Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated made an interesting, and telling, comment the other day.

He said that Myles Garrett is the “quarterback” of the Browns — the face of the franchise, the guy getting all the attention and focus that a quarterback almost always gets — and has been for a while. That’s because the defensive end is so very good, and because the Browns have been so unsettled at quarterback for so long.

That can’t continue if the Browns are ever going to get to where they want to go, and that is to a Super Bowl and to win it. While it’s great to have a future Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive end, the fact of the matter is that the quarterback has to be good enough to be the face of the franchise.

Perhaps quarterback Joe Flacco, an accomplished veteran who will start in Sunday’s road game against the Los Angeles Rams, will change that, at least for the rest of this season. He is anxious to prove that he can still play, and the Browns are anxious for him to play and give them a spark at the position they have not had in recent weeks.

Wouldn’t it be great if Flacco stepped up to the challenge and, as a result, the Browns got up a head of steam in the last part of the season and made the playoffs? We’ll start to find out about that on late Sunday afternoon leading into the evening.

Steve King