Morning Buzz: Pressure on Packers not to blow it vs. winless team

Welcome to your game-day Morning Buzz, rounding up news and views regarding the Green Bay Packers  from around the web and here at PackersNews.com. Grab a strong cup of coffee, or brew some tea, and get caught up on everything you need to know about the Packers before they take on the Cleveland Browns.

We’ll start with Tom Silverstein’s look at the patchwork secondary the Packers will employ to try and slow down Cleveland’s talented offensive weapons.

From Tom:

Three months into the regular season, the Packers head into a must-win game at Cleveland with a patchwork secondary that will feature either safeties or undrafted rookies playing key cornerback positions. Give them credit for creating a backup plan early in the season, but for a team that needs to win out to make the playoffs, even the 0-12 Browns are a threat to exploit their secondary.

If you’re keeping score at home, rookie Kevin King became the fourth defensive back to be lost for the season when he was put on injured reserve Wednesday with a shoulder injury. He joins Herb Waters (arm, Aug. 5), Quinten Rollins (Achilles, Oct. 16) and Kentrell Brice (ankle, Nov. 11).

In addition, cornerback Demetri Goodson was on the physically unable to perform list until Wednesday when he replaced King on the 53-man roster. He has a hamstring injury and probably won’t be able to help in Cleveland this week.

Throw in starter Davon House, who has a left shoulder injury that likely will sideline him against the Browns, and the Packers are down five roster-caliber cornerbacks and a safety since the start of the season.

Tom also has his weekly 5 Things To Watch and our predictions for today’s game:

Kevin King’s rookie year was a painful one:

I tackled the “What if the Packers lose to the Browns?” question in my mailbag:

Michael Cohen and I tried to sort out who will play where in the secondary today:

Lance Kendricks was charged with possession of THC following his traffic stop in the fall:

I spoke to Carroll Dale as part of our month-long coverage of the 50th anniversary of the Ice Bowl:

Elsewhere, Nick Shook writes that while the Packers' offense may be struggling, it is not due to the play of the offensive line:

Pro Football Focus throws, um, focus on the Packers’ struggles on special teams:

NFL Playbook has a preview of today’s game:

The Packers probably won’t see Browns rookie Jabrill Peppers:

Earnest Byner breaks down a counter from the Packers' run game:

Aaron Rodgers running scout team caught the eye of Barstool Sports:

Gary Gramling touches on the Packers game being Cleveland’s last, best chance to avoid 0-16:

Playoffs? Playoffs?!??!!?

The Cleveland Browns’ media group previews the game:

Cheesehead TV has key battles to watch for during today’s game:

Damarious Randall spoke to NFL Network:

Mike Daniels is looking forward to the rematch with the Vikings:

It’s a good day for football: