How Joe Flacco came off the bench and helped the Colts beat the Steelers in Week 4

When Joe Flacco plays football, he has a certain look in his eyes.

The quarterback, now in his 17th season in the NFL, carries himself as calmly as one would expect from such a seasoned veteran. He is calm, cool and collected and doesn't show much emotion on the field. He doesn't beat his chest, he doesn't scream. He just throws the football and does what he's supposed to do.

But he gets a look in the eyes.

“If you talk to Joe during the game, he looks like a killer,” wide receiver Josh Downs said. “So I mean, yeah, Joe came in there and played really well.”

Flacco entered the Colts' matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers late in the first quarter when QB1 Anthony Richardson went to the sideline after suffering a hip injury. Richardson remained on the sideline for two plays – a short pass from Flacco to running back Jonathan Taylor and a rushing play from Taylor – before re-entering the game. But still feeling his injury after the next play, Richardson went back to the sideline.

There were three minutes and 17 seconds left in the first quarter. Flacco played the rest of the game.

The 39-year-old quarterback completed 16 of 26 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns in the Colts' 27-24 victory over the Steelers in his first game of the 2024 season, regularly finding Downs and Taylor as wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. arrived It felt like they had been working together for a lot longer than the few months they had practiced together.

“(He’s a) veteran,” head coach Shane Steichen said. “Obviously he played a lot of football, went in there and did pretty darn well.”

And yet Flacco had to calm himself down when he took the field for the first time. After all, he is only human.

“I’m glad I don’t wear a heart rate monitor,” Flacco said with a laugh. “It’s just one of those things where you have to go back to what’s important and let everything else take care of itself.”