New York Jets will start QB Joe Flacco on Sunday

Joe Flacco will make his first start in green, as the New York Jets prepare to face an angry Arizona Cardinals squad on Sunday.

The New York Jets announced on Wednesday that Joe Flacco will start Week 5’s game against the Arizona Cardinals. Sam Darnold is considered “week-to-week” and will miss Sunday’s game (1 p.m. ET, Fox) with a shoulder ailment.

Flacco, 35, will make his first NFL start for the Jets after signing a one-year deal with the team back in May. He has established himself as one of the more successful postseason quarterbacks in recent NFL memory, earning a 10-5 record as a playoff starter with the Baltimore Ravens. Seven of those victories have come on the road, an NFL record. Flacco was the MVP of Super Bowl XLVII, helping the Ravens top the San Francisco 49ers 34-31. It capped off a trek that saw Flacco tie Joe Montana’s NFL record with 11 touchdowns in a single postseason.

After he was supplanted by Lamar Jackson in Baltimore’s franchise spot, a role he had held since his first-round drafting out of Delaware in 2008, Flacco signed with the Denver Broncos last season. He started eight games, throwing for 1,822 yards, six touchdowns, and five interceptions before a neck injury ended his season. Flacco underwent surgery prior to being signed by the Jets and was cleared to play last week.

Darnold is now set to miss games in each of his three NFL seasons. He left the game late in the first quarter of the Jets’ showdown against Denver on Thursday after getting thrown down on his throwing shoulder during a sack by Alexander Jones. Darnold went to the locker room but returned to finish off the Jets’ next drive before the first half let out. Flacco completed two passes for 16 yards while Darnold was being evaluated. The latter would finish the game, a 37-28 New York loss.

The Jets (0-4) are 0-6 over the prior two seasons when Darnold has missed his starts. Josh McCown took over for three games when Darnold hurt his foot in his rookie season, while a mononucleosis diagnosis saw Trevor Siemian and Luke Falk take over in a matching three-game absence.

Mike White will serve as the Jets’ backup against Arizona, reprising a role he held over the first three weeks of the season while Flacco recovered from neck surgery. 

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags