*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 is available each week during the season in PDF format, located in the Packers.com Game Centers.
Here are some highlights from the Packers Season Review Dope Sheet:
MAGICAL SEASON COMES TO BITTER END
-The most memorable Packers season in a decade came to a sudden and deflating end in overtime of the NFC Championship Game.
-On a bitterly cold Sunday night in what became the highest-rated non-Super Bowl telecast since the Seinfeld finale in 1998, the New York Giants ended Green Bay's season on a 47-yard field goal.
-Still, it was a season which exceeded nearly all expectations for the league's youngest club. Nearly every preseason prognosticator picked Green Bay to finish around the .500 mark.
-Instead, the Packers matched a franchise record with 13 regular-season wins, many of which came in electrifying fashion, and captured the 18th division title in franchise history.
-Earning a first-round bye for the first time since 1997, the Packers defeated the Seahawks in the Divisional round in what will surely go down as one of the most memorable games in Lambeau Field history.
-Head Coach Mike McCarthy, 2007 Motorola NFL Coach of the Year, became the first Packers coach since Vince Lombardi to lead his team to a championship game in his second season.
-Just two seasons removed from a 4-12 record, the resurgence came from strong play in all three phases. McCarthy, the offense's play-caller, engineered the NFL's No. 2-ranked unit, which put up one of the most productive seasons in Packers history. Not to be overlooked was the defense, which ranked 11th in the league at season's end, and a special teams unit that produced four touchdowns.
GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY
-From the opening kickoff against the Philadelphia Eagles to their first home NFC Championship Game since 1996, the Packers hosted a season-long celebration commemorating the 50th anniversary of Lambeau Field. The crown jewel of the National Football League remains the most historic stadium in football.
-Not surprisingly, Lambeau Field remained a tough place to score a ticket, selling out each of its 10 dates on the year. The NFC title game marked the 269th consecutive sellout at Lambeau Field (253 regular season, 16 playoffs).
-Dedicated as City Stadium Sept. 29, 1957, with a 21-17 victory over the archrival Chicago Bears, the team renamed the facility Lambeau Field in 1965 following the death of E.L. 'Curly' Lambeau, the Packers' founder and first coach. It is the NFL's longest-tenured facility.
-To mark the occasion, an anniversary logo was created and was featured on the team's home uniforms, Gameday program, the media guide and the Packers Yearbook.
-Lambeau Field also featured the special logo in the north end zone. Both end zones were painted to reflect the way they were in Lambeau Field's first season in 1957.
-Renowned 3-D pop artist Charles Fazzino was commissioned by the Packers to create an art piece celebrating the 50th anniversary. Fazzino, the official artist of the Super Bowl and Major League Baseball's All-Star Game, spent nine months on the project. The piece is available in a limited edition 3-D format, as well as on T-shirts, helmets and assorted items in the Packers Pro Shop.
-Packers ticket holders enjoyed images of Lambeau Field through the years on their tickets as well.
PERHAPS HIS BEST?
-The NFL's only three-time MVP, quarterback Brett Favre may have completed the finest season of his career at age 38. Favre became just the fourth NFL player to be named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year and also took home 2007 FedEx Air Player of the Year honors.
-It was a monumental year for Favre, who broke some of the league's most hallowed records.
-At the N.Y. Giants in Week 2, Favre recorded his 149th career win, surpassing John Elway as the winningest quarterback in league history. Favre now has 160 career wins.
-In Week 4 at Minnesota, he surpassed Dan Marino as the NFL's all-time leader in touchdown passes with his 421st TD. He now has 442.
-In Week 15 at St. Louis, again he surpassed Marino as the all-time leader in passing yards. He has 61,655 career passing yards.
-Once again, Favre started all 16 games at quarterback for the Packers, bringing his career total to 253 consecutive regular-season starts. That streak ranks second in NFL history.
-But it wasn't all about breaking records for Favre in 2007. In leading the Packers to the division title and the NFC's No. 2 seed, he turned in one of the finest statistical seasons of his 17-year NFL career. A look at where some of his 2007 numbers rank over his brilliant career:
Category - 2007 Total - Rank
Wins - 13- 1T
Completion percentage - 66.5% - 1
300-yard passing games - 7 - 1T
Passing yards - 4,155 - 3
Passer rating - 95.7 - 3
Interceptions - 15 - 3T
Completions - 356 - 4
WHERE THE '07 OFFENSE RANKS
-In addition to tying the franchise record with 13 wins, the 2007 Packers ranked high in a number of league rankings and club record lists.
-Finishing as the league's No. 2-ranked offense, Green Bay accomplished its highest league ranking since 1983, when the unit also finished No. 2. It is the second consecutive top-10 finish for McCarthy's unit, and the 11th top-10 finish in quarterback Brett Favre's 16-season tenure.
-The NFL's fourth-highest scoring offense put up 435 points in 2007, third on the Packers' all-time single-season list.
-The 2007 total of 5,931 net yards (1,597 rushing, 4,334 passing) ranks third in club annals.
-Its net yards passing (4,334 yards) also ranks third in team history.
-Along with Favre, quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Craig Nall combined for 383 completions (tied for first) while compiling a 66.3 completion percentage, the highest in Packers history.
WHERE THE 'O7 DEFENSE RANKS
-Green Bay's defense finished just yards away from being a top-10 unit and finished the season at No. 11.
-Perhaps more telling is where it finished in scoring defense - No. 6. It surrendered just 291 points.
-It was a top-10 unit in two very important categories: third-down defense (No. 3) and red-zone defense (No. 8).
-Quarterbacks had a hard time against the Packers defense, completing just 55.2% of their passes. Only Pittsburgh (54.5%) held opponents to a lower completion percentage.
"SPECIAL" TEAMS MUCH IMPROVED
-Having always been a key ingredient to the success of the Packers, Green Bay's special teams unit has seen a remarkable improvement this season.
-An area of emphasis all offseason, the unit got things going early in Week 1 by accounting for all 16 points. Against Oakland in Week 14, it accounted for two more TDs, bringing its 2007 total to four.
-In Rick Gosselin's annual Dallas Morning News rankings, which objectively grades teams by their rankings in 22 kicking-game categories, Green Bay finished seventh both in 1996 and 1997. The Packers reached the Super Bowl both seasons.
-More recently, the Packers ranked eighth in 2003 and ninth in 2004. Both years they made the playoffs.
-In 2005 and '06, Green Bay ranked last in the NFL in Gosselin's rankings. Neither year resulted in a postseason appearance.
-The coverage units were drastically better in 2007. The Packers ranked fourth in the league in opponent punt return average and seventh in opponent kickoff return average.
-Another sign of the coverage units' improvement: their ability to take the ball away. They had just one forced fumble in 2006, but totaled three forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries this season.
-Their own return game was much improved from last season as well, having scored on multiple returns (two punts) for the first time since 1998. Ranked 24th in punt return average last season, the unit ranked seventh thanks to Will Blackmon, Tramon Williams and Charles Woodson. Their kick return game, ranked 31st last year, has been bolstered by the addition of Koren Robinson, who exploded in St. Louis for 130 yards on three returns. It ranked 23rd.
{sportsad300}PLENTY OF REASONS FOR OPTIMISM IN 2008
-Headed by a strong football operations led by McCarthy and general manager Ted Thompson, the Packers enter 2008 with plenty of momentum.
-Winners of 17 of their last 20 regular-season games, the Packers will return many of their core players next season.
-McCarthy said a timetable for Favre's decision will be much like last year, in which the quarterback announced his decision to return one month after the season concluded.
-21 of 22 starters are under contract for 2008, highlighted by a number of young contributors. 16 starters have yet to reach the age of 30.
-The Packers currently hold six selections in April's NFL Draft. NFL compensatory selections will be awarded in March.
-"There has been so much positive about how the year went along, but everybody to a man is disappointed the way it ended," McCarthy said in his final press conference. "So we have a lot of positive energy, a lot of positive experiences to tap into as we move forward, and I would anticipate come March that we'll pick up and have a better offseason than last year."
IN THE NFL'S 'BLACK AND BLUE' DIVISION
-Under McCarthy, the Packers have been extremely successful in the NFC North and clinched the club's first division crown since 2004.
-McCarthy is 9-3 in NFC North games since taking over in Green Bay in 2006. All three division losses have been to the Chicago Bears.
-Last season, the Packers finished tied for the NFL's best division record at 5-1, losing only to Chicago in the season opener. No other head coach in team annals had a better division mark in his rookie season than McCarthy.
MORE STATISTICAL ODDITIES FROM 2007 SEASON
0: Touchdown passes Favre threw to running backs this season. All 28 of his TDs went to receivers and tight ends for the first time in his career. In two other seasons, Favre had just one TD pass to a back, in 1998 (William Henderson) and 1993 (Edgar Bennett). Fittingly, he threw one to Brandon Jackson in the Divisional Playoffs.
1: Games Mason Crosby did not attempt a field goal. His only game without a three-point try was at Chicago (Dec. 23). The only other game he didn't make at least one field goal was at the N.Y. Giants (0-for-1).
2: Green Bay touchdowns called back on penalties. A 23-yard TD pass to James Jones vs. Washington was nullified by a holding penalty, and Atari Bigby's 70-yard interception return for a score vs. Oakland was wiped out by an unnecessary roughness call for a block on the QB.
3: Victories in domes this season. The Packers won at Minnesota's Metrodome, Detroit's Ford Field, and St. Louis' Edward Jones Dome. That brings Head Coach Mike McCarthy's dome record over two seasons to 5-0, improving the team's mark to 21-24 since 1992, Favre's first season here. The Packers can even that record at .500 next year if they can win again in Minneapolis, Detroit, and New Orleans.
4: Games Favre attempted at least 40 passes this season without throwing an interception. Favre attempted 45 passes in back-to-back games vs. San Diego and at Minnesota (Sept. 30) without a pick. He then attempted 46 vs. Minnesota (Nov. 11) and 41 at Detroit (Nov. 22), also without an interception. Favre has now done that 13 times in his career, and the 46 this season was a career-high for a single game and tied the franchise mark also held by Don Majkowski (at Detroit, Sept. 30, 1990).
5: Fair-catches called by Packers punt returners, all by Woodson. Last season, Green Bay had just three (two by Woodson), giving the unit eight fair-catches while returning 101 punts over the past two seasons (7.3%). By contrast, in the three previous years combined, the Packers called 63 fair-catches while returning just 113 punts (35.8%).
6: Number of starts by the season-opening offensive line of Chad Clifton, Daryn Colledge, Scott Wells, Jason Spitz and Mark Tauscher. After the season opener, this group went seven games before it was together again, starting four straight from Weeks 9 through 12, and then another four-game gap before starting the regular-season finale.
7: TD drives the Packers surrendered that were 80 yards or longer. By contrast, the offense produced 12 TD drives of 80 yards or more.
8: Times the opponent failed to score after reaching the red zone. The Packers thwarted eight red zone possessions by their opponents by getting five turnovers, two turnovers on downs, and one missed field goal. The Packers had just five empty red zone possessions.
9: Number of times the Packers won the time-of-possession battle, an indication of how misleading this statistic can be. The Packers actually won the time-of-possession in one of their losses (vs. Chicago, Oct. 7, 30 minutes, 30 seconds) and lost it in five of their wins. Green Bay's biggest time-of-possession advantage was vs. Minnesota (Nov. 11), 40:40 to 19:20 in a 34-0 win. The largest discrepancy the other way was at St. Louis, 23:36 to 36:24 in a 33-14 win.
10: Scores the Packers posted on their opening drive of the second half. Green Bay had five TDs and five FGs on its opening second-half possessions, including a streak of four straight touchdowns from Weeks 10-13. The Packers had just five scores (four TDs, one FG) on game-opening drives, for a total of 15 scores and 81 points in those situations. The opponents had nearly as many scores (13) but not nearly as many points (55), posting eight scores (three TD, five FG) to open the second half and five (one TD, four FG) to open the game.
11: Number of 100-yard performances by running backs and receivers on the season, led by Ryan Grant's five top rushing outings of 104 yards at Denver, 119 vs. Minnesota (Nov. 11), 101 at Detroit (Nov. 22), 156 vs. Oakland, and 100 at Chicago (Dec. 23). With two apiece were receivers Donald Driver, who had 126 yards vs. San Diego and 147 at Detroit (Nov. 22), and Greg Jennings with 141 at Denver and 100 vs. Oakland). Adding one each were receiver James Jones, with 107 yards at Denver, and running back Brandon Jackson, with 113 vs. Detroit (Dec. 30).
12: TD catches by Jennings, the highest by a Packers player in three years and accomplished in just 13 games. Jennings missed the first two games of the season with a hamstring injury and then sat out the regular-season finale as a precaution with an ankle injury. He had a pair of two-TD games and found the end zone in 10 of the 13 games in which he played. Javon Walker also had 12 TD receptions in 2004 for Green Bay, and those are the only double-digit TD seasons by Packers wide receivers since Antonio Freeman posted 14 in 1998.
13: If you count the 11:30 a.m. CT start on Thanksgiving Day, the number of "noon" kickoffs for the Packers this season. The Packers went 12-1 in those games and were 1-2 in prime time. Interestingly, the Packers did not play a late afternoon game all season, but did so in the Divisional playoffs on Jan. 12.
14: Number of coaches' replay challenges called in Green Bay's games, by both teams combined. McCarthy was 4-for-9 in getting calls overturned, the most notable being a 36-yard pass by Kansas City initially ruled complete, but replays showed the receiver stepped out of bounds; and an Oakland fumble on a punt return that was at first ruled down by contact, but replay reversed it, and the fumble was recovered by the Packers for a touchdown. Opposing coaches were 0-for-5 on challenges, and there were four booth reviews, all upholding the call on the field.
15: Number of Ruvell Martin's receptions, out of 16, that resulted in a first down (or a TD). Martin's only catch that did not pick up a first down came vs. Minnesota (Nov. 11), a 7-yard catch on first-and-10 during a two-minute drive at the end of the first half. That was the game Martin posted season-highs in catches (four), yards (57) and TDs (two).
16: Games the Green Bay defense held opponents to less than 50 percent conversions on third downs. Not once this season did the Packers allow the other team to reach 50 percent in a game. Three teams - Philadelphia (8-for-18), San Diego (5-for-11) and Dallas (4-for-9) came within one conversion of hitting or beating 50 percent. For the season, the Packers allowed opponents to convert just 69 of 209 third downs, for 33 percent, third-best in the NFL.
