JUST IN: Brown fans weird reaction to Kevin Stefanski team selection as Browns name a new QB starter with Thompson-Robinson out 

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Browns will start their fourth different quarterback this season when veteran quarterback Joe Flacco takes the field against the Rams on Sunday.

Flacco, 38, takes over for rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who suffered a concussion against the Denver Broncos last weekend and is still in the protocol. Cleveland ruled out Thompson-Robinson on Friday, allowing Flacco to take the field.

Deshaun Watson, who had season-ending right shoulder surgery last month, was already out for the Browns. PJ Walker has started two games this season and will serve as Flacco’s backup on Sunday.

Cleveland will also be without Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward, who will miss his second consecutive game due to a shoulder injury. Myles Garrett (shoulder) will take the field.

 

Flacco, the 2012 Super Bowl MVP with the champion Baltimore Ravens, signed with Cleveland on Nov. 20. This move came just a week after Watson broke his throwing shoulder.

“Joe’s a pro,” said Browns coach Kevin Stefanski on Friday. “I’ve been around professionals, and he’s right up there.” He does his job well. “You are extremely intelligent.”

Flacco said Wednesday that the prospect of starting over is “definitely exciting,” especially after remaining an unsigned free agent for the first half of the season while looking for work.

“There’s so many things that add to it now, having young kids and feeling their excitement about it,” Mr. Flacco said. “And when you are away, it puts things in perspective a little bit.”

In 2022, Flacco, who has thrown for 42,320 yards and 232 touchdowns in his career, will play four games for the New York Jets.

Last season, he threw four touchdown passes against the Browns in Week 2. Flacco threw the game-winning pass to Garrett Wilson with 22 seconds left to cap New York’s incredible 31-30 comeback victory over Cleveland.

Several Browns players and coaches have praised Flacco’s performance in practice this week, as he took his first snaps with the first-team offense.

“He throws a very pretty ball,” Amari Cooper, the wide receiver, said. “I’m not sure if it’s intentional or not, but when he drops back and lets it go, it’s like poetry in motion.” It appears to be in good condition.”

Only twice since 1950 have the Browns started four quarterbacks in a season: in 2008 (Brady Quinn, Bruce Gradkowski, Derek Anderson, and Ken Dorsey) and 1988 (Bernie Kosar, Don Strock, Gary Danielson, and Mike Pagel).

Cleveland, on the other hand, has never had four quarterbacks win as starters in the same season.

According to ESPN Stats & Information, the last NFL team to have four different starting quarterbacks win a game in the same season was the Houston Texans in 2015.

The Buffalo Bills (1961), New England Patriots (1987, ’88, ’89), New Orleans Saints (1998), and Carolina Panthers (2007) have all done it since 1950.

Also on Friday, Browns wide receiver Michael Woods II was suspended for the season’s final six games for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy. Woods, a sixth-round pick last year, tore his Achilles in the offseason and hasn’t been in contact with the team since.