The Pittsburgh Steelers have the great fortune of playing their Ohio-based rivals within a five-day period. They already took care of business against the floundering Cleveland Browns, and with Cincinnati dropping another game this past week, their blood is in the waters of the AFC North.
Of course, those waters look different for a peculiar reason. Not long ago, the Steelers would have expected Joe Flacco to be with the Browns on Sunday, not with the Bengals this Thursday.
Being sandwiched between the teams that made such a rare trade, Mike Tomlin shared his thoughts on the trade that baffled many.
Pittsburgh Steelers' Mike Tomlin questions logic behind Browns sending Joe Flacco to Bengals
"To be honest, it was shocking to me. [Browns general manager] Andrew Berry must be a lot smarter than me or us,” Tomlin said on Monday. “Because it doesn't make sense to me to trade a quarterback that you think enough of to make your opening-day starter to a division opponent who is hurting in that area."
Tomlin seemed borderline offended that one rival would help another like Cleveland did, but he didn’t see it as a fault on Cincinnati’s end.
“It certainly made sense from Cincinnati’s perspective,” Tomlin said with a laugh.
Having gone to war with Flacco many times over the years in the AFC North, Tomlin has great respect for the former Baltimore Ravens franchise quarterback. Tomlin highlighted Flacco’s veteran expertise and arm talent ahead of the Thursday night matchup.
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In his first start with Cincinnati, Flacco and company were sluggish out of the gate against the Green Bay Packers. In the first half, Flacco had just 40 yards as the Bengals went three-and-out three times. They got going in the second half, though, with Flacco finishing with 219 yards and two scores.
Cincinnati crawled back into the game against Green Bay, though they still picked up a two-score loss for the fourth-straight week. The Bengals look to be a bit stronger with Flacco as the starter, but he and the team still haven’t had a chance to catch their breath since last week’s trade.
That works to Pittsburgh’s benefit if they can take advantage of the short week. Under Tomlin, the Steelers are 2-9 in Thursday night road games.