Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was among the masses who were caught off-guard by the Cleveland Browns sending veteran quarterback Joe Flacco to the Cincinnati Bengals in a rare in-division trade last week.
“It was shocking to me,” Tomlin said Monday, per ESPN’s Brooke Pryor. “[Browns general manager] Andrew Berry must be a lot smarter than me or us because it doesn’t make sense to me to trade a quarterback that you think enough of to be a day 1 starter to a divisional opponent.”
Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski was asked about Tomlin’s criticism of the Flacco trade on Monday, and he told reporters, “I don’t have a comment on that.”
Cleveland had benched Flacco and inserted rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel as the starter in Week 5. Rather than holding onto the aging vet, the Browns traded him to the Bengals, who were struggling at the quarterback position after losing star signal-caller Joe Burrow to toe surgery.
The Steelers easily handled the Flacco-less Browns with a 23-9 win on Sunday. Gabriel completed 29 of his 52 passes for 221 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions while being sacked six times.
Rather than facing Flacco with Cleveland on Sunday, Pittsburgh will meet its old nemesis when it faces Cincinnati on Thursday Night Football to kick off Week 7. In his Bengals debut, Flacco threw for 219 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions on 29-of-45 passing in Sunday’s 27-18 loss to the Green Bay Packers.
The Steelers will be seeking their fourth straight win on Thursday, so it can be expected that Tomlin will have his players amped up to take on Flacco and the Bengals as they try to continue to establish supremacy in the AFC North.
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