Joe Flacco outduels Aaron Rodgers in battle of elder statesmen as Bengals stun Steelers in ‘Icy Hot Bowl’

By Ben Morse, CNN

(CNN) — While the NFL remains a young man’s game as a whole, Thursday Night Football was a good example that the old guys can still sling it.

The contest saw 40-year-old Joe Flacco face 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers as the Cincinnati Bengals hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers and was dubbed the “Icy Hot Bowl” by Rodgers’ Steelers teammate, Cameron Heyward, beforehand.

And despite having a combined age of 81, the two oldest quarterbacks in the NFL currently showed that they can still produce on the top level, with both having productive outings in a high-scoring affair.

In the end though, it was Flacco – making just his second Bengals start since being traded from the Cleveland Browns – who came out on top, with the Bengals winning 33-31.

Flacco threw for 342 yards and three touchdowns – one apiece to Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Noah Fant – as well as orchestrating a field goal drive in the final minutes which would turn out to be the decisive score.

Flacco was parachuted into Cincinnati following the long-term toe injury suffered by Joe Burrow and the streaky play of back-up passer Jake Browning. And after losing his debut to the Green Bay Packers last week, the Super Bowl XLVII champion got in the win column to keep the Bengals’ season alive at 3-4.

“This is what we do it for is games like that,” Flacco said after the victory.
“It came down to the wire just like we know it’s going to. Really, really happy about how the guys just kind of stayed with it for a full 60 minutes.

“Man, our offensive line was going today. We were running the football, protecting, doing a lot of things that we wanted to do.”

Pittsburgh had raced out into a 10-0 lead midway through the second quarter but 20 straight points from the Bengals put them on top at Paycor Stadium.

The teams traded scores until a long 68-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers to tight end Pat Freiermuth and the ensuing extra point gave the Steelers a one-point lead with just over two minutes remaining.

But the experienced Flacco was able to put together an eight-play, 52-yard drive which drained the majority of the clock to set up a 36-yard field goal for Evan McPherson which he converted to give the home team a two-point lead.

It left Rodgers and the Steelers just seven seconds to attempt a miracle comeback but it came to nothing and Flacco had his first win in Cincinnati.

“Outstanding. Outstanding. Outstanding. It was outstanding, really,” Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said of Flacco’s night.

“We scored on, what, like six of the last seven drives maybe? Seven of the last eight. And really early on, we had some drops and some quirky stuff happen that prevented a score there. So, just thought his performance was outstanding. Very calm, collected, led us in the two-minute drive to go win the game.”

A key reason for trading for Flacco was the hope that he’d get their star-studded offense firing and he seems to have done so. Both Chase and Higgins had big nights – Chase had 16 catches for 161 yards while Higgins had six catches for 96 yards, a season high – and the running game had its best outing so far this year, with Chase Brown rushing for over 100 yards for the first time this season.

Despite the defeat, it was a productive evening for Steelers quarterback Rodgers who threw four touchdowns and two interceptions on Thursday.

There was a moment of history for the former Green Bay Packers and New York Jets star during the game, as he moved up to fifth place in the all-time career passing yards leaderboard, moving past Pittsburgh’s all-time leading passer and long-time contemporary Ben Roethlisberger.

Rodgers needed 116 passing yards to pass Roethlisberger and cruised past him with a 15-yard connection with Jaylen Warren in the second quarter.

Rodgers finished the game with 64,222 yards, still over 7,000 yards behind Brett Favre in fourth.

The Steelers fall to 4-2 but still remain atop the AFC North with a big clash against the Green Bay Packers to come in Week 8 on Sunday Night Football.

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