Paul Zeise: Joe Flacco and Aaron Rodgers proved that the pocket passer is not dead in the NFL

PITTSBURGH — Two guys who are a combined age of about 82 and have started a combined 450 NFL games put together a total of seven touchdown passes, 64 points and 591 passing yards on "Thursday Night Football." And it was a thing of beauty, to be quite honest.

Joe Flacco absolutely torched the Steelers secondary, to the point where I actually feel bad for Jalen Ramsey and Joey Porter Jr. and Co. next week when they have to watch film of this game. Aaron Rodgers pretty much did whatever he wanted against the Bengals secondary, as well, but he did throw two interceptions (one his fault, one just a great play by a Bengals defensive back) that it could be argued were the difference in the game.

As it turns out, you can still win football games by dropping back to pass, by having quarterbacks with high IQs and accurate arms, and by having them pick apart defenses because they understand what they are looking at and far more often than not make the right decisions with the ball.

I get the whole mobility thing and the craze where everyone wanted to find one of these dual-threat guys and turn them into quarterbacks.

I can say with certainty that the only time that has worked out is in Philadelphia, but Jalen Hurts is surrounded by an incredible offensive line and the best running back on the planet. The Eagles are a running team and are committed to letting Hurts be a huge part of the running game. They have/had the perfect mix of talent and players to pull that off, but now it seems like the receivers on that team are ready to blow a gasket.

The Eagles are the exception, mostly because they put together the best collection of players in the NFL, they play great defense, and Hurts can throw the ball just well enough that he can hurt you with big plays in the passing game.

Prior to the Eagles winning the Super Bowl last season, the championship teams were quarterbacked by Patrick Mahomes (three times), Tom Brady (four times), Matthew Stafford, Nick Foles, Peyton Manning, Russell Wilson, Joe Flacco, Eli Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and Ben Roethlisberger.

You know what every one of those guys have in common? They are excellent pocket passers. Quarterbacks first, athletes second. Mahomes can scramble and run some. Wilson was mobile on some level. Rodgers and Roethlisberger were crafty and able to use their feet to get out of trouble. But those four were traditional NFL quarterbacks from the pocket who could stand in there and gut defenses with precision passing.

I do truly understand the desire to find one of these running quarterbacks who is an incredible athlete, but time and time again it has been proven you don't win that way at the highest level in the NFL. I get that many college programs run some version of the spread offense and many incorporate a version of the read-option stuff, so the overwhelming majority of the quarterback prospects play that way and are trained that way.

But there is a reason the only quarterback that has got to the Super Bowl from the AFC recently not named Mahomes or Brady is not Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen, but rather is Joe Burrow. I think both Jackson and Allen have improved as passers, but neither is close to the passer that "Joe Cool" is.

That works in college, but in the NFL it is hard to pull off ,which is why it feels like the pendulum is swinging back toward the Drake Mayes, Jaxson Darts, Spencer Rattlers and Bo Nixes of the world. The drop-back, traditional passer with enough mobility to make guys miss is becoming cool again, and that's tremendous because it will hopefully produce more games like Thursday night's 33-31 win by the Bengals over the Steelers.

That brings me back to Flacco and Rodgers and why at 40 and 41 (closing in on 41 and 42) they are still employed and why the Steelers and Bengals will have a chance every single week. Flacco has given the Bengals life and gives them an opportunity to perhaps survive until Burrow gets back and they can make a playoff push.

Mike Tomlin openly ripped the Browns for trading Flacco to the Bengals last week, and he was right. Flacco is so much better than the approximately 65 quarterbacks the Browns have employed this year, and that includes their current starter, Dillon Gabriel. I get it, the Browns are committed to a youth movement of sorts, but trading Flacco away to start a kid who is in way over his head was just silly.

The Bengals' next few games (Jets, Bears) should give them an opportunity to get back to a winning record, and then they play the Steelers again. I would hope the Steelers would have a better defensive game plan to try and stop Flacco and Co., but if they don't, the Bengals would suddenly be a real player in the AFC North race.

I love the fact that Rodgers and Flacco showed the world that NFL football is still a game that requires quarterbacks who can throw from the pocket, make great decisions, get rid of the ball before the pass rush gets to them, and are accurate in their throws.

I enjoyed this game more than most because of the play of both quarterbacks. We can debate how bad both defenses played, and that's probably a part of the story, too, but don't think for one minute that this would have been a similar game had it been Jake Browning against Mason Rudolph.

Rodgers is providing the Steelers with the best quarterback play they have had since Roethlisberger pre-elbow surgery, and Flacco has breathed life into a team that was dead in the water.

At some point, the Steelers will get around to trying to find their quarterback of the future, maybe as soon as next year's draft. Here is hoping that Tomlin, who has commented that he would prefer an athletic/dual-threat/running quarterback, has watched Rodgers and realized like most other teams and coaches have recently that a traditional pro-style passer is still the profile of the quarterback best suited to lead a team to the Super Bowl.

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