- The upcoming ‘Thursday Night Football’ game features two quarterbacks over 40, Joe Flacco and Aaron Rodgers.
- This is the second matchup in NFL history with two starting quarterbacks over 40. Tom Brady and Drew Brees faced each other multiple times in 2020.
- Former NFL quarterback Warren Moon, who also played into his 40s, noted that recovery is more difficult for older players, especially on a short week.
With the ages of both starting quarterbacks beginning with the digit four, the NFL’s own promotional material for the Oct. 16 “Thursday Night Football” matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers referred to the game as “Battle of the uncs.”
And if you don’t know what an “unc” ia – short for “uncle” and a term of endearment bestowed to an elder by a younger person, usually in a lighthearted way if the age gap isn’t severe – then you definitely are one.
Joe Flacco, 40, of the Cincinnati Bengals, and the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Aaron Rodgers, 41, will become the second over-40 duo to face off against one another. (Tom Brady and Drew Brees faced each other three times during the 2020 season.) They are two of the six active quarterbacks who have won a Super Bowl, and both were named the game’s MVP.
“Both backups better be ready to go in,” ex-NFL quarterback Warren Moon jokingly told USA TODAY Sports.
Moon made his final start in the NFL after his 44th birthday to cap a 17-year career that started in the Canadian Football League. He made the Pro Bowl during his age-41 season with the Seattle Seahawks and knows that neither Flacco nor Rodgers are playing into their 40s by pure luck. But having to bounce back on a short week after playing Sunday won’t be easy for them, Moon said.
“You don’t bounce back as fast as you used to when you were younger,” he said.
The jokes write themselves, with Steelers defensive lineman Cam Heyward – no spring chicken himself at 36 years old – crashing Rodgers’ media session this week to declare the game as the “IcyHot Bowl.”
But on a serious note, quarterbacks have the benefit of limited contact, Flacco said.
“It’s not like you’re ramming your head against the wall 24/7,” he said.
Moon joked about wishing the league protected quarterbacks during the 80s and 90s as it does in the present – he’d still be playing, he said.
“I wish they protected the quarterbacks back when I played the way that they do now,” said Moon, the 1990 Offensive Player of the Year and Hall of Fame inductee. “I’d still be playing. That is a luxury. It’s something that was definitely needed.”
The two quarterbacks’ (current) teams have had opposite starts of the season. In his 21st NFL season but first with Pittsburgh, Rodgers and the Steelers have as many wins as the other three AFC North teams combined (four). Cincinnati has already moved on from the second edition of the Jake Browning experiment and brought in Flacco in an attempt to stay afloat until Joe Burrow returns from his foot injury sometime in December, supposedly.
Flacco likely wants to spend extra time with Bengals receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins to learn tendencies and build rapport. He was traded to the Bengals in the middle of last week and started against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
Rodgers, however, had the benefit of an early-season bye in which he sought time with his various body gurus.
“The first couple weeks (of the season), I was a little tighter,” Rodgers said. “I felt like I’m starting to loosen up and feel a little more like myself.”
Asked how those sessions go for him, Rodgers replied: “Very carefully.”
Moon said that once he advanced in playing years, he started going to the chiropractor and massage therapist twice a week rather than once. He leaned into improving his diet and weight training and spent more time in the sauna. Guys have invested more money in their bodies over the years, Rodgers has said, and offseason training has completely transformed too.
Limiting hits is especially important for a quarterback in his 40s, Moon said. The Pittsburgh offense has clearly been designed to help in that regard. Rodgers – other than the Minnesota Vikings’ Carson Wentz – has the quickest time to throw stat in the league (2.57 seconds), as well as the lowest average intended air yards (5.4), per Next Gen Stats.
“I think as you get older you kind of know where you’re going with the ball as soon as you break the huddle based off what you see in the defense,” Moon said. “Unless they’re a defense that likes to disguise a lot, you kind of know where you’re going with the ball because of your knowledge.
“The game is so much easier and so much slower as you get older.”
For Flacco, playing this long is a choice that, once made, demands commitment.
“You take all the necessary steps to make sure your body’s ready to go and you’re mentally still energized by learning game plans,” Flacco said
No matter the profession, even playing a child’s game, Flacco said, it “does become work to a certain extent.” But once a player’s mind is made up, he’ll do everything possible to stay on the field. Flacco said that meant sitting as a backup with the Denver Broncos and New York Jets, and last season with the Indianapolis Colts, in hopes of receiving another shot.
In 2025, between the Bengals and Cleveland Browns, where he was the Week 1 starter before being traded, he had two chances; Cleveland traded Flacco after benching him for rookie Dillon Gabriel.
“I’ve been in a locker room my whole life – age isn’t something I think about,” Flacco said. “I just view myself as one of those 20-somethings.”
Flacco and Rodgers both became starters in 2008 – Flacco as a rookie with the Baltimore Ravens and Rodgers finally taking over for Brett Favre on the Green Bay Packers. Rodgers has fond memories of Flacco attending his charitable events. An example of Rodgers’ longevity is that with 116 passing yards on Thursday, he will pass Steelers legend Ben Roethlisberger for the fifth-most regular-season passing yards in NFL history.
“In order to keep playing at an advanced age, you have to have some level of consistency to give you the opportunities,” Rodgers said. “Obviously, Joe’s done it, and I’ve done it.”
