--CB Joey Thomas was tabbed Wednesday to start at left cornerback in Sunday's game, replacing penalty-prone Ahmad Carroll. It will mark the first start for Thomas in his second NFL season.

"It's my time," said Thomas, a third-round draft pick out of Montana State last year. "I definitely have been waiting for this opportunity. I'm just going to out there, play Packer football and make the most of it."

Thomas had been projected as the starter at the outset of the preseason. However, he missed extended portions of training camp with calf and hip injuries, allowing Carroll to regain the starting spot he held for most of his rookie season in 2004.

Carroll, though, fell out of favor with the coaching staff after committing four holding-related penalties (three enforced) in the season-opening loss at Detroit. Coach Mike Sherman said Carroll would assume Thomas' former role of the first defensive back off the bench in the nickel and dime packages in passing situations.

--At least for the upcoming game, the team plans to go with diminutive Antonio Chatman and untested rookie Terrence Murphy as the backup receivers to Donald Driver and Robert Ferguson as it moves on without standout Javon Walker.

Walker suffered a season-ending tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in the third quarter Sunday. Walker was in the locker room Wednesday walking with crutches. Surgery has been delayed until swelling in the knee dissipates. He faces eight to 12 months of rehabilitation.

Veteran free agent Jerome Pathon was brought in for a workout Tuesday but wasn't signed.

Chatman, also the team's punt returner, and Murphy will battle for the No. 3 position. Murphy is ready to make his NFL playing debut after being sidelined for all four preseason games and then the season opener because of hip and knee injuries. PLAYER/PERSONNEL NOTES

--OLB Na'il Diggs went through a full practice Wednesday for the first time since sustaining a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee Aug. 8. However, he isn't a given to start, if at all play, Sunday after missing the opener.

Diggs is listed as questionable. His work in practice was confined to lining up with the scout-team defense as the coaches gauge whether he's in game shape yet. Paris Lenon would be in line to start again for Diggs at the strongside spot.

--OLB Robert Thomas will start for the second straight game at the weakside spot. However, Sherman said Thomas would continue to be relegated to playing in the base defense since he's not completely up to speed with the defensive system after being acquired from St. Louis in a trade Sept. 3. Undrafted rookie Roy Manning will replace Thomas in the nickel package, working alongside MLB Nick Barnett.

--QB Aaron Rodgers will remain as the top backup to Brett Favre. Sherman, though, stressed that this year's first-round draft pick isn't guaranteed of staying ahead of fourth-year Craig Nall in the No. 2 role for the long term.

--LG Adrian Klemm and RG Will Whitticker will start for the second straight game.

--The team filled out its eight-man practice squad by re-signing WR Jamal Jones and adding rookie free agent CB Jerron Wishom. Jones caught three passes for 30 yards in the preseason before being released in the final roster cutdown. Wishom was cut by Houston at the end of the preseason.

GAME PLAN
Scoring more than three points would be a good place to start if the Packers are serious about winning a home opener for the first time in three years. Getting the allegedly unstoppable offense on track following a lackluster preseason and a pathetic showing to start the season at Detroit, should happen Sunday in spite of losing dynamic receiver Javon Walker to a season-ending knee injury.

An anemic, banged-up Browns defense surrendered 420 yards, including 148 on the ground, to Cincinnati in Week 1. That bodes well for the Packers, who want to take the pressure off Brett Favre and his short-handed cast of receivers by establishing from the outset a dominant rushing attack that has escaped them thus far in 2005.

The defense, meanwhile, is feeling good about itself after a mostly solid showing against the Lions. The secondary, with Joey Thomas taking over for Ahmad Carroll at one cornerback spot, figures to be tested again by a Browns offense that put up 278 passing yards in the opener with Trent Dilfer at the controls. The Packers yielded just nearly half of that to a much-more fearsome group of Lions receivers.

MATCHUPS TO WATCH

The absence of Javon Walker notwithstanding, the Packers feel they have enough weaponry to remain effective in the passing game this season.

The matchup is favorable Sunday. The Browns are unsettled at the cornerback spots because of Gary Baxter's uncertainty for the game with lingering effects from a preseason concussion and Daylon McCutcheon trying to shake off the headaches that bothered him most of last month. So Leigh Bodden, Baxter's replacement, could find himself being picked on quite a bit by Brett Favre and Co., which is smarting from a horrendous opener.

If the Packers' desire to run the football is quelled because of the Cleveland's 3-4 front, a scheme that hounded them in that area in preseason games against San Diego and New England, they probably would do well to open things up through the air.

"We have to attack their scheme," said Robert Ferguson, who moves into the starting lineup with Walker out.

--On the flip side, the Packers defense failed to create a turnover in an otherwise encouraging first time out under coordinator Jim Bates. A league-low 15 takeaways in 2004 contributed to the demise of Bates' predecessor, Bob Slowik.

The arrival of Browns QB Trent Dilfer might be the meal ticket for the defense to force the issue with takeaways. Dilfer has started 10 games against the Packers, losing eight of them, and has been generous in the process with 15 interceptions against only five touchdown passes.

If Dilfer obliges, the defense could be picking its way to an unaccustomed share of takeaways.

INJURY IMPACT
The season-ending loss of Pro Bowl WR Javon Walker gives Robert Ferguson his long-awaited opportunity of having a pronounced role in the offense. Donald Driver will move to Walker's spot at flanker from split end, where Ferguson will line up.

Since the Packers like to frequently employ three- and four-receiver sets, they will have to get production out of either Antonio Chatman or Terrence Murphy. Chatman makes up for his lack of height by being the team's quickest receiver off the line. Murphy, a second-round draft pick this year, is oozing with big-time potential but first must get on the field after not playing a preseason game and then missing the opener. He's recovered from a torn MCL in his right knee and is cleared to play Sunday.

--With OLB Na'il Diggs questionable to make his season debut Sunday because of a torn MCL in his left knee, the starting lineup of MLB Nick Barnett flanked by Paris Lenon on the strong side and Robert Thomas on the weak side might remain unchanged for the second straight week.

Diggs is five weeks removed from suffering the injury and practiced for the first time Wednesday but not with the starting unit, thus allowing Lenon to get the reps to prepare for possibly another start.

Typical recovery time for MCL injuries is four to six weeks, so the team could decide to play it safe and save Diggs for the Sept. 25 game against Tampa Bay.

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