BEREA, Ohio — The Cleveland Browns have begun their preparations for Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos, but there might need to be a little bit more film study done to ready themselves for the challenge of facing a young, inexperienced quarterback.
Broncos coach Vic Fangio announced Monday afternoon that starting quarterback Joe Flacco “won’t play this week” because of a neck injury, meaning Denver will turn to third-year professional Brandon Allen, who has never taken a regular-season snap in the National Football League.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that Flacco’s neck injury “means he could miss significant time,” and that “the Broncos are considering injured reserve” for the veteran signal-caller.
A sixth-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2016 NFL Draft out of the University of Arkansas, the 6-foot-2, 209-pound Allen was a four-year player and three-year starter for the Razorbacks.
In 42 career games over his four seasons at Arkansas, Allen completed 583 of his 1,016 attempts (57.4 percent) for 7,463 yards and 64 touchdowns against 26 attempts.
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Allen guided the Razorbacks to an 8-5 record during his senior season (2015) and 7-6 mark as a junior (2014), both of which were good enough to earn Arkansas postseason bowl invitations in each of his last two years.
Flacco’s injury could be a boost to the Browns’ chances of winning their second straight road game against the Broncos, as he had a 17-3 career record against the Browns while serving as the franchise quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens.
A first-round pick of the Ravens in 2008 out of the University of Delaware, Flacco won his first 10 career starts against the Browns.