Crew TNF: Community Shield Edition 🛡️
Tonight's Packers–Falcons game features 4 franchises and 7 players.
Atlanta is at Green Bay tonight, and seven Crew starters are in play across four matchups, none with a starter on both sides. It is also week 3, which means the Community Shield returns!
⏪ RTRO qualified by winning the 2025 FHLC with an all-time record 38 FHLC Points. The previous best was 33. 🧪 CLI qualified by winning the 2025 MWM, 154.6 to 124.5 over 🦞 Doug. That was its second Stage win, which made it the first franchise to win the MWM prize pool.
Both have been in the Community Shield once and lost. 🧪 CLI lost in 2022 to 🕳️ TBH, 120.1 to 98.7. ⏪ RTRO lost in 2023 to ⚽ TPC, 142.1 to 110.0. So tonight one of them wins its first Shield.
The FHLC winner took the Shield in 2021, 2022 and 2023. The MWM winner has taken the last two.
These are two of the hottest franchises right now. 🧪 CLI won the 2024 championship ⭐, and then rampaged to a 2025 MWM 🏅 win to qualify for this Community Shield game. ⏪ RTRO played in the 2023 championship game, and then raised the 2025 FHLC 🏆 to qualify for this game.
⏪ RTRO starts nobody tonight. 🧪 CLI starts Christian Watson at flex.
🎣 DTTW vs 🍆 ZJ
🎣 DTTW trails 14–14 in this series. 🍆 ZJ has won three of the four consolation-ladder meetings between these two. The one that counted went the other way: the 2019 semifinal, 139.3 to 102.7, on the way to 🎣 DTTW’s first title.
🎣 DTTW is the defending champion, and it is 0–2. Only one franchise in Crew history has opened a title defense 0–2 before, and it is tonight’s opponent. 🍆 ZJ won the championship ⭐ in 2009, started its championship defense in 2010 0–3, but won the championship ⭐ again in 2010 despite that bad start.
🍆 ZJ starts MarShawn Lloyd at running back, a seventh-round pick this year with 4 starts at 4.1 PPG, all of them this month. It also starts the Packers defense. 🍆 ZJ is 2–6 when starting the Packers D/ST. 🎣 DTTW starts nobody.
🦞 Doug vs 🧪 CLI
Twenty-two meetings, 11–12, dead level. 🦞 Doug won the last one, 181.3 to 125.1. 🧪 CLI has won all three postseason meetings, though, and the third was the 2024 final, 166.4 to 146.7. That is 🧪 CLI’s only championship.
🦞 Doug has played in six finals, more than anyone, and won eleven knockout games, also more than anyone. It has lost four knockout games ever. Three were finals, including the last two in a row. The only time it has gone out before a final was the 2023 semifinal against 🍆 ZJ.
🧪 CLI has won three straight games dating back to last season.
🦞 Doug starts nobody tonight. 🧪 CLI starts Christian Watson at flex.
⚜️ K&G vs 🕳️ TBH
⚜️ K&G trails 8–10, and the whole deficit is from December. In the regular season ⚜️ K&G leads 7–5, and it has won the last four meetings of any kind. In the postseason 🕳️ TBH leads 4–1. That includes the 3rd Place Game in 2016 and 2020 and the 2021 semifinal, 145.0 to 93.6. ⚜️ K&G has finished fourth three times, and 🕳️ TBH put it there twice.
Both come in at 0–2. ⚜️ K&G’s 41.2 last week is the new lowest score in Crew history, and it now holds two of the three lowest weekly scores of all time.
Drake London starts at receiver and Tucker Kraft at tight end. ⚜️ K&G is also starting a kicker. 🕳️ TBH starts nobody.
💨 LTF vs 🦅 Pwns
💨 LTF leads 3–3. 🦅 Pwns won the latest, 139.5 to 122.8 in round one of last year’s consolation ladder. That was the first of the three straight losses that gave 💨 LTF the 2025 Sacko.
💨 LTF was the 7 seed, the best record on the ladder. Since 2016 the 7 seed has taken the Sacko three times. The franchise with the league’s worst record has taken it once. Last year that franchise was 🍆 ZJ, at 2–12. It won all three ladder games, including 146.1 to 141.3 over 💨 LTF, and finished seventh, to qualify for this year’s MWM!
🦅 Pwns brings a three-game winning streak, which ties its longest in franchise history. It has now had three of them, and all three have the same shape: a win in the last week of a season, then weeks 1 and 2 of the next. The first two ended in week 3. 🦅 Pwns has lost in week 3 three years running and has never won four in a row.
Bijan Robinson starts at running back.