Geno Stone calls Flacco “The Super Bowl MVP,” which Flacco won during the 2012 season. Ted Karras calls Flacco a Hall of Famer. Al Golden compares Flacco to Hannibal Lecter.

Despite the descriptions and despite Flacco’s 342 passing yards against a terrific Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense in a Bengals’ win on Thursday night, Flacco actually isn’t the best quarterback in the NFL. But the team isn’t asking Flacco to carry the Bengals on his back.

What the Bengals need from their 40-year-old quarterback is to stay steady and keep every individual confident that they’re in a position to be the best version of themself.

“It’s consistency,” Andrei Iosivas said. “Taking what’s there. Starting off strong. He’s just so knowledgeable and so calm in the huddle. You gravitate toward his leadership.”

Before the Bengals had Flacco, this team’s confidence was shot. The offense couldn’t get a first down, so the defense had to be on the field for what felt like hours. That unit was gassed. Jake Browning was taking self-inflicted sacks, which reflected poorly on the offensive line. Chase Brown had nowhere to run. Since the Bengals weren’t moving the ball, drives were short. There weren’t enough plays for the wide receivers and tight ends to all get their typical allotment of targets.

Everyone looked bad.

It got so tough to watch that the Bengals acquired Flacco in the most aggressive in-season trade in the history of the franchise.

“When he first got here in the building, there was an energy shift. Everyone knows what type of quarterback he is,” Stone said. “He has proven it many times. When he got here, he changed the whole building. Everyone’s mindset.”

The situation was so bleak that when the Bengals traded for Flacco last Tuesday, Zac Taylor told him right away that he’d be starting five days later in Green Bay. It was a huge ask. Flacco didn’t even know everybody’s names, let alone the language of the Bengals’ complex offense. As experience as he was, the biggest concern for Flacco’s Bengals’ debut was his ability to call the plays correctly.

Flacco handled it all matter of factly. “He’s a good leader amongst the storm,” said left guard Dalton Risner, who also played with Flacco in Denver in 2019.

The communication has been good between Flacco and his new teammates.

“He’s not that guy where you’re nervous to talk to him because you don’t know what you’re going to get from him,” Amarius Mims said. “Some quarterbacks are like that, I’ve heard. Flacco is a great guy.”

The communication with the coaching staff has also helped Flacco hit the ground running. Leading up to the Packers game, Flacco spent some extra time with Taylor, figured out what he needed to figure out and operated a very clean game in Green Bay. The second half against the Packers set the stage for the Bengals’ breakout game on Thursday against the Steelers.

Flacco is getting the ball out quickly and using his football IQ to get as much as he can out of the most talented skill position group in the NFL.

“I don’t think we’ve really changed a lot schematically, but we’ve definitely simplified our play calls,” Chase Brown said. “When we went to play Green Bay (last week), that was the lightest call sheet I’ve seen. It was all Day 1 stuff that we all know how to execute and do with our eyes closed.”

Most of Flacco’s 342 yards on Thursday weren’t jaw dropping. They were quick outs to Ja’Marr Chase, curls to Tee Higgins and check downs.

But there’s a lesson there.

“We’ve got Ja’Marr (Chase) on an out route and they’re off of him — just throw it,” Flacco said. “(It’s) just the simple thing — it just goes back to the basics and not worrying about the result in the moment. Just playing the play getting our guys in position to go win it.”

He also had his head-turning highlights, including game-changing deep balls to Higgins and Iosivas. But for the most part, Flacco took what the defense gave him.

“It’s always what we’ve hung our hat on, just trying to find ways to get those (skill) guys the ball,” Taylor said. “ It’s just a really effective way to live, and we’ll try to build off that.”

While Flacco can handle a lot, getting any quarterback who just joined the team ready to play two games in 10 days has been one the biggest challenges that this coaching staff has faced. “There was a lot of time to drink a lot of coffee,” Taylor said. The coaches had to teach Flacco the offense, come up with new game plans for a quarterback who they barely knew and also make corrections across an entire offense that had been playing poorly.

Flacco had three practices leading up to the Green Bay game, and Chase missed two of them. Leading up to the Steelers game, the Bengals only had walkthroughs during a short week. Taylor estimates that Flacco has thrown five full-speed passes to Chase in practice over the last two weeks.

Flacco said that the short week leading up to the Thursday Night game vs. the Steelers was an even bigger challenge because there wasn’t as much time to get a feel for the rhythm of the play calls. Flacco and Taylor weren’t on the same page a few times against the Steelers, and Flacco jokingly blamed Taylor’s Oklahoman accent.

“It’s just two 40-year-olds just communicating the best we can with each other,” Taylor said.

There were a handful of plays against the Steelers where the Bengals weren’t lined up correctly. Flacco and the Bengals’ standout skill position players made several of them work, which helped turn the game in the Bengals’ favor. Flacco’s first down run on a broken play will live on in Bengals’ folklore.

The coaching staff is also shining here. While the game plans have been simplified, the coaches have still introduced some wrinkles. They’ve adjusted the run game. They keep coming up with new ways to get Chase open. The seam ball to Iosivas over the middle — a play that Flacco had only banked one half-speed practice rep — was the perfect response when the Steelers double-teamed both Chase and Higgins on a key third down.

The wildest wrinkle of them all resulted in a 29-yard touchdown catch for Tee Higgins in the second quarter.

On the play, Flacco lined up under center and dropped straight back without faking a handoff. It was a non-play action under center pass.

The Bengals never do this.

Those plays are straight out of a different era of football and have fallen out of style. But Flacco is from a different era of football. The Bengals installed an eight-play package of non-play action under center passes for the Steelers game, and then ran three of those plays against the Steelers. Taylor credited Dan Pitcher for the idea.

Because of Flacco’s experience, arm strength and poise in situations that are new to him, he lets the coaches tap into their creativity. It’s another group that Flacco’s presence helps bring more out of.

You can say the same thing about the Bengals’ offensive line, which kept Flacco upright in a matchup against one of the best pass rushes in the NFL.

“Joe has been doing this for 18 years,” Amarius Mims said. “I know where he’s going to be setting up at. I know where he wants to go. I’m just blocking and letting him make plays for our athletes.”

All of these groups gain more confidence as they watch Flacco execute. And now, the 3-4 Bengals feel alive again in the AFC North race.

Now, after a 10-day crash course in the Bengals’ offense, Flacco and the Bengals’ coaching staff get a chance to catch their breath.

“(Flacco) did a great job of taking it all in,” Taylor said. “Now with a full week, a full normal week here coming up with the extra day on Monday as well, I think it will be really helpful and it will really slow down. We can hone in on what he continues to do best and keep featuring that.”

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