Joe Flacco vs The Packers Part Two, and Luke Fickell’s Baffeling “Strategy”

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Joe Flacco didn’t seem to get enough of the Green Bay Packers. Earlier this week he was traded from the Browns over to the Bengals, who happen to face the Packers this Sunday. The Browns gain a 5th round draft pick in 2026, and the Bengals get a replacement for the injured Joe Burrow, which seems like a pretty good trade. He seems likely to play against the Packers again this weekend, can he beat the Packers a second time? Maybe, but that all depends on if you thought it was him who beat the Packers the first time a few weeks ago. Flacco was awful when the Browns beat the Packers, and has only a 58% completion rate this season with six interceptions. If the Packers can put pressure on him, he should be dead in the water. At 40 years old, he can’t run even if he still does have a good arm. The Packers should be able to beat the Bengals this weekend, and after that have a good stretch ahead of them: Arizona, then Pittsburg, then Carolina, then the Eagles. It’s not unreasonable to expect them to go four-for-four in that stretch! At the very least, they better rack up at least three wins in that stretch. 

In college football, the Badgers stunk it up once again in their loss against Michigan. They had two good drives all game: their first drive where they got a touchdown and their last drive where they got a field goal. But the sloppy play wasn’t the biggest concern on Saturday, it was Luke Fickell’s “strategy.” Not even the TV experts could understand why he wouldn’t take a timeout at the end of the game. Oates has two theories. One is the answer given by Fickell, that it was a strategy that failed big time. The other theory is what many fans, including Oates, think actually happened: Fickell waved the white flag to prevent Michigan from running up the score. Fans are upset, as they should be, with Joe Klatt loudly calling the “strategy” a bad look to the entire nation. This weekend they play Iowa, in what both should be and needs to be a win.

Finally, as of recording on Tuesday the Brewers have taken the first two games in their NLDS series against the Cubs. The Miz left his sloppy slump to give an electric performance on the mound during a bullpen game that saw him pitching for three innings. In those three innings, he threw 31 pitches at 100 mph or higher, capping out at 104.3! The Brewers used him exactly how they needed to use him, Oates says. He isn’t ready as a playoff starter, but letting him do his thing for a few innings here and there worked to throw the Cubs off their game. But the real dagger on Monday wasn’t the Miz, it was Andrew Vaughn’s three-run homer in the bottom of the first. The Cubs still have a chance to turn things around, so the Brewers can’t slow down, but Monday’s game seemed to put a real stamp on the entire Cubs organization.

The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

A weekly podcast with insights and analysis on the Wisconsin Badgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Green Bay Packers and Milwaukee Bucks from two of Wisconsin’s most experienced sports journalists. Mike Lucas is a veteran sports columnist for the Cap Times and was a Badgers radio color commentator for over 25 years. Tom Oates was a sports reporter and columnist for the Wisconsin State Journal for 40 years.