On Wednesday, the Cincinnati Bengals announced that veteran quarterback Joe Flacco would start in the team’s Week 6 matchup against the Green Bay Packers. And naturally, Jake Browning wasn’t overly happy about the team’s announcement.
Browning had started the team’s last three games after Joe Burrow sustained a Grade 3 turf toe injury in the team’s Week 2 game. And while there were some bright spots, especially when he relieved Burrow in Week 2, the inconsistencies were simply too significant for the team to overlook.
Turnovers seemingly played the biggest part in Browning’s struggles over the past three weeks, throwing five interceptions in the team’s last three games, which all resulted in Bengals losses.
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Now, Browning will watch Flacco lead the Bengals offense for the time being. And on Wednesday, when reacting publicly to the news that Flacco would start over him, Browning admitted that this decision was unfortunately just a harsh reality of what being an NFL quarterback entails.
“I am socially aware enough to handle it on my own,” said Browning. “I think it sucks. But like I said, everyone is in the middle of the season. You know, welcome to pro football. If you don’t play well, you are going to get replaced. And that’s what I am going through. The general theme for myself is that anyone who has gone through adversity, whether it’s football or personal stuff, if you go through it and deal with it the right way, there is no way you don’t come out the other end a better version of who you were.
“For me, it’s trying to respond the right way. Obviously, I am pissed. If I wasn’t pissed, I shouldn’t be in this locker room. It’s important to me. I am aware of the role I played in the offensive struggles the last few weeks. But I am also not shouldering the entire situation. I went through yesterday, watched my throws, came up with some stuff that I want to work on. Just doing that.”
Being quick to take accountability for some of his individual struggles is important for any player to do as they get benched. So it sure seems like Browning is indeed going about being benched the right way in order to improve as a player.
It obviously remains to be seen how Browning’s future plays out for the remainder of the season in Cincinnati. But given the fact that Flacco didn’t exactly looks stellar in his own right this season in Cleveland, being benched in favor of rookie Dillon Gabriel before being traded, there may very well be a chance that Browning sees the field again at some point.
And based on these comments, Browning appears to be dead set on returning to the field a better player than he was before when he does ultimately get his next chance in the NFL, whether that be in Cincinnati or elsewhere.
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