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Martin Rogers
FOX Sports Insider
Joe Flacco was once brutally flattened by a future UFC fighter – and popped right back up again. That was 17 years ago when he was still a virtual unknown playing for FCS school Delaware against Hofstra before eventually being drafted by the Baltimore Ravens and putting together a long NFL career.
In the years that followed, the Hofstra lineman, Gian Villante, who delivered the bone-crunching hit on Flacco, would go on to prove himself as a world-class expert in physical punishment, fighting on the same mixed-martial-arts cards as the likes of Conor McGregor, Ronda Rousey, Jon Jones and Georges St. Pierre.
Villante now coaches high school football on Long Island and, by happy coincidence, is an avowed Cleveland Browns fan, turned to the Dawgs by his old training partner and former UFC heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic, a diehard Clevelander.
And Flacco, against all reasonable odds, is still getting hit and popping back up again, topping it off by winning football games for the Browns at a point when most seemed sure he was destined for duties as a bad team’s placeholder or backup.
Nope.
The past two weeks have been a thrilling ride for Cleveland with Flacco at the heart of it, restoring and perhaps even enhancing belief that had faded when Deshaun Watson went down.
His experience, calmness and composed play have led the team to a 9-5 record behind wins against the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Chicago Bears, with last weekend’s effort highlighted by a spectacular late comeback and a series of clutch throws on the final drive when nothing else would suffice.
“I watched the game and I can’t believe that guy I played against all those years ago is still out there doing it at such a high level,” Villante told me by telephone on Thursday. “It blows my mind.
“Think of all the hits Joe has taken over the years, from guys like me and so many others. As a fighter, you…
Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/flaccos-return-to-spotlight-proves-age-is-just-a-number
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Publish date : 2023-12-22 18:45:17
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