*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.
A complete edition of the Dope Sheet will be available each week during the season in PDF format, located in the Packers.com Game Centers.*
THIS WEEK'S NOTABLE STORYLINES:
-The Packers reach the halfway point in their season, bidding for a third straight win and a .500 record. The team has not won three in a row since a six-game streak, Oct. 17-Nov. 29, 2004, when Green Bay also opened the year 1-4.
-Dick Jauron, one of six former Packers coaches now serving as an NFL head coach, meets the Packers for the 12th time.
-The Packers are 9-2 all-time against Jauron, having won seven straight. Chicago's head coach from 1999-2003, and Detroit's interim head coach in 2005, Jauron served as defensive backs coach under three Packers head coaches: Forrest Gregg (1986-87), Lindy Infante (1988-91) and Mike Holmgren (1992-94).
-Buffalo quarterback Craig Nall, who signed as an unrestricted free agent in March, began his career in Green Bay.
-The Packers, who are tied for the NFC's third-best road record at 2-1, have never won in Buffalo, dropping four total visits (1979, '88, '94 and 2000).
-Green Bay tries to take both inter-conference games in AFC stadiums for the first time in three years. The team won at San Diego and Oakland, respectively, Dec. 14-22, 2003. The Packers knocked off Miami at Dolphin Stadium Oct. 22.
TELEVISION: FOX Sports, in its 13th season as an NFL network television partner, will air the contest to a regional audience. In Wisconsin's two largest markets, FOX affiliates WLUK (Ch. 11) in Green Bay and WITI (Ch. 6) in Milwaukee will carry the game. The crew is anchored by play-by-play man Ron Pitts, a second-generation Packer who played 44 games as a defensive back for Green Bay from 1988-90; Pitts' father, Elijah, helped the Packers to five NFL titles under Vince Lombardi in the 1960s. Former UCLA head coach and 49ers general manager Terry Donahue is the color analyst, and producer Ray Smaltz teams up with director Peter Bleckner in the truck.
-The contest also is available to DIRECTV(r) NFL?Sunday Ticket subscribers on Channel 709 and Channel 721 in high-definition.
PACKERS RADIO: Milwaukee's WTMJ (620 AM), airing Green Bay games since 1929, heads up the 57-station Packers Radio Network, with versatile Wayne Larrivee (play-by-play) and two-time Packers Pro Bowler Larry McCarren (color). Spanning five states, the network covers 47 markets in six states throughout the upper Midwest.
-The broadcast also is available to NFL Field Pass subscribers on packers.com and NFL.com.
-Those with SIRIUS Satellite Radio can listen to live play-by-play as part of the network's NFL Sunday Drive. The Green Bay broadcast is available on Channel 107.
THE DOPE ON THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT:
Packers vs. Buffalo Bills
All-time regular season: 3-6
All-time, in Buffalo: 0-4
Streaks: The Packers have won two of the last three games
Last meeting, regular season: Dec. 22, 2002, Lambeau Field; Packers won, 10-0
Last meeting, regular season, in Buffalo: Sept. 10, 2000, Ralph Wilson Stadium; Bills won, 27-18
COACHES CAPSULES
Mike McCarthy: 3-4, .429, first NFL season
Dick Jauron: 38-55-0, .409, seventh NFL season, first guiding Bills
Head to Head: (never met)
vs. Opponent: McCarthy 0-0 vs. Bills; Jauron 2-9 vs. Packers
MIKE McCARTHY...Is in his first year as the Packers' 14th head coach.
-Was named Packers head coach on Jan. 12, 2006, his first head coaching job after 13 years as an NFL assistant - all under head coaches with defensive backgrounds.
-One of those previous 13 years was with the Packers, as quarterbacks coach in 1999.
-Spent the past six seasons as an offensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints (2000-04) and San Francisco 49ers (2005).
-Had not been a head coach at any level, having begun his coaching career as a college assistant at Fort Hays State (1987-88) and the University of Pittsburgh (1989-92) before breaking into the NFL as a quality control assistant with the Chiefs in 1993.
DICK JAURON...Is in his first year as the Bills' 14th head coach.
-Now in his third stint as an NFL head coach after serving as the head coach of the Chicago Bears (1999-2003) and the interim head coach of the Detroit Lions for the final five games of 2005.
-Selected as the Associated Press NFL Coach of the Year in 2001, leading the Bears to a 13-3 record and first division championship since 1990. That year also marked the greatest single-season turnaround in team history, improving from 5-11 in 2000.
-Despite a 2-8 overall mark against the Packers while in Chicago, those two wins made him the first Bears coach to defeat the Packers at Lambeau Field in his first two trips (1999, 2000).
-Began his coaching career with Buffalo in 1985 as a defensive backs coach. Went on to coach defensive backs for the Packers (1986-1994) and became defensive coordinator for Jacksonville (1995-98). Also served as Lions defensive coordinator from 2004-05.
THE BILLS-PACKERS SERIES:
-The two teams have meet only nine times, the first game coming in 1974, a 27-7 Bills victory at Lambeau Field. In that contest, the Packers actually "held" O.J. Simpson to 62 yards on 16 carries, but Bills quarterback Joe Fergsuon gave the team a lead it would not relinquish with a first-quarter TD pass to Ahmad Rashad, and a back named Jim Braxton punched in three TD runs.
-Buffalo won five of the first six meetings. The Packers have taken two of the last three.
-Each team has recorded one shutout in the series, the Bills in 1988 at Buffalo (28-0) and the Packers in the teams' most recent meeting in 2002 at Lambeau Field (10-0).
-Seven points is the closest margin of victory in any of the nine meetings, a 19-12 Buffalo victory in 1979.
NOTABLE CONNECTIONS...Jauron coached defensive backs for the Packers from 1986-94...McCarthy served as quarterbacks coach at the University of Pittsburgh (1990-91) during the early portion of Alex Van Pelt's career there; Van Pelt now is an offensive assistant with the Bills...Packers quarterbacks coach Tom Clements was Buffalo's offensive coordinator from 2004-05...Buffalo linebackers coach Matt Sheldon was a graduate assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin from 1997-2000...Bills S Matt Bowen (2001-02) and QB Craig Nall (2003-05) played previously for the Packers...Bills WR Lee Evans, S Jim Leonhard and LS Mike Schneck played college ball at Wisconsin...Bills S Donte Whitner and CB Ashton Youbouty and Packers LB A.J. Hawk, all rookies, were defensive teammates at Ohio State. Whitner and Hawk were both first-round draft picks in 2006, while Youbouty was a third-round selection...Bills CB Jabari Greer and Packers C Scott Wells were college teammates at Tennessee...Buffalo's vice president/communications Scott Berchtold was the Packers' assistant PR director (1985-88).
INDIVIDUALLY VS. BUFFALO...Brett Favre is 2-2 in his career against the Bills, with both wins coming during cold, December home finales at Lambeau Field (1997, 2002)...In that '02 contest, a 10-0 Green Bay win, Donald Driver caught five passes for 52 of Brett Favre's 114 yards, including the game's only touchdown in a 10-0 win...Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila sacked Drew Bledsoe in the same game...Including a 116-yard effort during the '02 Bills game, Ahman Green has averaged 4.8 yards per carry in two career contests vs. Buffalo.
LAST MEETING: Dec. 22, 2002, Lambeau Field; Packers won 10-0.
-The Packers finished a perfect 8-0 at home in a game that stands as their last shutout.
-On a cold, windy day with wind chills in the teens, defensive end Vonnie Holliday set a franchise record with five sacks, forcing Bledsoe to fumble on three of them. The first forced fumble led to the game's only touchdown, an 11-yard pass from Favre to Driver midway through the fourth quarter with the Packers clinging to a 3-0 lead.
-Moments earlier, Buffalo cornerback Nate Clements thought he had a touchdown on a long fumble return after an apparent pass reception by Ahman Green, but officials ruled the pass incomplete.
-Green finished with 26 carries for 116 yards.
-Green Bay held Buffalo to just 185 yards of total offense.
LAST MEETING, BUFFALO: Sept. 10, 2000, Ralph Wilson Stadium; Bills won, 27-18.
-Favre completed his first 14 passes and finished 25 of 35 for 269 yards. However, three lost fumbles did the Packers in.
-The game was scoreless until late in the second quarter, when Bills quarterback Rob Johnson hit Jeremy McDaniel for a 6-yard TD pass with 48 seconds left in the first half.
-On the ensuing possession, a sack of Favre and fumble forced by Marcellus Wiley set up a short field goal and a 10-0 Buffalo lead at intermission.
-In the second half, Jay Riemersma had two TD catches from Johnson, who finished 18 of 26 for 259 yards.
-Favre threw two TD passes to Antonio Freeman in the second half.
