2012 Training Camp Dope Sheet

*Two years after he co-founded the Packers with Curly Lambeau, George Calhoun began writing a piece called The Dope Sheet, which served as the official press release and game program from 1921-24. *

*Honoring Calhoun, the first publicity director, the Packers are running this weekly feature as their release, which is being made available to fans exclusively on Packers.com. This is an abbreviated version of the 2012 Training Camp Dope Sheet. To read the full version, download the PDF by **clicking here**. *

Here are some highlights from the2012 Training Camp Dope Sheet:

TRAINING CAMP SET TO BEGIN IN GREEN BAY

• A day circled on the calendar of every sports fan – the official beginning of the NFL season – will arrive this Thursday when the Green Bay Packers kick off the 2012 campaign at Ray Nitschke Field.
• Coming off a 2011 season that saw Green Bay win a franchise-record 15 games in the regular season and set numerous club marks, the Packers will begin to write this season's story in front of fans at Nitschke Field.
• A tradition first started under Curly Lambeau in 1946, training camp in Green Bay remains one of the most intimate settings in all of professional sports. 2012 marks the fourth summer at the newly constructed Nitschke Field, just a short bike ride away from the team facility.  
• Nitschke boasts the same playing surface as Lambeau Field and seating for 1,500 fans with unobstructed views and sideline access to their favorite players.  
• Just as it does at Lambeau Field, new traditions blend with historic ones at Packers training camp, as players continue to ride children's bicycles to practice, a tradition first started under the legendary Vince Lombardi. Players continue to stay in the dorms at St. Norbert College, the NFL's longest training-camp relationship between a team and school.   
• According to the Greater Green Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau, training camp, along with Packers Family Night, will attract nearly 100,000 visitors from across the nation and as many as 20 foreign countries from July 26 through the final open practice on Aug. 28. With an economic impact estimated at $10 million, training camp is a financial boost to many area businesses. 
• Media and fans can visit www.packers.com/trainingcamp for the most up-to-date information regarding the practice schedule, events, dining and accommodation options, activities and more throughout training camp.

SAVE THE DATE
Important dates to remember (all times CDT):

• Wednesday, July 25 – Players report to training camp
• Thursday, July 26 – First practice, 8:15 a.m., Nitschke Field
• Friday, Aug. 3 – Packers Family Night, Presented by Bellin Health, 6:30 p.m., Lambeau Field
• Thursday, Aug. 9 – First preseason game, at San Diego Chargers, 7 p.m., Qualcomm Stadium
• Thursday, Aug. 16 – Preseason game vs. Cleveland Browns, 7 p.m., Lambeau Field (Midwest Shrine Game)
• Thursday, Aug. 23 – Preseason game at Cincinnati Bengals, 6 p.m., Paul Brown Stadium
• Monday, Aug. 27 – Roster reduction to a maximum of 75 players by 3 p.m. (CDT)
• Tuesday, Aug. 28 – Final practice open to public, 11 a.m., Nitschke Field
• Thursday, Aug. 30 – Preseason game vs. Kansas City Chiefs, 6 p.m., Lambeau Field (Bishop's Charities Game)
• Friday, Aug. 31 – Roster reduction to a maximum of 53 players by 8 p.m. (CDT)

THE MONTH AHEAD

• A total of six night practices under the lights at Nitschke Field headlines a training camp schedule that features 20 practices overall, plus Family Night, and four preseason games in just over one calendar month.  
• The first six practices of training camp will take place at 8:15 a.m. The first evening session will take place at on Aug. 2 at 7 p.m.
• The Packers will conduct a total of 10 practices at Nitschke Field prior to the preseason opener at San Diego on Aug. 9. Three of the four sessions leading into the home preseason opener vs. Cleveland on Aug. 16 will be held at 7 p.m.
• Following the game against the Browns, the Packers will shift into more of a regular-season schedule with morning practices (11 or 11:15 a.m.).
• A now-signature event during camp, Packers Family Night is presented by Bellin Health. Now in its 12th year, the evening will feature on-field football drills, a scrimmage and a fireworks display high above Lambeau Field. The event will benefit the Wendy's Wonderful Kids foster-care adoption program.   

LOTS OF FAMILIAR FACES

• General Manager Ted Thompsoncontinued his philosophy of building through the draft in the 2012 offseason, but also added some veteran players in free agency.
• Green Bay welcomes the return of 19 of 22 players that started against the N.Y. Giants in the NFC Divisional playoff game in January.
• Seven Packers earned Pro Bowl recognition in 2011, the largest contingent Green Bay had voted into the all-star game since 1967. Six of those players return in 2012, with C*Scott Wells *departing to St. Louis in free agency.
• The Packers filled the void left by Wells through unrestricted free agency when they signed veteran CJeff Saturday, a five-time Pro Bowler with the Indianapolis Colts.
• Green Bay also added to its defensive line with the signing of unrestricted free agent DEAnthony Hargrove(Seattle) and a pair of free agents, DEPhillip Merlingand DTDaniel Muir.
• The continuity extends to the coaching staff, where almost the entire group returns for 2012 with a few changes in duties.
• Tom Clements, who tutored the quarterbacks for the past six seasons, moves into the role of offensive coordinator in 2012 after Joe Philbin left to become the head coach of the Miami Dolphins.
• Ben McAdoo, who coached the team's tight ends from 2006-11, will now direct the quarterbacks, whileJerry Fontenot, who tutored the running backs in 2011, will take over as tight ends coach.Alex Van Pelt, a six-year NFL assistant, enters his first season with the club as running backs coach.
• Two other coaches will have different duties, withJoel Hilgenbergserving as assistant offensive line coach andJohn Rushing as offensive assistant/special teams.

MEET THE DRAFT PICKS

• Training-camp storylines always hover around new players and just how they figure into the depth chart. This past April, the Packers added to an already deep and talented roster with an eight-man draft class.     
• LB Nick Perry, the first Southern California defensive player to be selected in the first round of the NFL Draft since the Packers picked Clay Matthews in 2009, earned first-team All-Pacific-12 recognition as a junior in 2011. His career-high 9½ sacks led the conference and he was one of six finalists for the Hendricks Award, which is given to the nation's top defensive end.
• The Packers moved up in the second round to select DE Jerel Worthy out of Michigan State, the first of three times that GM Ted Thompson traded up in the 2012 NFL Draft. Worthy was a consensus first-team All-American as a junior in 2011, the first Spartan defensive tackle to earn first-team honors since Ronald Curl in 1971. Worthy was also the school's first All-Big Ten first-team selection since 1989.
• Green Bay traded up into the second round to draft a second player, CB Casey Hayward from Vanderbilt. Hayward twice earned second-team All-Southeastern Conference honors for the Commodores and tied for No. 3 in the country with a career-high seven INTs as a senior in 2011. He posted 15 INTs during his Vanderbilt career, tying him for the most in school history with Leonard Coleman (1980-83).
• In the fourth round, the Packers drafted DT Mike Daniels from Iowa. He earned second-team All-Big Ten honors from the coaches following his senior campaign in 2011 when he posted a career-high 67 tackles and nine sacks. Daniels recorded a team-high 24½ tackles for loss and 13 sacks over his final two seasons.
• Green Bay selected S Jerron McMillian out of Maine with its second selection in the fourth round. He was a first-team All-Colonial Athletic Conference selection in 2011 and earned second-team All-American honors from Phil Steele. McMillian finished second on the team in both tackles (92) and tackles for loss (11½) as a senior.
• Thompson traded up for the third and final time on draft weekend to select LB Terrell Manning from North Carolina State in the fifth round, the last of six consecutive defenders chosen by the Packers to open the draft. Manning earned second-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors as a junior in 2011, recording a career-high 83 tackles despite missing two games with a knee injury.
• With the first of two choices in the seventh round, Green Bay selected T Andrew Datko from Florida State. He was a four-year starter at LT for the Seminoles but saw his senior campaign cut short after just four games due to a shoulder injury. Datko was named to the preseason watch list in 2011 for the Outland Trophy and Lombardi Award. He allowed just one sack and was penalized only three times in 11 starts as a junior in 2010.
• The Packers drafted QB B.J. Coleman out of Tennesee-Chattanooga in the seventh round with their eighth and final selection. He finished his career at UTC ranked either first or second in every major statistical passing category despite playing only three seasons there after transferring from Tennessee. Coleman started 29 games in his three seasons at Chattanooga and threw for 6,871 yards and 52 TDs.

BREAKING DOWN THE ROSTER

• The Packers enter training camp with a 90-man roster that is composed of 46 offensive players, 41 defensive players and three specialists.
• Of the 90 players on Green Bay's roster, 38 of them (42.2 percent) were drafted by the Packers.
• With 34 non-drafted free agents on the roster having started their NFL career with Green Bay, 72 of the 90 players (80.0 percent) began their pro careers with the Packers.
• Nearly two-thirds of the players (59 of 90) on Green Bay's roster entered the league as a sixth-round or seventh-round pick or as an undrafted player. Half the players (45) on the roster were not drafted.
• Of the 90 players on the roster, 82 of them (91.1 percent) are 28 years old or younger (as of Aug. 1).

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GREEN BAY'S ROSTER ...

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BY AGE (as of Aug. 1)

• 21-24, 54 players
• 25-28, 28 players
• 29-32, 5 players
• 33-plus, 3 players

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BY EXPERIENCE

• R-1, 35 players
• 2-3, 28 players
• 4-5, 12 players
• 6-9, 11 players
• 10-plus, 4 players

BY DRAFT ROUND

• 1st, 9 players
• 2nd/3rd, 12 players
• 4th/5th, 10 players
• 6th/7th, 14 players
• Undrafted, 45 players

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ST. NORBERT AND THE PACKERS

• Continuing a tradition started under Packers coach Scooter McLean in 1958, the Green Bay Packers will call St. Norbert College home for a 55th consecutive training camp this summer. The relationship between the private college in De Pere, Wis., and the Green Bay Packers marks the longest continual use of any training camp facility by an NFL team. 
• Players will take up residence in Victor McCormick Hall, a 60-room coed dormitory used to house 225 students during the academic year. **
• St. Norbert, founded in 1898 by Abbot Bernard Pennings, borders the Fox River and enrolls around 2,000 students.
• The Packers use their own practice and team-meeting facilities at Lambeau Field during training camp, with the college serving as housing headquarters.
• Players return to St. Norbert via cars and vans every evening for team dinner.
• The 6.62-mile commute is estimated at 11 minutes each way.
• A look at the longest active training-camp tenures in the NFL:*
  Team, Training Camp, Years
  Green Bay, St. Norbert College, 55*
  Minnesota, Minnesota State, Mankato, 47
  Pittsburgh, St. Vincent College, 47

A LOOK AT THE SCHEDULE

• The Green Bay Packers' 92nd NFL regular-season schedule – headlined by five prime-time games (three against 2011 playoff teams) – was released in mid-April by the National Football League.
• The five prime-time games (subject to flexible scheduling) would be a franchise record, topping the previous mark of four contests on several occasions, most recently in 2010 and 2011. Since 2009, the Packers are 8-3 (.727) in prime-time contests.
• For the sixth time in seven seasons under Head Coach Mike McCarthy, the Packers will open the season at home, this year against San Francisco on Sunday, Sept. 9, in a matchup of the top two teams in the NFC in 2011. It marks only the second time in franchise history that Green Bay has opened the season against the 49ers (1976).
• The Packers will then stay at home on a short week to host Chicago in a Thursday night contest, Green Bay's third-ever game on NFL Network and its first since it traveled to Dallas in Week 13 of 2007. This will be the seventh straight season that the Packers and the Bears will square off in prime time.
• Green Bay will travel to Seattle for its first road contest of the season, one that begins a stretch of four road games in five weeks. It is the Packers' lone game of the season on ESPN's Monday Night Football. 2012 marks the 20th consecutive season (1993-2012) that Green Bay has appeared on MNF, the NFL's second-longest streak (Denver, 21).
• The Packers will host New Orleans in Week 4 in a matchup of the two highest-scoring teams in the league in 2011. Both teams have finished in the top 10 in total offense every season since 2006, the only teams in the NFL to accomplish the feat over that span.
• Starting with a trip to Indianapolis in Week 5, Green Bay will play on the road for three straight games (also at Houston and St. Louis), the first time the Packers have had three consecutive road games since the 1998 season (Weeks 10-12). All three contests could be indoors (Indianapolis and Houston have retractable-roof stadiums).
• Green Bay returns home for back-to-back games at Lambeau Field (Jacksonville and Arizona) before its Week 10 bye. The Packers come out of their open week with back-to-back road contests against a pair of 2011 playoff teams (Detroit and N.Y. Giants), the second straight season they have played those teams on the road in consecutive weeks.
• Under McCarthy, the team has won five of six games immediately after the bye week and 12 of its last 16 after the week off dating back further. 
• Overall, the Packers are 38-20 (.655) after the bye under McCarthy, and since 2000, the team is 69-37 (.651) following the week off.
• The Packers wrap up the regular season with three of five games in December in front of the home crowd, including divisional matchups against Minnesota and Detroit at Lambeau Field in Weeks 13-14.
• Four of Green Bay's final five games and five of its last seven will come against NFC North foes, capped off with the season finale at Minnesota.
• It is the sixth time in seven seasons under McCarthy that the Packers have finished the regular season with a divisional matchup (5-0 in season finales vs. the NFC North since 2006).
• The Packers could play up to five games indoors (Indianapolis, Houston, St. Louis, Detroit, Minnesota), which would be the most in a season in franchise history (four games in 1987, 1992, 1996, 2004, 2009).
• Since 2006, the Packers have a 13-5 mark indoors during the regular season, a .722 winning percentage that ranks No. 1 in the NFL (min. eight games).
• Fourteen games are slated for Sunday this season, including each of the final 13 contests, with one Thursday night game and one Monday night contest. Nine games are scheduled for noon (CT) starts with two games currently slated for 3:25 p.m. (CT).
• The Packers have six games on the schedule against 2011 playoff teams, beginning right away in Week 1 vs. San Francisco. The other matchups come against New Orleans (Week 4), Houston (Week 6), Detroit (Weeks 11 and 14) and the N.Y. Giants (Week 12).

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IN THE PRESEASON

• The Packers' preseason schedule features four contests against AFC opponents for the first time since 2005, highlighted by a game at San Diego in front of a national TV audience on ESPN.
• The Packers open the preseason at the Chargers on Aug. 9 in a nationally televised contest. This is the first preseason trip to Qualcomm Stadium since 2006 and fourth all-time preseason meeting, including the 1980 Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio. Over the past 20 preseasons, the Packers have appeared on national TV at least once in 19 of those years.
• On Aug. 16, Green Bay will host the Cleveland Browns in the home preseason opener, the fourth consecutive year the clubs have met in the preseason. The game is designated as the 63rd annual Upper Midwest Shrine Game, a tradition which began in 1950 and has raised more than $3.4 million for the Midwest Shrine's burn centers and hospitals for crippled children. The Packers have won 10 of the last 13 contests in the Shrine series.
• On Aug. 23, the Packers will travel to Cincinnati and face the Bengals, the lone 2011 playoff qualifier on the preseason schedule. This marks the 17th preseason meeting between the Packers and Bengals and first at Paul Brown Stadium since 2006.
• The preseason concludes with a home contest against the Kansas City Chiefs on Aug. 30, the third straight year the teams have met in the preseason finale and second consecutive year at Lambeau Field. This game marks the 52nd annual Bishop's Charities Game, a charitable contest initiated in 1961 by Vince Lombardi and the Diocese of Green Bay that has raised more than $3.5 million to date.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON 2011

• The Packers became just the sixth team in NFL history to win 15 or more games in the regular season, one of several franchise marks that Green Bay set in 2011.
• Green Bay's 15 wins in the regular season topped the previous franchise record of 13 victories in 1962, 1996, 1997 and 2007.
• Including playoffs, Green Bay won 19 consecutive games before suffering its lone regular-season defeat at Kansas City in Week 15. The 19-game winning streak, one that dated back to Week 16 of 2010, was the longest in franchise history (12-game streak in 1961-62) and was the second-longest winning streak in NFL history behind only the 2003-04 New England Patriots (21 games).
• The Packers won the NFC North title for the first time since 2007 and were the No. 1 seed in the NFC for the first time since 1996.
• Green Bay set a franchise record with 560 points, easily topping the previous mark of 461 points in 2009. The point total ranked No. 2 in NFL history behind only the 589 points posted by the 2007 New England Patriots. The Packers led the league in scoring for the first time since 1996.
• With a No. 3 overall offensive ranking, the Packers finished in the top 10 in the NFL for the sixth straight season, one of only two teams in the league (New Orleans) to accomplish that feat over that span.
• Green Bay set team single-season marks for touchdowns (70), total net yards (6,482), net passing yards (4,924) and fewest giveaways (14).
• The Packers posted a league-high 31 interceptions, the second time in the last three seasons (2009) that they led the league in the category. The INT total was the most posted by Green Bay since it registered the same number in 1962.
• Green Bay tied for the league lead with 38 takeaways, and the team's plus-24 turnover ratio was tied for No. 2 in franchise history.