North Canton’s Blackledge ready to call playoff game
The two teams Todd Blackledge played for — the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers — joined the Browns in the NFL’s postseason.
Blackledge spent the final two seasons of his NFL career with the Steelers and his father, Ron, coached in the Steel City for a decade. Those black-and-gold roots run deep.
But his son Owen celebrated last Sunday when Blackledge, a North Canton native and North Canton Hoover legend, received word he would serve as color analyst for the Cleveland Browns-Houston Texans playoff game Saturday at NRG Stadium.
“Growing up in Ohio, I mean, obviously you pay attention to the Browns, and my youngest son, Owen, is a diehard Browns fan,” Blackledge said during a Wednesday afternoon phone call. “And pretty much everybody else in my family pulls for the Steelers, but Owen is a diehard Browns fan, so he’s very excited about the game coming up.”
Considering he normally plies his trade as color analyst on Big Ten football games for NBC and Peacock and college football has been his focus for 30 years, it’s not difficult to see why Owen would be thrilled to hear his father on the call for his favorite team.
Owen isn’t the only one.
Blackledge said he’s excited that he’s been able to do double duty for the network. Several weeks ago, he and partner and play-by-play announcer Noah Eagle worked the Steelers-Bengals game. He remains dialed into the NFL even if it’s not his focus.
For Todd Blackledge, Browns quarterback Joe Flacco is a ‘feel-good story’
Part of that is recognizing the 2023 season may very well be the year of the backup quarterback in the NFL. There have been at least a dozen quarterback
changes during the season due to injury, bad play and other factors.
That fact plays right into the Browns’ narrative given they’ve had five different starters at the position with Joe Flacco, the former Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets and Denver Broncos quarterback, coming in off his couch to save the team’s season.
That’s something that has impressed Blackledge, who himself was selected in the first round of the 1983 NFL Draft at the position.
“And it is a feel-good story. I mean it, to see a guy get another opportunity and really the Browns [being] in a position of being almost desperate,” Blackledge said.
“I mean, they’re down the list on their quarterbacks, and I just think that he’s come in and you can still see that he still has arm talent.”
Beyond the feelings the story provides, Flacco’s resurrection considering the adversity in place even before his arrival makes the story itself more impressive.
After losing Nick Chubb in the second game of the season, the team’s run offense hadn’t been as impactful as in recent years, averaging 3.9 yards per carry (tied for 24th) and ranking 12th in rushing yards.
“You would think that that would’ve made it harder for Joe Flacco or somebody like him to come in and play the way he has,” Blackledge said.
“But he’s been brilliant. I mean, he’s been really good at play action, and he’s kind of just playing. He has nothing to lose. I mean, he’ll throw that ball into [a] trap, he’ll throw it up and let his guys try to make plays, but he has really given them a boost and it has been fun to watch.”
Browns vs. Texans Part 2 will look different this time around
Flacco passed for 368 yards and three scores, wide receiver Amari Cooper broke Josh Gordon’s single-game team record for receiving yards with 265 and the defense had its way with Texans backup quarterback Case Keenum in the Browns’ 36-22 Christmas Eve win over the Texans.
“Those two guys were spectacular and Houston was without its two best edge rushers (Will Anderson Jr. sat out and Jonathan Greenard was injured early in the game) in that game,” Blackledge said, “so those guys will be back this week I expect. So that ability to pressure Joe Flacco will be very, very important this time around.”
There’s also another factor at play. The Browns defense will see the NFL’s likely Offensive Rookie of the Year, quarterback C.J. Stroud, who has connected on 319 of 499 passes (63.9%) for 4,108 yards, 23 touchdowns and five interceptions. He sat out while in the league’s concussion protocol for the last game.
“He gives that Houston offense a different dimension and a different approach,” Blackledge said. “So it’ll be fun to watch. It’ll be fun to watch him go against its outstanding Cleveland defense and their ability to rush the passer, their ability to play man coverage. It’s going to be a fun challenge to watch between C.J. Stroud and that offense and the Browns defense.”
There is meaning in calling the Browns-Texans game for Todd Blackledge
Blackledge confessed there is some appeal in calling the game for him as well. Coming from football-crazed Stark County, home to the Pro Football of Fame, and having starred at Hoover, there would have to be.
“It’s meaningful because I just know how many friends and family and people that live in the Canton area, in the Northeast Ohio area that know me or are familiar with me will be watching this game as well,” he said. “So, it’s kind of cool to be able to do a game in front of so many people that I know are football fans.
“And, certainly, there’ll be cheering sounds for sure. So, they’ll probably let me know if I say anything they don’t like about the Browns or if I seem like I’m not covering it fairly enough, which I know I will. But, yes, they’re passionate fans in northeastern Ohio.”