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.
Here are some highlights from the Preseason Week 3 Dope Sheet:
The Patriots make their first appearance in Wisconsin since a preseason contest on July 31, 1997. New England hasn't made a regular-season trip to Green Bay since 1979 (the teams will meet at Lambeau in 2006). The Patriots' last regular-season game in Wisconsin was in 1988, at Milwaukee County Stadium.
Friday marks the 45th annual Bishop's Charities Game. The Packers have lost two straight in the series, after winning the previous 12 (1991-2002).
Brett Favre hopes to stay on track for the best preseason of his 15-year NFL career. His current 140.6 passer rating, compared to other years:
93.5 1997
91.6 1999
91.0 1993
89.9 1996
82.6 1995
82.6 1998
81.6 1994
79.7 2001
67.9 2003
67.2 *1991
66.2 2004
65.6 2002
46.0 1992
42.4 2000
*—with Atlanta
WISCONSIN TELEVISION: The Packers television network, with play-by-play man Kevin Harlan, color commentator Bill Maas, sideline reporter Jessie Garcia, producer Steve Karasik and director Suzanne Smith. WFRV-TV's Larry McCarren, the team's radio analyst, joins the telecast for pregame, halftime and postgame segments. With the aid of a CBS crew that produces NFL games during the regular season, Green Bay's WFRV-TV and Milwaukee's WTMJ-TV will originate the telecast...Other members of the network: WKOW, Madison; WAOW, Wausau/Rhinelander; WXOW, La Crosse; WQOW, Eau Claire; WYOW, Eagle River; and WJMN, Marquette, Mich. ...NFL Network will re-air the game Saturday at 3 p.m. CDT, using the Packers' broadcast and announcers for the first half and the Patriots' broadcast and announcers for the second half...Satellite coordinates for Friday's game: IA-6, Transponder 9 (C-Band); Audio: 6.2 / 6.8.
LOCAL RADIO: Milwaukee's WTMJ (620 AM), airing Green Bay games since 1929, heads up the 62-station Packers Radio Network, with Wayne Larrivee (play-by-play) and Larry McCarren (color). Spanning five states, the network covers 50 markets in the upper Midwest. The broadcast also is available to NFL Field Pass subscribers on packers.com.
THE DOPE ON THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT
The Packers' record vs. New England:
All-time regular season: 4-3-0
All-time, preseason: 6-6-0
All-time, postseason: 1-0
All-time, Lambeau Field: 1-0-0
Last meeting: Oct. 13, 2002, Foxboro; Packers won, 28-10
Last meeting, regular season, Green Bay: Oct. 1, 1979, Lambeau Field, Packers won, 27-14
Last meeting, preseason:July 31, 1997, Lambeau Field; Packers won, 7-3
COACHES CAPSULES
Mike Sherman: 55-31-0, .640, sixth NFL season, sixth with Packers
Bill Belichick: 99-72-0, .579, 11th NFL season, sixth with Patriots
Head to Head: Sherman 1-0 vs. Belichick
vs. Opponent: Sherman 1-0 vs. Patriots, Belichick 1-2 vs. Packers
MIKE SHERMAN...Is in his sixth year as the Packers' 13th head coach.
uIn 2004, his team became only the ninth in NFL history to reach the playoffs after a 1-4 start.
-Has led the Packers to three straight division titles (2002-04) for only the fourth time in team history, joining Vince Lombardi's three-time winners of 1960-62 and 1965-67, along with the 1995-97 division champs of Mike Holmgren. This season will attempt to do what no Green Bay head coach ever has done: lead his team to a fourth consecutive division championship.
-First tenure with Packers came as tight ends/assistant offensive line coach over the 1997-98 seasons, following 16 years as an assistant in the college ranks; coached in Green Bay's Super Bowl XXXII loss to Denver.
-In 2004 became the second-fastest head coach in team history to reach 50 career victories, doing so in his 78th contest; only Lombardi, with 50 wins in 66 games, did so quicker.
-Is 6-0 against teams in the Super Bowl the previous season.
BILL BELICHICK...Enters his 31st season as an NFL coach, his sixth at the helm in New England.
-The only NFL coach to win three Super Bowls in a four-year span, Belichick last season moved ahead of Vince Lombardi (9-1) to claim the best postseason record in NFL history (10-1).
-Has spent more seasons in the league than any other NFL head coach and is one of just two coaches in league history (George Seifert) to win multiple Super Bowls as a head coach and as an assistant coach.
-Began his career in 1975 as a special assistant with the Baltimore Colts. Following Super Bowl XXV, Belichick was named head coach of the Cleveland Browns in 1991.
-Belichick was a center/tight end at Wesleyan from 1971-74.
THE PACKERS-PATRIOTS SERIES: Green Bay holds a 5-3 all-time edge in the 32-year-old series (4-3 regular season, 1-0 postseason). The teams have split 12 preseason meetings (6-6).
-The Patriots haven't played a game in Green Bay that counted since 1979 (26 years). That season, the Packers upset Chuck Fairbanks and his high-octane Patriots, 27-14, on a Monday night game. It was the 1,000th contest in Packers history.
-No other NFL team has a longer active stretch without a regular-season game at Lambeau Field (26 years) or Wisconsin (17 years). The Patriots' last league game in the state was in 1988 at Milwaukee County Stadium, a 45-3 Packers win. New Orleans (16 years, Green Bay, 1989) owns the second-longest active period without a Lambeau appearance; the Saints are in Green Bay this Oct. 9).
-These teams last saw eachother at Gillette Stadium, Oct. 13, 2002. The Packers that day became the first visiting team to win in the stadium. Only two other clubs have managed to beat the Patriots there; the team is 24-3, including playoffs, at its current home.
-Most memorable of the eight overall games between the teams was their only postseason tilt, Super Bowl XXXI, in New Orleans, a 35-21 Packers victory.
-Just months after the Super Bowl, the teams met again in the preseason at Lambeau, July 31, 1997, their last non-league clash.
-The preseason series was launched in historic fashion in 1975; the Patriots pulled out a 20-17 victory at Milwaukee - by way of a John Smith field goal - in the first preseason overtime game in Green Bay's annals.
NOTABLE CONNECTIONS: An avid Red Sox fan, Green Bay Head Coach Mike Sherman grew up in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston and graduated from Algonquin Regional High School in Northboro, Mass.; he played collegiately at Central Connecticut State...Patriots safety Antuan Edwards was Green Bay's No. 1 draft pick in 1999...Packers guard Adrian Klemm was the first draft pick of the Bill Belichick era in New England, and played with the Patriots five years (2000-04) until signing as an unrestricted free agent with Green Bay this offseason...The Patriots in 2000 signed Grey Ruegamer (now with Green Bay) off the Steelers' practice squad; the guard/center played three seasons in New England before signing with the Packers before the '03 campaign...Packers running back Walt Williams, whose cousin is New England running back Kevin Faulk, began his NFL career with the Patriots, signing as a non-drafted free agent in 2001.
LAST MEETING (AP): Oct. 13, 2002, Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass.; Packers won, 28-10.
-Brett Favre threw three touchdown passes, giving him 301 for his career and moving him past No. 3 John Elway on the all-time list.
-The Packers (5-1) won their fourth straight as Ahman Green rushed for 136 yards and scored two touchdowns. The Patriots turned over the ball four times, lost two of the three replay reviews and committed critical penalties that led to two touchdowns.
-The Patriots couldn't exploit a subpar Packers defense missing three starting defensive backs and starting defensive ends Joe Johnson and Vonnie Holiday. In fact, Green Bay turned in its best defensive effort, allowing just 4.3 yards per play.
-With third-and-5 at the New England 16 and the Patriots ahead 3-0, Donald Driver caught a pass from Favre, but side judge Tom Hill ruled Driver was juggling the ball as he was pushed out of bounds at the 5. Mike Sherman's replay challenge overturned that, then Favre hit William Henderson for the touchdown.
-Tom Brady's first interception, by Bryant Westbrook - who'd signed with Green Bay four days earlier - ended the opening possession of the game at the Packers 43.
-Late in the second quarter, Kevin Faulk dropped Brady's backward pass and Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila recovered on the Patriots 8, after rookie Marques Anderson alerted his teammates to the live ball. On the next play, Favre threw to Green for a 14-3 lead.
LAST MEETING, WISCONSIN: Oct. 9, 1988, Milwaukee County Stadium; Packers won, 45-3.
-Erupting for 17 points in the second quarter and 21 more in the fourth, the Packers put an explosive end to a five-game losing streak, their largest margin of victory in more than 20 years.
-In his 1988 starting debut, Don Majkowski threw for 210 yards and one TD, and Brent Fullwood (14-118) scored three TDs.
-Green Bay intercepted New England five times, two by Ron Pitts.
