Flacco has big climb to lead Bengals at Green Bay

Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs carries the ball against the Dallas Cowboys on Sept. 28 in Arlington, Texas. (AP photo)
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Joe Flacco has a chance to do something in his Cincinnati Bengals debut that only one quarterback has accomplished.
Flacco will try to help the Bengals beat Green Bay on Sunday, just three weeks after he defeated the Packers as the Cleveland Browns’ starting quarterback. The only quarterback to beat the same opponent twice in one season while playing for two teams was Jack Kemp, who led the AFL’s Buffalo Bills and San Diego Chargers past the New York Titans in 1962.
“It’s at least there in the back of his mind, ‘Man, I’ve played these guys, and I have an understanding of how they try to attack you,'” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said.
The Bengals (2-3) acquired Flacco aftert losing three straight games by a combined score of 113-37 with Jake Browning as their starting quarterback. The Bengals had turned to Browning after two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Joe Burrow hurt his left toe, an injury that is expected to sideline him for three months.
Flacco went 21 of 36 for 142 yards with an interception and no touchdown passes in the Browns’ 13-10 triumph over the Packers on Sept. 21. Cleveland won by scoring 13 straight points in the last 3:38.
Packers safety Xavier McKinney already has tried considering this unique situation from Flacco’s perspective.
“I was thinking about just kind of ways he might try to come into this game having different players and a different scheme, already having seen what we’ve done this year,” McKinney said. “So just trying to see if there’s going to be different ways where we can mix it up and show different things and play different things. So I’m going to take a look at that.
“I’m probably going to rewatch the Browns game just to try and watch and see what we were doing a little bit and try to go from there.”
The Packers (2-1-1) are coming back from a bye week as they seek to regain the momentum they established earlier this season in home wins over the Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders. They followed that up by losing at Cleveland and getting a 40-40 tie at Dallas.