Quarterback Joe Flacco may go down in history as the first NFL running back of the year to tell people to vote for someone else. In the weeks leading up to the ceremony, Flacco urged voters to vote for Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, who returned to the team after suffering an on-field cardiac arrest in 2022. Flacco said on the Zach Gleb show a few weeks ago, “I just got back from my old self and I haven’t been around for two months.”Despite that, Flacco was able to narrowly upset Hamlin, 151-140. Hamlin actually won 21 first-place votes to Flacco’s 13,
but the Cleveland Browns quarterback got 26 second-place votes to Hamlin’s 7. It’s clear that voters were intrigued by Flacco joining the team in late November and leading them to a 4-1 record in December. Flacco was also statistically one of the best quarterbacks in the league at the same time.”A big thank you to the city of Cleveland, just everybody in Cleveland,” Flacco said in his acceptance speech (via Mary Kay Cabot, Cleveland.com).
“I just want to thank my teammates for welcoming me into the locker room this year. I want to thank the organization that gave me the opportunity to do what I love and that’s play football. And I just want to thank the city for making me and my family feel at home for a few months. Really special..It’s a testament to how dominant Garrett has been in the first three months of the season that he’s won all of these awards. Garrett collected a surprising 13 sacks in the first 10 games. But after suffering a shoulder injury,
he was virtually out of the stats for the team’s last seven games..Head coach Kevin Stefanski took home his second NFL Coach of the Year award in just four years on the job. Stefanski rose to the top spot after a 4-1 win in December despite losing their starting point guard, star players and a key part of their offense, among other things. He narrowly edged out Houston Texans coach DeMeco Ryans. They tied with 165 points, but Stefanski received one more first-place vote than Ryans. Stefanski is the first Cleveland Browns head coach to win the award twice..
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