How Browns quarterback Joe Flacco is handling his demotion to backing up Dillon Gabriel

So, the Browns deciding to turn things over to rookie Dillon Gabriel this week instead of sticking with Flacco is nothing new for the 40-year-old.

“You do get emotional about it, so it’s tough to, in the moment, draw on those experiences,” Flacco said. “So you just kind of go back to being yourself and relying on the people around you to help you cope with it a little bit.”

Flacco completed just 58.1% of his passes in four starts this season, throwing two touchdown passes and six interceptions. The Browns’ offense is averaging just 14 points per game, second-worst in the league, and they are 30th in passing yards per play.

“The tougher thing is just going through what we’ve gone through the last four weeks and just not being able to produce the way we wanted to,” Flacco said.

“The consistent message during this switch, which began on Monday when head coach Kevin Stefanski declined on multiple occasions to back Flacco as the starter, has been that the struggles are about more than just one person and it’s hard to argue that point.

The Browns have been without their starting tackles, Dawand Jones and Jack Conklin, most of the last two weeks — Conklin has missed the last three games with an elbow injury and Jones was lost for the season with a knee injury early in Week 3.

The receiving corps has been inconsistent. Jerry Jeudy is the team’s leading receiver with 182 yards, but he’s had issues with drops. There is more upheaval on the way with Cedric Tillman, the team’s No. 2 receiver, going on injured reserve due to a hamstring injury.

“I think the big thing for me is we need to all be better,” Stefanski said. “We need to coach better, we need to block better, catch better, run better, all of the above we need to be better. And I know the quarterback position gets quite a bit of scrutiny, I understand that. But this is about our entire team playing better.”

Stefanski did indicate that turnovers were part of his decision. The Browns are tied for the most giveaways in the league with eight, all of them involving Flacco.

“There’s some of those that it’s like, what are you going to do?” Flacco said. “And then there’s some that you look at and you really want back. That’s how it goes. They all count the same. And when you look back on it, it’s definitely a part of why we weren’t able to be what we wanted to be.”

Other than pointing at the turnovers, Flacco wasn’t looking to point fingers anywhere else for the offense’s struggles.

“It’s tough for me to get into all those details right now and actually spread it out, all this,” he said. “I mean, I really don’t want to get into it. I mean, yeah, we’ve just struggled to kind of become who we want to be. That’s it.”

Now he’ll transition into being the No. 2 quarterback behind Gabriel, a role he’s familiar with.

“Joe is a captain of this football team. We’re going to need his leadership moving forward, like always,” Stefanski said, “and that’s obvious with Joe, just the person he is, he’s going to be the same guy every day.”

Gabriel certainly plans to lean on the veteran.

“What I appreciate about Joe is it’s not his job to be a mentor, it’s his job to be a great quarterback,” Gabriel said. “And I think just his openness to answer questions, it’s my job to ask questions and search for those answers. But having guys like him, Deshaun (Watson) in the room, I think are guys that just played a bunch of ball. So appreciate him for that.”

The role is different for Flacco, but his approach is the same.

“Just be myself,” he said. “Obviously, it can be tricky. I don’t think you can put too much thought into it. Like I said, it’s just being yourself, coming to work every day, giving it your all and keeping that same routine that you have when you were the guy. Just still being able to show everybody that you can come to work and still get it all done, even though it’s not necessarily the same situation.”

He’s been through this before, so he knows the deal, even if it wasn’t entirely his fault.

“Anytime you’re in this league, everybody’s always getting evaluated,” Flacco said, “and the job of a quarterback is to help your team win football games.”