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PACKERS, WITH A HOME PLAYOFF GAME HANGING IN THE BALANCE, INVADE 'BIG APPLE' SUNDAY, BATTLE NEW YORK GIANTS IN REGULAR SEASON FINALE
posted 12/31/01
 | | Mike Sherman |
THE GAME: With a home playoff game riding on the outcome, the Green Bay Packers (11-4) invade the "Big Apple" to take on the New York Giants (7-8) in their mutual regular-season finale Sunday (January 6).
Kickoff for the contest at sold-out Giants Stadium (79,469), is set for 12 noon, CST (Wisconsin time).
It is a game originally scheduled for September 16 but postponed until next weekend because of the terrorist acts of September 11.
The Packers' Sunday task is specifically clear. They need, in order:
-A victory over the Giants, to be assured of hosting a playoff game; and
-A loss by the NFC Central-leading Chicago Bears (12-3), in order to win the division and draw a bye in the opening weekend of the playoffs.
If only the first of these objectives is achieved, the Packers would host a wild card playoff game the first weekend of the postseason (January 12/13).
Should the Bears also fall to the Jacksonville Jaguars in their regular season finale, the Green and Gold would own the tie-breaker over the Midway Monsters, thus become NFC Central champions and earn a bye for the opening weekend of the playoffs.
From the competitive perspective, the Packers will carry a degree of momentum into Sunday's assignment. They will be taking a two-game winning streak into Giants Stadium, having decisioned the Cleveland Browns (30-7) prior to turning back the Minnesota Vikings Sunday, 24-13.
JUST FOR THE RECORD: The Packers' 11 victories are the most they have posted in a season since 1998, their most recent year in the playoffs.
The Packers now have won 15 of their last 19 games under Mike Sherman and 7 of their most recent 9, the latter a successful period launched with a 21-20 victory over Tampa Bay November 4 in their second meeting of the season with the Buccaneers.
The Green and Gold also are now 4-1 In the current December and 31-10 for the month over the past 10 years (1992-2001), the best record in the NFL over that span.
THE SERIES: The Packers and Giants have been infrequent adversaries in recent years - having crossed paths on the field only three times in the last decade - but their series continues to be one of professional football's most intriguing rivalries.
In part because of the "David and Goliath" pairing the rivalry suggests - the Manhattan megalopolis against small town Green Bay (approximately 100,000 residents) - and in part because they have played for the recognized world championship of football five times over the years. The Packers, to the delight of those who champion the underdog, have won four of those climactic contests.
The Green and Gold also lead the regular-season series, 23-20, having posted their 23rd victory in the teams' most recent encounter - at Giants Stadium on November 15, 1998 - a day on which they departed the "Big Apple" with a 37-3 win. There also have been 2 ties - the most recent a 24-24 deadlock in 1947.
The Giants prevailed in the first of the five championship showdowns, 23-17, at New York's Polo Grounds in 1938, but the Packers have won the last four such encounters - 27-0 at Milwaukee' s State Fair Park in 1939, thus posting the first shutout in NFL championship game history; 14-7 at New York's Polo Grounds in 1944; 37-0 at Green Bay's City Stadium (later renamed Lambeau Field) in 1961 and 16-7 at New York's Yankee Stadium in 1962.
For the record, the Packers' last two, back-to-back title game victories over the Giants were registered under the direction of Vince Lombardi, who had been the Giants' offensive coordinator (1954-58) prior to taking as Green Bay's head coach and general manager in 1959.
THE COACHES: Purposeful Mike Sherman has continued to make the Packers a substantial success on the field in 2001 while shouldering the additional responsibilities as executive vice president and general manager in a remarkably smooth transition, one which has seen him take over the duties Ron Wolf had executed for the previous decade.
Sherman, who maneuvered the Green and Gold to a 9-7 record in 2000, his first season at the controls, has accelerated the pace this season and now owns a 20-11 record after 31 games as Green Bay's head coach. For purposes of comparison, it has him two games ahead of Mike Holmgren's pace at the same stage. Holmgren, who led the Packers to seven consecutive winning seasons, was the possessor of a 18-13 record at the same point in his Green Bay tenure.
Overall, Sherman's extensive coaching credentials include a Super Bowl, following the 1997 season for which he was a member of the Holmgren staff that led the Packers vs. the Denver Broncos in SB XXXII at San Diego.
It was to be the first of three consecutive years in the playoffs for the 46-year-old Central Connecticut State University alumnus, who returned to the postseason with Green Bay in 1998, and with Seattle in 1999 while serving as offensive coordinator for the Seahawks.
The 13th head coach in the Green Bay's 81-year NFL history, Sherman coached in the college ranks for 16 years, among them a year as offensive coordinator at Holy Cross and stints as offensive line coach for the esteemed programs at Texas A&M and UCLA - prior to entering the professional ranks.
Sherman, in his 23rd year in his profession, began his coaching career at Stamford, Conn., High School.
Jim Fassel, nearing the end of his fifth season as head coach of the Giants, already has entrenched himself in team history, his regular-season record of 44-34-1, making him the fifth winningest coach in club annals - behind only Steve Owen, Bill Parcells, Allie Sherman and Jim Lee Howell.
The one-time Fullerton College field general has highlighted his coaching tenure by leading the Giants to a 12-4 record, the NFC championship and into the "Big Dance" - Super Bowl XXXV - against the Baltimore Ravens last year.
Along the way, Fassel has had singular success in the NFC East Division, compiling a 26-13-1 won-lost record within the Giants' division.
THE LAST TIME: On their last visit to Giants Stadium, the Packers rebounded from a "Monday Night Football" misadventure in Pittsburgh to execute a textbook performance en route to a 37-3 triumph.
The statistics eloquently document the Green and Gold's superiority on that occasion. For example, they recorded 24 first downs to the Giants' 9, out-yarded the Giants, 433 to 127, out-rushed them 169 to 65 and mounted a 264 to 62 advantage in passing yardage.
In the process, they emerged with a substantial margin in time of possession, 39 minutes, 43 seconds to the Giants 20 minutes, 17 seconds.
Running back Darick Holmes and tight end Tyrone Davis were key figures in this process, Holmes rushing for 111 yards and Davis collaborating with quarterback Brett Favre on pair of aerial touchdowns, of 2 and 60 yards.
Fullback William Henderson, who had been principally a blocking back in the Packers' offensive scheme, also made a memorable contribution, scoring the first rushing touchdown of his then three-year NFL career.
In addition, placekicker Ryan Longwell weighed in with three field goals - 39, 24 and 31 yards.
Out front by a modest 10-3 margin in the second quarter, the Packers began to pull away via Favre's second hookup with Davis, a 60-yard maneuver, and a 24-yard Longwell field goal, which staked the Green and Gold to a 20-3 halftime lead and was a signal of things to come.
In control thereafter, the Packers produced all of the game's second half points - by way of Longwell's 31-yard field goal, Henderson's 7-yard scoring run and Holmes' 2-yard scoring run.
En route, Favre attained a personal career milestone, his first touchdown pass of the game becoming the 200th of his NFL career, making him the second-fastest quarterback in NFL history to reach the 200 mark (Miami's Dan Marino was the fastest, attaining that number in 99 games. Favre turned the trick in his 107th game).
THE CONNECTIONS: Ron Dayne established the NCAA Division I-A career rushing record (6,397 yards) at Wisconsin, with help from current Packers offensive linemen Mark Tauscher and Bill Ferrario. Jay Roberts, New York's offensive quality control assistant, served as the Badgers' tight ends and receivers coach from 1980-81. Giants special teams coach Fred vonAppen coached special temas (1979) and defensive line (1980) on Bart Starr's Green Bay staff. Packers center Frank Winters signed as a Plan B free agent with the Giants and spent the 1989 season in New York. Giants linebacker Mike Barrow, Packers wide receiver Charles Lee and running back Herbert Goodman are graduates of Miami's Homestead (Fla.) High School. New York cornerback Ralph Brown replaced Green Bay cornerback Tyrone Williams in the Nebraska defensive backfield in 1996, and teamed with Packers running back Ahman Green and defensive tackle Steve Warren in college. Green Bay offensive guard Marco Rivera, a Brooklyn native, played with New York quarterback Kerry Collins and wide receiver Joe Jurevicius at Penn State. New York linebacker Brandon Short and Packers safety Bhawoh Jue also played together at Penn State. Giants cornerback Will Allen and Green Bay running back Dorsey Levens are each natives and high-school products of Syracuse, N.Y. Packers cornerback Tod McBride and Giants safety Shaun Williams were neighbors in the defensive backfield at UCLA, where Packers center Mike Flanagan was their teammate. Packers tight end Tyrone Davis and Giants running back Tiki Barber played together at Virginia. New York tackle Lomas Brown is the cousin of former Packers Guy McIntyre and Eric Curry. New York center Dusty Zeigler and Green Bay kick returner/cornerback Allen Rossum were teammates at Notre Dame. Giants defensive tackle Ross Kolodziej also played at Wisconsin and hails from Stevens Point, Wis.
THE CONFERENCE CALLS: Giants Head Coach Jim Fassel, DE Michael Strahan and RB Ron Dayne will be available to Wisconsin's sports media via conference on Wednesday afternoon. Packers.com will have complete audio of the conference calls posted later that day.
THE FREEMAN FILE: Flanker Antonio Freeman, parlaying his season reception total to 51 with 3 catches against the Vikings, thus became only the second player in team history - joining Sterling Sharpe - to have as many as six consecutive 50-reception seasons. Sharpe had seven (1988-94).
THE GREEN FILE: Ahman Green's new Packers single season record for total yards from scrimmage now stands at 1,861 going into Sunday's season finale. He thus needs 139 yards against the Giants in order to become the first player in the Packers' 81-year NFL history to amass 2,000 yards from scrimmage in a season.
Green would need 189 yards rushing (169 against Tampa Bay on November 4 is his career best) to eclipse the club single season record, 1,474 by Jim Taylor in 1962.
With a 150-yard effort, he could surpass Dorsey Levens' 1997 production, 1,435 yards, second-best season total in team annals.
Green would need only 22 rushing yards to better Taylor's 1961 output, 1,307 yards, third-best total in team history.
THE (NFL) STATISTICAL UPDATE: Quarterback Brett Favre continues to rank second in the National Football Conference and third in the NFL overall with a passer rating of 93.1, based on 299 completions in 480 attempts for 3606 yards and 30 touchdowns, with 15 interceptions.
Favre also ranks third in the NFC in both third-down and fourth-quarter passing, He has an 86.0 rating in the former, based on 76 completions in 136 attempts for 920 yards and 10 touchdowns, with 5 interceptions, and a 103.5 rating in the latter, based on 70 completions in 110 attempts for 918 yards and 7 touchdowns, with 2 interceptions.
Running back Ahman Green remains the NFC's rushing leader with 1,286 yards in 281 attempts, a 4.6-yard average, but now is second to the St. Louis Rams' Marshall Faulk in total yards from scrimmage with 1,861, including 575 yards receiving on 60 catches. Faulk has 1,921 yards (1,214 rushing and 707 receiving).
Green also is tied with teammate Bubba Franks for fifth place in NFC non-kicker scoring with 54 points and also ranks third in both the production of first downs and third-and-one rushing. He has accounted for 75 first downs (52 rushing and 23 receiving) and has compiled an 80.0 percent success rating in third-and-one rushing with 8 successes in 10 attempts.
Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila ranks second in the NFL as a whole with 13.5 sacks. The New York Giants' Michael Strahan leads with 21.5.
Teammate Darren Sharper is now tied for seventh among NFC interceptors with 5, placekicker Ryan Longwell is tied with Washington's Brett Conway for seventh place in NFC kick scoring with 94 points and Josh Bidwell ranks seventh among NFC punters with a 42.4-yard average for 77 punts.
Wide receiver Bill Schroeder ranks third in the NFC in average yards per reception, 17.0, with 48 catches for 816 yards.
From the team perspective, the Packers rank seventh on both offense and defense in the NFL - 21st in rushing and 6th in passing on offense and 16th against the run and 6th against the pass on defense.
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