*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:
-For the second time in three weeks, the Packers have an opportunity to reach .500. After opening the year 1-4, Green Bay has won three of its last four games.
-No team has waited longer to play a regular-season game at Lambeau Field than New England - 27 years. When the Patriots last played a regular-season league game in Green Bay, in 1979, several of the Packers' current players were not yet born.
-The Patriots make only their second regular-season trip to Green Bay. The Packers defeated the high-octane Patriots, 27-14, in a hyped-up Monday night contest, Oct. 1, 1979.
-New England did play at Milwaukee County Stadium in 1988, a 45-3 Packers triumph, but the Patriots still haven't played a game that counted in the state for 18 years.
-The teams meet for only the third time since the Packers' Super Bowl XXXI victory over the Patriots. Both regular-season meetings were in Foxborough, and both were 28-10 Green Bay triumphs.
-With only two INTs over his last five games, and seven on the season, Brett Favre is on pace to throw 12.4 in 2006. His career low is 13 (1992, 1995 and 1996).
-Favre welcomes two-time Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady to Lambeau Field for the first time.
TELEVISION: Green Bay makes its 2006 debut on CBS Sports, which will air the contest to much of the country as the kickoff game in the network's national doubleheader. In Wisconsin's two largest markets, CBS affiliates WFRV (Ch. 5) in Green Bay and WDJT (Ch. 58) in Milwaukee will carry the game. Veteran play-by-play man Greg Gumbel, a broadcast veteran of more than 25 years, teams up with former offensive tackle Dan Dierdorf, the color analyst. Mark Wolff is the producer and Bob Fishman the director. The crew produced San Diego's dramatic win at Cincinnati last week.
-The contest also is available to DIRECTV(r) NFL?Sunday Ticket subscribers on Channel 706.
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 six states, the 57-station network covers 47 markets 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 122.
NOTE OF THE WEEK: Sunday marks New England's first regular-season trip to Green Bay since Oct. 1, 1979.
-As Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell, Don Meredith and Fran Tarkenton went on the air for the first-ever Monday Night Football broadcast from Lambeau Field, 38 players on the Packers' current roster were not yet born. What's more, 11 other present Packers had yet to start kindergarten, including six-month-old David Martin, two-month-old Marquand Manuel and 10-day-old Brady Poppinga.
-Counting current NFL locales, longest active streaks of seasons without an appearance in a city or metro area:
Years - Road Team - City/Metro Area - Last app.
30 - Tampa Bay - Buffalo - (never)
27 - *New England - Green Bay - 1979
23 - **Tampa Bay - Pittsburgh - 1983
20 - Tampa Bay - Kansas City - 1986
19 - Philadelphia - Foxborough - 1987
18 - Pittsburgh - Washington D.C. - 1988
*Minnesota - Miami - 1988
*-streak ends Sunday
**-streak ends Dec. 3
THE DOPE ON THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT:
Packers vs. New England Patriots:
All-time regular season: 4-3
All-time, postseason: 1-0
All-time, Lambeau Field: 1-0
All-time, in Wisconsin: 2-0
Streaks: Packers have won last three meetings, including Super Bowl XXXI
Last meeting, regular season: Oct. 13, 2002, at New England; Packers won, 28-10
Last meeting, regular season, in Wisconsin: Oct. 9, 1988, Milwaukee County Stadium; Packers won, 45-3
Last meeting, regular season, Lambeau Field: Oct. 1, 1979; Packers won, 27-14
Postseason meeting: Super Bowl XXXI, Jan. 26, 1997, Louisiana Superdome; Packers won, 35-21
COACHES CAPSULES
Mike McCarthy: 4-5-0, .444, first NFL season
Bill Belichick: 116-82, .586, 12th NFL season, eighth guiding Patriots
Head to Head: (first meeting)
vs. Opponent: McCarthy 0-0 vs. Patriots; Belichick 1-2 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.
BILL BELICHICK...Is in his seventh year as the Patriots' 14th head coach.
-Is in his 32nd year as an NFL coach and is the only head coach in league history to win three Super Bowls in a four-year span (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX).
-Owns all of the major winning streaks in NFL history - consecutive overall wins (21 from 2003-04), regular-season wins (18 from 2003-04), and playoff wins (10 from 2001-05).
-Entered 2006 as the only head coach to record nine or more victories in each of the last five years.
-His 11-2 career playoff mark (.845) ranks second in NFL history in playoff winning percentage behind Vince Lombardi (9-1, .900).
-Entered the NFL in 1975 as a special assistant with the Baltimore Colts. Also was head coach of the Cleveland Browns for five seasons (1991-95), where he posted just one winning season.
THE PATRIOTS-PACKERS SERIES: Green Bay holds a 5-3 all-time edge in the 32-year-old series, with the most memorable of the eight games being the only postseason tilt, Super Bowl XXXI, in New Orleans, a 35-21 Packers victory.
-The Patriots haven't played a regular-season game in Green Bay since 1979. No other NFL team has a longer active stretch without a regular-season game at Lambeau Field (27 years) or Wisconsin (18 years).
-The last two meetings, both in New England (1997, 2002), have been won by the Packers by identical scores of 28-10.
NOTABLE CONNECTIONS...Packers offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski was Boston College offensive coordinator/offensive line coach from 1997-98...Green Bay offensive line coach Joe Philbin worked previously at Worcester Tech (1986-87), Northeastern University (1995-96) and Harvard (1997-98)...Patriots S James Sanders and Packers S Tyrone Culver played in the same defensive backfield at Fresno State. Patriots G Logan Mankins' college career also overlapped there...Patriots T Ryan O'Callaghan played on the offensive line at California in front of Packers backup QB Aaron Rodgers...Packers public relations intern Rob Crane is a recent graduate of Boston College.
INDIVIDUALLY VS. NEW ENGLAND...Aaron Kampman got into the sacks column for the first time, at New England (Oct. 13, 2002), sharing a sack of Tom Brady with Cletidus Hunt...Linebacker Ben Taylor established career highs with 21 tackles, including 16 solo, at New England on Oct. 26, 2003, while playing for the Browns...Ahman Green had 31 carries for 136 yards in his only career appearance against New England (Oct. 13, 2002)...Brett Favre is 2-1 with a 92.4 passer rating in three regular-season clashes against the Patriots (65 of 108, 680 yards, seven TDs, two INTs).
LAST MEETING: Oct. 13, 2002, at New England; Packers won, 28-10.
-On a rainy day, Brett Favre threw TD passes to William Henderson, Ahman Green and Bubba Franks as the quarterback surpassed 300 career TD passes and the Packers knocked off the defending Super Bowl champions and became the first visiting team to win a game at Gillette Stadium.
-Green, who rushed 31 times for 136 yards, added a 1-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter to give the Packers a commanding 28-3 lead.
-The Packers defense, which was missing five starters (including three DBs), produced four takeaways. Two street free agents, Bryant Westbrook and Todd Franz, signed days before, were instrumental in intercepting Tom Brady three times (a season high for the Super Bowl MVP).
LAST MEETING, WISCONSIN: Oct. 9, 1988, Milwaukee County Stadium; Packers won, 45-3.
-Brent Fullwood came off the bench to rush 14 times for 118 yards and three TDs, and Don Majkowski added rushing and passing TDs.
-New England led 3-0 after one quarter before Green Bay scored 45 unanswered points. The Packers collected five INTs against New England QBs Doug Flutie and Steve Grogan.
LAST MEETING, GREEN BAY: Oct. 1, 1979, Lambeau Field; Packers won, 27-14.
-Terdell Middleton, Barty Smith and quarterback David Whitehurst had one rushing touchdown each as the Packers rebounded from an overtime loss at Minnesota the previous week to knock off the Patriots on a Monday night.
-Patriots QBs Steve Grogan and Tom Owen combined for five interceptions.
