 |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
PACKERS-REDSKINS PRESS BOX NOTES
posted 09/24/01
- THE PACKERS AND REDSKINS tonight are meeting on Green Bay turf for only the seventh time in the 69-year history of their series, which dates back to 1932 when the Redskins were in Boston and known as the Braves. The Packers have won three of the six previous Titletown encounters, lost two and tied one.
- TONIGHT'S ENCOUNTER between the Packers and Redskins ends what had been the longest interruption in an active NFL series - 13 years. They most recently squared off on October 23, 1988, at Milwaukee, the Redskins prevailing, 20-17.
Washington, oddly enough, also is involved in the two series that will now share the distinction of being party to the longest such interruption - the Redskins against both Cincinnati and Cleveland. Both the Bengals and Browns last played the Redskins in 1991 - 10 years ago. Next up, in "inactivity," are the Chicago vs. Cleveland and Dallas vs. the St. Louis/L.A. Rams, teams that most recently met in 1992.
- BRETT FAVRE, now in his tenth season as Green Bay's starting quarterback, today is making the first regular-season start of his pro career against the Redskins. To date, the 31-year-old Mississippian's total experience against the Redskins consists of the first half of a preseason game in Lambeau Field on August 25, 1995. On that occasion, Favre completed 9 of 17 passes for 101 yards and one touchdown, with one interception, as the Packers outscored the Redskins, 35-23.
- THE REMARKABLY DURABLE field general is making his 143rd consecutive regular-season start, thus extending his NFL career record for quarterbacks. With playoff games included, Favre will be making his 157th consecutive start.
- WITH A 4-TOUCHDOWN effort tonight - he has thrown for 4 or more scores in a game no fewer than 14 times over his nine seasons as the Packers' starting quarterback - Favre would climb into a tie with Dave Krieg for seventh place all-time with 261 career touchdown passes.
- TEAMMATE AHMAN GREEN enters tonight's game with a chance to tie the Packers' all-time record for most consecutive games scoring touchdowns. He has scored TDs in six straight games, a streak launched in Week 12 of the 2000 season, and needs to reach the end zone tonight to tie the record, set by Don Hutson in 1941-42, subsequently matched by Hutson in 1943-44 and tied by Paul Hornung in 1960.
Green comes into tonight's game tied with five others who have scored touchdowns in six consecutive games for the Packers - Clarke Hinkle (1937), Bill Howton (1956), Terdell Middleton (1978), Brent Fullwood (1988) and Sterling Sharpe (1994).
- THE FORMER CORNHUSKER also is one of five running backs who appear to have statistically documented the theory, espouse by most coaches, that a strong running game is critical to winning. Each of the five rushed for 100 yards individually as all of their teams won on the season's opening weekend, Green being the most productive with a 157-yard effort in 17 attempts, with 2 touchdowns. The Indianapolis Colts' Edgerrin James was next up with 135 yards in 28 attempts, and 2 TDs; LaDainian Tomlinson of San Diego with 113 yards in 36 attempts, and 2 TDs; Cincinnati's Corey Dillon with 104 yards in 24 attempts, and 1 TD; and Denver's Terrell Davis with 101 yards in 21 attempts.
- SACK-CESS: Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, in registering a quarterback sack
"trifecta" against the Detroit Lions' Charlie Batch on opening day
(September 9), became the first Packers defensive lineman to post three sacks in a regular season game since November 1, 1998 - 41 games ago - when Reggie White thrice felled the San Francisco 49ers' Steve Young for a collective 17 yards in losses.
Kabeer, incidentally, is celebrating his 24th birthday today.
- 'PICK'POCKET: With a pair of thefts against the Lions in the opener, strong safety Darren Sharper has registered 5 interceptions in his last 5 regular-season games, dating back to last season, and 11 over his past 17 regular-season starts, stretching back to the beginning of the 2000 season.
- COACHING TIES: The two most successful head coaches in Packers history - team founder Earl "Curly" Lambeau and Vince Lombardi - also coached the Redskins during the course of their professional careers.
Lambeau, who led the Packers to six NFL championships and more than 200 victories during a 30-year tenure (1919-49), later served as Washington's head coach in 1952-53, posting a 4-8 record in '52 and a 6-5-1 mark in '53.
Lombardi, poetically enough, made the same immediate impact on both teams. Coming to Green Bay in 1959 as head coach and general manager, he took over a team that had not had a winning season in 12 years and led the Packers to a 7-5 record and, subsequently, to an unprecedented 5 NFL titles in 7 years and victories in the first two Super Bowls.
After stepping down as head coach in 1968, he resigned to become vice president, general manager and head coach of the Redskins in 1969 and, assuming control of a team that had not had a winning season in 14 years, he led Washington to a 7-5-2 record that '69 season. Lombardi, however, was unable to continue his attempt to rebuild the Redskins, falling ill early in the following year and dying of colon cancer September 3, 1970.
- LAMBEAU ONLY ONCE, in a regular-season game, coached against the team he founded. That was at Milwaukee's Marquette Stadium in 1952 when Gene Ronzani led the Packers to a 35-20 victory over Lambeau's Redskins, 35-20. He did, however, split in two preseason games against Green Bay, losing 13-7 at Kansas City in 1952 and winning in Green Bay, 13-6, in 1953.
Lambeau also coached the Chicago Cardinals in 1950-51 after leaving the Packers. The teams did not meet in regular season play during this span but played two preseason games in Green Bay, and the Packers won both contests by identical 17-14 scores in '50 and '51.
- RON RETURNS - AS CAPTAIN: Ron Wolf, the man who built the Packers into perennial contenders during a nine-year term as the team's executive vice president and general manager, returns to Lambeau Field as the Green and Gold's honorary captain for the game against the Redskins.
Wolf, inducted in the Packer Hall of Fame in 2000, retired June 1, 2001, ending a remarkably productive tenure highlighted by the Packers' first Super Bowl appearance and victory in nearly three decades, seven consecutive winning seasons, six consecutive trips to the playoffs - and 101 victories.
- RAISING THE FLAG: One hundred-and-fifty policemen and firefighters from Green Bay and other northeastern Wisconsin communities will unite to unfurl a huge American flag - 90 by 120 feet - while the national anthem is performed during special pre-game ceremonies.
Governor Scott McCallum will also participate in holding the flag during the ceremonies.
Country music star Martina McBride, named 'Female Vocalist of the Year' at the 1999 Country Music Awards, will sing the national anthem. McBride will follow up her Lambeau Field performance with an appearance on the "Tonight Show" with Jay Leno on Tuesday.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
