Justin Pugh is the founder of the NFL’s “Straight off the Couch” Crew in 2023, but Joe Flacco is becoming the face of the franchise.
Same old story with quarterbacks commanding the spotlight, right?
“I could only take it so far,” Pugh quipped in the Giants locker room after Friday’s practice. “I handed him the baton, and he’s going to take it to the finish line.”
Pugh did the remarkable on Oct. 15 when his first NFL game in 360 days required him to start at left guard and then switch on the fly to undersized left tackle — a position he had not played extensively since 2015 — because of a season-ending injury to Giants teammate Josh Ezeudu.
Pugh was only 12 days into a stint on the practice squad at the time and declared himself “Straight off the Couch” during his “Sunday Night Football” introduction.
The line went viral and Pugh quickly capitalized by selling “Straight off the Couch” apparel in Giants’ colors, but it might be time to start producing them for Browns fans.
Six weeks after he was a carpool dad who went unsigned since last season ended, Flacco is 4-1 with a 90.2 passer rating, 13 touchdowns and four straight 300-yard passing performances for the surprisingly playoff-bound Browns.
The former Super Bowl MVP had a career-high 296 first-half passing yards in Thursday’s 37-20 win against the Jets.
“What Flacco is doing is unbelievable,” Pugh said. “He’s the quarterback of our team — Straight off the Couch. To come back at 38 years old and have the last four- or five-game performance, he’s got Cleveland looking like a contender right now.
“And they were before, but they had catastrophic injuries. It’s a testament to the team they’ve got.”
All Pugh asks is that game announcers and other media remember to credit the 2023 origins of the phrase gaining traction across the league because of Flacco, Seahawks left tackle Jason Peters and Ravens linebacker Kyle Van Noy — all of whom are key in-season additions for playoff contenders.
But any good team — real or on paper — needs a trusty quarterback.
“People say, ‘Oh, once he’s got the playbook down,’ but everyone knows who Flacco is,” Pugh said while preparing to make his 11th straight start Sunday against the Rams. “He’s not surprising anybody with what he’s doing. He’s taken [“Straight off the Couch”] and made it better.”