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PACKERS PUT STEELER AMBUSH BEHIND, FOCUS ON ROAD TEST AGAINST GIANTS
posted 11/10/98
THE GAME: Bent upon rebounding from an ambush in Pittsburgh, the Green Bay Packers (6-3) next embark upon the second leg of a three-game road trip, invading East Rutherford, N.J., for an intra-conference matchup with the New York Giants (3-6).
Kickoff for the contest in sold-out Giants Stadium (79,593) will be 3:15 CT
(Wisconsin time).
In the interim, the Packers will strive to put behind them a 27-20 "Monday Night Football" reversal at Steeler hands in a rare visit to Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium - and turn their full attention to the Giants, defending champions of the NFC Eastern Division.
The Green and Gold are fully mindful that a victory in the Meadowlands would serve two valuable purposes - keep them within striking distance of NFC Central leader Minnesota and also give them a significant springboard into next week's rematch with the Vikings in Minneapolis.
THE TV-RADIO COVERAGE: Sam Rosen will handle the play-by-play for the Fox Sports Network's telecast of Sunday's game and Jerry Glanville will provide the analysis.
The game also will be aired over the Packer Radio Network (Jim Irwin, Max McGee and Larry McCarren).
THE DIVISION: Minnesota (8-1) now holds a two-game lead over the runnerup Packers in the NFL Central race. Tampa Bay (4-5) is in third place, followed by Chicago (3-6) and Detroit (2-7).
THE SERIES: The Packers and Giants no longer see as much of each other as they once did - next Sunday's meeting will be only their third regular-season encounter of the decade - but their series has enjoyed a long and distinguished history. It remains one of the premier rivalries in NFL annals over a 70-year span, in part because the principals represent opposite ends of the NFL's spectrum - the Manhattan population giant against small town Green Bay (a shade over 100,000 residents) - and in part because they five times have played for the recognized world championship over the years. To the unalloyed satisfaction of those who cheer for the underdog, the Packers have won four of the climactic contests.
The Giants did prevail in the first of those championship matchups, 23-17, at New York's Polo Grounds in 1962.
In an intriguing historical twist, the Packers' last two, back-to-back title-game victories at the Giants' expense were achieved under the direction of Vince Lombardi, who had been the Giants' offensive coordinator
(1954-58) prior to taking over as Green Bay's head coach and general manager in 1959.
The Packers lead the regular-season series, 22-20, having posted their 22nd victory in the teams' most recent meeting - in Lambeau Field on September 17, 1995, day on which the Packers launched what was to be a 25-game regular-season winning streak in "Lambeau," the second-longest such skein in NFL history. There also have been 2 ties. Prior to that 1995 victory, the Giants had won three in a row, 55-24 in 1986, 20-10 in 1987 and 27-7 in 1992.
THE COACHES: Towering Mike Holmgren, who continues to add new achievements to his coaching resume almost weekly, most recently has become one of only eight active NFL head coaches to post as many as 70 career, regular-season victories. The other members of this elite group are Dan Reeves, Marty Schottenheimer, Bill Parcells, Mike Ditka, Jim Mora, Bill Cowher and Ted Marchibroda.
Now in his seventh season as Green Bay's field leader, the former USC field general has compiled a 70-35 won-lost record (a .667 percentage) in regular-season competition. Overall, he has forged a 79-39 mark, including a 9-4 record in postseason play.
In becoming only the third winning head coach in the Packers' storied, 78-year NFL history, Holmgren has led Green Bay to:
- Six consecutive winning seasons;
- Three straight NFC Central Division championships;
- Back-to-back NFC Championship Game victories;
- Back-to-back Super Bowl appearances;
- A club-record 25 consecutive home-field victories, the second-longest such streak in NFL annals;
- A remarkable 44-5 record, including playoffs, in Lambeau Field;
- The best regular-season record in the NFL over the past three-plus seasons, 43-14-0; and
- 13 regular-season victories in consecutive years (1996-1997) for the first time in team history.
Giants Head Coach Jim Fassel made an outstanding debut as an NFL head coach in 1997, leading a team which had finished last in the division a year earlier to a 10-5-1 record and the NFC East Championship, an achievement which earned him NFL "Coach of the Year" honors.
In the process, his team finished the season 7-0-1 in the division, becoming the first team ever to go undefeated in NFC East Division play.
Earlier in his coaching career, Fassel was credited with recruiting and developing quarterback John Elway while on the Stanford staff (1979-83).
THE CONNECTIONS: Packers Head Coach Mike Holmgren and Giants Head Coach Jim Fassel were teammates - as members of the USC football team during the Trojans' Rose Bowl championship season of 1969.
Dick Rehbein, the Giants' tight ends and assistant offensive line coach, is a native of Green Bay and a former member of the Packers coaching staff
(1979-83).
Giants placekicker Brad Daluiso originally was a Packer. Signed as a free agent by Green Bay coming out of UCLA in 1991, Daluiso was traded to Atlanta just prior to the start of the '91 regular season (August 26). He now is in his eighth NFL season.
From the Packers' side of the football, punter Sean Landeta spent the first 9 seasons of his 14-year NFL career as the Giants' punting specialist and center Frank Winters was a member of the Giants' offensive line in 1989.
THE LAST TIME: In their most recent meeting with the Giants - on September 17, 1995 - the Packers put up a 14-0 lead by scoring on their first and fourth possessions of the afternoon, then held the visitors to a pair of field goals the rest of the way. It was a combination sufficient to produce a 14-6 victory before a then-record Lambeau Field house of 60,117 fans - and more than 80 former Packers players and coaches who had returned for the team's annual homecoming festivities.
Statistically, the Packers made maximum use of their 198 offensive yards, driving 59 yards in 9 plays for a touchdown on the game's opening drive, quarterback Brett Favre finding former Giant Mark Ingram with an 11-yard scoring strike in the right corner of the end zone. Punter Craig Hentrich, filling in for injured placekicker Chris Jacke, kicked the conversion which eventually proved to be the game's winning margin.
Early in the second quarter, Favre put together the Packers' other scoring drive, directing a 7-play, 62-yard march climaxed by a 19-yard touchdown throw to Robert Brooks in the end zone's right corner. Hentrich's second PAT concluded the Packers' scoring for the day with 9:06 left in the first half.
The second half was largely a tightfisted defensive struggle, punctuated by one long drive by the Giants, who controlled the football for 7 minutes, 30 seconds in the fourth quarter with a 16-play drive which Daluiso capped with a 32-yard field goal. Daluiso earlier had kicked a 37-yard field goal in the second quarter for the Giants' other points. The Giants threatened in the last 2 minutes, driving to the Packers' 30-yard line with 35 seconds remaining, but safety Mike Prior put an abrupt end to any New York hopes of a tie by intercepting a Dave Brown pass at the Green Bay 22-yard line on the second-last play of the game.
THE PRESTON FILE: With 89 yards on 5 kickoff returns against Pittsburgh,
Roell Preston became only the third player in Packers history to amass 1,000 yards via kickoff returns in a single season. He now has 1,005 yards on 36 runbacks, a 27.9-yard average.
Preston now finds himself only 314 yards short of the club record, 1,314 yards by Dave Hampton in 1971, with 7 games to play. Steve Odom, the only other player in team annals to return kickoffs for 1,000 yards in a season, posted 1,034 return yards in 1975.
THE (NFL) STATISTICAL UPDATE: The Packers now rank sixth on offense in the NFL (third in passing, 29th rushing) and 10th on defense (fifth against the run and 20th against the pass).
Individually, wide receiver Antonio Freeman leads NFC receivers in both catches (51) and yards (903) en route to a second consecutive 1,000-yard season. Freeman also is second in NFC nonkicker scoring with 50 points - four behind Atlanta's Jamal Anderson.
Additionally, Freeman ranks second in the NFC in third-down receptions with 17 for 346 yards, a 10.4-yard average, and 4 touchdowns.
His batterymate, quarterback Brett Favre, stands eighth among NFC passers with a 79.4 rating, based on a league-high 190 completions in 319 attempts for 2,363 yards and 17 touchdowns, with 16 interceptions.
Favre also ranks third in the NFC in third-down passing with a 99.3 rating, based on 50 completions in 86 attempts for 767 yards and 8 touchdowns, with 4 interceptions.
Placekicker Ryan Longwell is the NFC's fifth-ranking scorer with 67 points, having been successful on 25 of 26 conversion attempts and 14 of 15 field goal tries.
Reggie White is tied with San Francisco's Chris Doleman for second place in the NFC in quarterback sacks with 12 - one behind Carolina's Kevin Greene.
Roell Preston leads the NFL in kickoff return yards with 1,005 and is second in the NFC with a 27.9-yard average. Preston also ranks seventh among NFC punt returners with a 9.8-yard average for 25 runbacks.
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