It feels like the Cincinnati Bengals’ trade for Joe Flacco is all that anyone can talk about during the lead-up to the Green Bay Packers’ week six game against him and his new team. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few days, you know that Flacco will start for the Bengals this Sunday, making his second start against the Packers in less than a month.
Here’s the thing: Flacco wasn’t very good against the Packers earlier this season, and his play has been roughly equivalent to the man
he’s replacing in the starting lineup, Jake Browning. So let’s move on to some other storylines as we preview this game, notably the Packers’ ongoing injury issues.
For example: Who’s kicking for Green Bay on Sunday? It looks like it probably will be Brandon McManus, but maybe not? It depends on whether you put more stock in comments from McManus or head coach Matt LaFleur on Thursday.
Then there’s the offensive line. The Packers had better hope that Aaron Banks and Zach Tom are back, because it appears Jordan Morgan will need to play left tackle after Rasheed Walker missed practice on Thursday. And that position will be especially important because the Bengals have a potential game-wrecker lining up over that position in Trey Hendrickson.
The last thing the Packers can afford right now is a repeat of that Browns game from a few weeks back, where they came out scared of Myles Garrett and the rest of Cleveland’s defensive front. Banks and Tom being back would probably go a long way to the team being able to run their normal offense, as will the fact that the rest of the Bengals’ line aside from Hendrickson isn’t nearly as good as the Browns’ other players up front.
Here are some Flacco-related and non-Flacco related items to look for this weekend.
Packers ready for unique rematch with Joe Flacco | Packers.com
This isn’t the first time that the Packers have faced the same starting quarterback twice in one season against different teams. The last time was in 2011, when Kyle Orton started against Green Bay for both the Broncos and Chiefs, and he helped hand the Packers their only loss in the latter game).
For Packers, Quarterback Intrigue Runs Deeper Than Joe Flacco | SI.com
The other interesting QB factor here is that Sean Clifford is on the Bengals’ practice squad, but Adam Stenavich isn’t worried about him revealing any big secrets about the Packers’ offense to the Cincinnati coaching staff.
Rich Bisaccia admits it’s been a rough start for Packers’ special teams | Packersnews.com
You don’t say, Rich? But then again, it seems that his head coach won’t let him use the team’s top players as he sees fit.
Days before facing Trey Hendrickson, Packers LT Rasheed Walker misses practice | Packers Wire
At least the Packers should be able to suit up Jordan Morgan at left tackle if Walker can’t go on Sunday, thanks to the expected return of Aaron Banks and Zach Tom.
Police seal off South Yorkshire graveyard after discovery of bones | The Star
Isn’t that one of the few places where you would expect to find bones?!
