CLEVELAND — If you’ve followed this franchise long enough, you probably don’t need me to remind you that the Jets own a well-earned Ph.D in embarrassment for their work over the years.
Just when you think the level of the embarrassment has reached a peak, the Jets find a way to top it.
Thursday night, in front of a national TV audience as a stand-alone game at Cleveland Browns Stadium, was one of those nights.
Never mind the final score — Browns 37, Jets 20 at Cleveland Browns Stadium as the Browns clinched a playoff berth — that was far closer than the game actually was as Cleveland put the Jets to sleep in a dominant first half.
Focus on Joe Flacco, the 38-year-old quarterback who played for the Jets the past three seasons and should have been their first phone-a-friend call five minutes after Aaron Rodgers crumpled to the Meadowlands turf clutching his left Achilles in September.
Flacco, as you may have heard, is playing for the Browns now. He has been doing pretty well since being called off his couch in South Jersey to help a Cleveland team that lost its franchise quarterback, Deshaun Watson, for the season.
And there he was on Thursday night, carving up a Jets defense that, before this season began, fancied itself in a conversation with the ’85 Bears defense.
Flacco finished 19 of 29 for 309 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. He threw for 296 of those yards and the three TDs in the first half, after which the Browns led 34-17.
The Jets defense had gone 33 consecutive games without allowing a 300-yard passer, dating back to the last player to do it, Tom Brady in 2021 when he was playing for Tampa Bay.
Once Flacco was signed by the Browns last month, this game sitting on the Jets schedule stood out like a hanging curveball.
If you’ve followed the Jets long enough, you saw this coming. You knew Flacco was going to embarrass his former team, even though he spoke so nice-nice this week about there being no hard feelings that they never called him after the Rodgers injury.
People close to Flacco say he would have re-signed with the Jets in a New Jersey minute had they called.
“Oh yeah, you definitely want to have some type of fuel, and I felt like [Flacco] and [former Jets receiver] Elijah Moore [who scored a TD] definitely played that way and definitely had a chip coming into the game,’’ Jets cornerback D.J. Reed said.
Why Flacco wasn’t called by the Jets three months ago will remain a mystery, unless their general manager Joe Douglas or head coach Robert Saleh ever decide to tell the actual truth.
The fact that the Jets felt their quarterback room, with Rodgers out for the season, was plenty sound enough with Zach Wilson and Tim Boyle (who’s since been released) and then Trevor Siemian once he was signed is a painful reminder of how badly they misjudged and put their season in peril.
And on Thursday night, Flacco made them pay, showed them what they’ve been missing since September as he quarterbacked the Browns to a playoff berth and won his fourth start in five games with them.
“That’s Joe,’’ Jets linebacker C.J. Mosley, who played his first five NFL seasons with Flacco in Baltimore, said. “Everybody always joked, even in Baltimore, ‘Was he elite?’ And he’s showing it. Not a lot of guys at his age can come from home hanging with his kids and do what he’s done.’’
As the clock bled out in the fourth quarter, the capacity Cleveland crowd was chanting Flacco’s name. What a moment for Flacco. What an embarrassment for the Jets, another notch on their ever-expanding belt of these forgettable moments.
“I told him after the game, it’s crazy to hear the Browns fans screaming ‘Flacco, Flacco,’ ’’ Mosley said. “That was pretty wild. Obviously, we wanted to get the win, but just as a friend and as a fan, I’m happy for him.’’
Flacco called the entire night “special,’’ adding, “This is obviously a very unique situation for me, so a lot of different emotions are going through my head. You don’t know how many of these moments you’re going to get. It’s really cool for me. I’m going to remember this for the rest of my life.’’
Jets fans will remember this as one of a litany of embarrassing moments they’ve endured and it will leave them forever wondering why the leaders of their franchise didn’t pick up the damn telephone back in September and call Flacco.
