It's obviously not uncommon for an NFL team to face a quarterback twice in a season, as every franchise faces their division rivals two times a year. But facing the same quarterback twice in a season with that signal-caller wearing different uniforms? Yeah, that's certainly not something you see very often.
But that's the position the Green Bay Packers find themselves in this week, as for the second time in three games, they'll square off against Joe Flacco, who beat the Green & Gold in Week 3 as a member of the Cleveland Browns and will now attempt to repeat the feat this Sunday as a member of the Cincinnati Bengals, who acquired the 40-year-old on Tuesday via trade to step in for the struggling Jake Browning.
During his Wednesday press conference, LaFleur acknowledged the rarity of the circumstance.
"I don't think, outside of a division game, I've ever seen the same quarterback on a different team," LaFleur said during his Wednesday press conference. "It'll be interesting."
That it should be, Matt.
The Packers shut down Joe Flacco in Week 3, but he didn't have Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins then
Despite the 13-10 loss to Cleveland a few weeks back, the Packers' defense didn't allow Flacco to do much, as he completed just 58.3 percent of his passes for 142 yards with zero touchdowns and an interception while taking a pair of sacks.
That said, however, let's not pretend the 18-year veteran had the weapons with the Browns that he now has with the Bengals. With all due respect, I think most would take the duo of Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins over Jerry Jeudy and David Njoku.
It'll be interesting to see how Flacco performs, given the short amount of time he has to learn the Cincinnati offense. But it's not as if he hasn't been through this before, which LaFleur is well aware of heading into Sunday's matchup at Lambeau Field.
"I would say that Joe Flacco's been playing this game for a really long time," LaFleur said, "and he's been in a lot of different systems, so I would bet that he would have no problems picking it up, even in a short period of time."
Flacco will obviously be looking to improve upon his most recent performance, as he completed just 47.1 percent of his passes for 184 yards with no touchdowns and two picks in Cleveland's Week 4 loss to the Detroit Lions, an outing that got him benched, as the Browns opted to move forward with rookie Dillon Gabriel.
As for the Packers, they'll also be looking to improve upon a defensive performance in their Week 4 tie with the Dallas Cowboys in which they allowed Dak Prescott to complete 31 of 40 throws for 319 yards with three touchdowns and zero interceptions.
So, as LaFleur says, it'll be interesting to see how this all plays out.