers even went down, that they didn’t need to do anything at backup quarterback. They held that sentiment when Rodgers got hurt. They stuck with Zach Wilson. They elevated Tim Boyle to be his backup. They signed Trevor Siemian to the practice squad as a practice arm.

Wilson, Boyle and Siemian have 11 touchdown passes in 16 games. Flacco’s three on Thursday brings his total to 13 in his five starts.

The fact an answer was seemingly there for New York and they never so much as called Flacco in for a workout is alarming. But while there is no shortage of areas to criticize this team for the mess they’ve become, this is not one of them. Flacco in New York would have been a disaster -- no different than the quarterback who went 1-8 in parts of three seasons with the team from 2020-22.

This cannot be stressed enough: No one should take anything away from what Flacco has accomplished with the Browns. He’s not just on a team that’s winning games, but one of the big reasons Cleveland is. He’s thrown for 1,616 yards, 13 touchdowns and eight interceptions during this stretch. His play is only improving as he gets more comfortable in Kevin Stefanski’s offense.

But there are still limitations to Flacco. While his arm is as lively as ever (he was undeniably the best quarterback in Jets training camp a year ago), the mobility he didn’t have to begin with has deteriorated even more. Don’t let his impressive touchdown to Jerome Ford against the Jets fool you -- in order for Flacco to have success he must be kept upright.

The Browns can do that -- a credit to how the coaching staff has their patchwork offensive line gelling. The Jets could never accomplish such things. Flacco would have been a pinata behind this offensive line. The Jets' pass-block grade is a 50.1, third worst in the NFL behind the Steelers and Giants, according to Pro Football Focus.

Left tackle Mekhi Becton has allowed a league-high 12 sacks. His running mate next to him, Laken Tomlinson, has allowed seven. The Jets are forced to rotate players at center, right guard and right tackle because of various injuries, but none of those who play have a Pro Football Focus pass-block grade above 60.

You can find games on the schedule that Flacco would have flipped -- sure. He probably beats the Patriots in Week 3 (a 15-10 loss) or Raiders in Week 10 (a 16-12 loss) or the Falcons in Week 13 (a 13-8 loss). Maybe those games get the Jets to a point where they’re still alive and Rodgers returns, as was expected, a week ago against the Commanders or Thursday against the Browns. But to view not signing Flacco as a massive whiff and roster mismanagement is misguided.

There’s a reason no other team signed him until the Browns did in late November. There’s a reason why Stefanski waited to name him the full-time starter. Flacco waited and fell into the perfect spot for him. The Jets, in no way, are the perfect spot for him.

You saw that in 2020 and 2021. In his four starts in 2022, Flacco went 1-3 as a starter and completed only 57.6% of his passes for 1,051 yards with five touchdowns and three interceptions. That’s the last player the Jets saw. That’s why he wasn’t explored further.

Hindsight seldom is a friend of the Jets. With this one, though, they deserve some grace. Flacco should be celebrated, championed by those in Cleveland. But for those believing he could have created similar magic in New York -- remember these two situations are not the same.

The Jets season ended the moment Rodgers went down.

No one available was capable of saving them.

And that includes Flacco.