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Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco is the real deal and has some folks even talking Super Bowl, with the potential payout being $3500 on a $100 bet.
Flacco will be sitting out in Week 18 and that's resulted in the line moving from -1 favoring the home team Cincinnati Bengals to -7.
The 11-5 Browns clinched the playoffs and have little to play for. Oddsmakers knew early on that Flacco would likely sit this one out. Assuming he were playing, we did get a line that was an absolute PICK'EM.
Flacco may not be worth the full 7 points as head coach Kevin Stefanski confirmed on Monday he planned to rest other starters.
“We’re working through all those things,” he said. “We’ll have a plan. Obviously, we want to finish strong, so we’ll have a plan moving forward.”
Flacco was named the starter for Week 13 against the Los Angeles Rams after Dorian Thompson-Robinson was ruled out with a concussion. In fact, Cleveland had suffered injury blows to the quarterback position all season long.
In Flacco's next game he completed 26 of 45 passes for 311 yards, three touchdowns and one interception as the Browns won 31–27.
Following that victory, the Browns announced that Flacco would remain the starter moving forward and he continued to impress.
In Week 16 against the Houston Texans, Flacco completed 27-of-42 passes for 368 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions in a 36–22 victory.
In Week 17 against the Jets, he threw three touchdowns and passed for 296 yards in the first half alone, marking the most yards in any half in his career as the Browns won 37–20 and clinching their first playoff berth in three years.
Flacco kept shattering records along the way. When Week 17 was in the books, this marked the first time in his career that he had three consecutive games with over 300 yards passing . Flacco would go on to become the first player in NFL history to have 250 passing yards and multiple passing touchdowns in each of his first five games with a franchise.
- Dan Shapiro, Gambling911.com
