Joe Flacco leads Browns to just third playoff berth since 1999 - ESPN

CLEVELAND — Chants of «Fla-cco, Fla-cco» cascaded down from the crowd Thursday night as the Cleveland Browns officially punched their ticket to the playoffs — and the party in the stands carried over into the locker room afterward.

Led by quarterback Joe Flacco, the Browns (11-5) defeated the New York Jets 37-20 to clinch their first postseason appearance since 2020, and only their third since 1999.

«Pretty special night for this organization,» Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski said. «Pretty special night for the fans out there.»

Before an electric atmosphere, the Browns jumped on New York early and never relinquished control. Flacco threw three touchdown passes in the first half, including a 7-yard strike to running back Jerome Ford on the opening drive.

Flacco passed for 296 yards in the first half, the most in any half in his career, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

Flacco has now thrown for more than 300 yards in every victory in Cleveland's four-game winning streak.

«This is obviously a very unique situation for me, so a lot of different emotions are going through my head,» said Flacco, who is the first quarterback in NFL history to put up at least 250 passing yards and multiple passing touchdowns in each of his first five games with a new franchise. «The city has been so unbelievable.… You can just tell they love football, and it's special going out there and playing for them.»

Six weeks ago, Flacco didn't even have a team.

He went unsigned during the offseason, after spending the past three seasons with the Jets, and remained unsigned until Cleveland added him to its practice squad on Nov. 20 following a season-ending shoulder injury to starting quarterback Deshaun Watson.

Now, Flacco, who turns 39