Here are some highlights from the Packers-Eagles Week 1 Dope Sheet:
GREEN BAY (0-0) at PHILADELPHIA (0-0)
Sunday, Sept. 12 - Lincoln Financial Field - 3:15 p.m. CDT
PACKERS TRAVEL TO PHILADELPHIA FOR SEASON OPENER
* Green Bay kicks off its 92nd season in team history – and 90th as a member of the National Football League – at Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon.
* The Packers open up the season against the Eagles for the sixth time in franchise history but for the first time in Philadelphia. The Packers are 4-1 in previous openers against Philadelphia, with matchups in 1934, 1940, 1968, 1991 and 2007. In the ’07 opener, Green Bay beat Philadelphia, 16-13, on rookie Mason Crosby’s 42-yard field goal with two seconds remaining.
* Opening the season on the road has been a rare occurrence for the Packers. Since 1986, 21 of Green Bay’s season openers have been at Lambeau Field, making Sunday’s game just the fourth time the in the past 25 years that the Packers have gone on the road to begin a season.
* Sunday’s contest will be the first time during Head Coach Mike McCarthy’s tenure that the Packers have started their season away from Lambeau Field. The last time Green Bay started a season on the road was at Detroit in 2005.
* Even though it has become accustomed to opening at home, Green Bay has started fast on the road under McCarthy. The team is 4-0 in its first road contest of the season under him, and 5-2 (.714) in September road contests during his tenure.
* Green Bay enters Sunday’s contest having won three straight season openers, making the Packers one of only five teams in the NFL to accomplish that feat. Dallas, Denver, New England and Pittsburgh have also won their season openers each of the past three years.
* The last time the Packers won three or more consecutive season openers came from 1996-99.
* Sunday’s game is a matchup of two of the most successful teams in the league over the past decade. Since 2000, the Eagles have a regular-season record of 103-56-1 (.647), which is tied for third in the NFL and first in the NFC. The Packers have posted a mark of 95-65-0 (.594) over that span, good for fifth in the NFL and second in the NFC.
* There have been only two seasons (1999, 2005) since 1992 that didn’t include either the Packers or the Eagles in the playoffs. Since realignment in 2002, the Eagles lead the NFC with six playoff berths, while the Packers are tied for second in the conference with five appearances.
* Sunday’s contest is the 37th time that the Packers and Eagles have squared off in the regular season, with Green Bay holding a 23-13 advantage in the series.
* This year marks the 50th anniversary of the most famous matchup between the teams. On Dec. 26, 1960, Philadelphia beat Green Bay, 17-13, in the NFL Championship Game at Franklin Field.
* Green Bay couldn’t hold a 13-10 fourth-quarter lead, with Eagles RB Ted Dean scoring the game-winning TD with just over five minutes remaining. The Packers drove to the Eagles’ 22 on their final possession, but Philadelphia LB Chuck Bednarik stopped Green Bay FB Jim Taylor at the 8 as time expired.
* It was the only time Vince Lombardi lost a postseason game, and the legendary coach went on to lead the Packers to nine straight playoff wins after the loss in Philadelphia.
WITH THE CALL
* FOX Sports, now in its 17th season as an NFL network television partner, will broadcast the game to the majority of the country.
* Play-by-play man Joe Buck and color analyst Troy Aikman will have the call from the broadcast booth with Pam Oliver serving as the sideline reporter.
* Milwaukee’s WTMJ (620 AM), airing Green Bay games since 1929, heads up the 53-station Packers Radio Network, with Wayne Larrivee (play-by-play) and two-time Packers Pro Bowler Larry McCarren (color) calling the action. The duo enters its 12th season of broadcasts together across the Packers Radio Network, which covers 43 markets in five states.
* For out-of-town listeners, the broadcast is available to NFL Field Pass subscribers on
www.packers.com as well as on Sirius Satellite Radio (channel 123 WTMJ feed) as part of the network’s NFL Sunday Drive.
* DIRECTV subscribers can watch the game in HD on channel 713.
THE DOPE ON THIS WEEK’S OPPONENT:
Packers vs. Philadelphia Eagles:
All-time regular season: 23-13-0
All-time, postseason: 0-2
All-time, in Philadelphia: 7-11-0 (incl. postseason)
Streaks: The Eagles have won five of the last six meetings, including the 2003 NFC Divisional playoff.
Last meeting, regular season: Sept. 9, 2007, at Lambeau Field; Packers won, 16-13
Last meeting, regular season, in Philadelphia: Oct. 2, 2006; Eagles won, 31-9
COACHES CAPSULES
Mike McCarthy: 39-28-0, .582, (incl. 1-2 postseason); 5th NFL season
Andy Reid: 118-75-1, .611 (incl. 10-7 postseason); 12th NFL season
Head to Head: 1-1
vs. Opponent: McCarthy 1-1 vs. Eagles; Reid 5-2 vs. Packers
MIKE McCARTHY…Is in fifth year as the Packers’ 14th head coach.
* Has led his team to the playoffs two of the past three years.
* One of only two coaches, along with New Orleans’ Sean Payton, to have his offense ranked in the top 10 in total yardage each of the last four years.
* Was named Packers head coach on Jan. 12, 2006, his first head coaching job after 13 years as an NFL assistant.
* Honored as the 2007 Motorola NFL Coach of the Year and NFL Alumni Coach of the Year.
* Became the first Packers coach since Vince Lombardi to lead the team to a championship game in his second season.
ANDY REID…Is in 12th year as the Eagles’ 21st head coach.
* Has compiled the highest win total (118), winning percentage (.611) and playoff victory total (10) in team history.
* Has captured five division titles and advanced to the NFC Championship Game five times, reaching the Super Bowl once (2004).
* Is the second-longest tenured head coach in the NFL behind Tennessee’s Jeff Fisher.
* Is one of only five active coaches to reach 100 career wins, and ranks second in winning percentage among all who have coached at least 100 games, behind only New England’s Bill Belichick.
THE PACKERS-EAGLES SERIES
* The clubs first met in 1933, the Eagles’ inaugural year in the NFL.
* Prior to the Packers’ 2007 win, the Eagles had won five straight meetings, including a 20-17 overtime decision in the 2003 NFC Divisional playoffs.
* Philadelphia was the only team to defeat Vince Lombardi in a postseason game. The Eagles edged the Packers, 17-13, at Franklin Field for the 1960 NFL championship. The legendary coach won nine straight playoff games after that loss.
* Before that 1960 game, the Packers had won 13 of the teams’ first 14 meetings, including the first nine in a row (1933-46).
* Both teams have enjoyed the homefield advantage recently in the series. Green Bay has won four of the last five at Lambeau Field, while Philadelphia has won the last nine contests played in the City of Brotherly Love.
NOTABLE CONNECTIONS
In Green Bay, Andy Reid was a TE/O-line asst. coach from 1992-96 and QB coach from 1997-98. The following year, when he became the Eagles’ head coach in 1999, he was replaced as Green Bay’s QB coach by Mike McCarthy...Packers DL coach Mike Trgovac held the same post with the Eagles for four seasons (1995-98)...The Packers acquired CB Al Harris and the Eagles’ fourth-round pick in 2003 for Green Bay’s second-round selection in the same draft…Three Philadelphia assistant coaches spent time on Green Bay’s staff: asst. head coach/off. coord. Marty Mornhinweg (1995-96), senior asst./DB coach Dick Jauron (1986-94) and head strength & conditioning coach Barry Rubin (1999-2005)...Eagles offensive quality control coach Doug Pederson is a former Packers QB who backed up Brett Favre from 1996-98 and 2001-04...Eagles asst. LB coach Mike Caldwell, as a pro LB, was a teammate of Packers LB Clay Matthews’ father with the Browns in 1993, the elder Matthews’ final season in Cleveland. He also played for Carolina’s defense in 2003, Trgovac’s first season as def. coord. there...Eagles special teams quality control coach Jeff Nixon coached at Shippensburg when Packers RB John Kuhn played there...Packers off. coord. Joe Philbin spent four years coaching at Allegheny College (Pa.)....Eagles LB Stewart Bradley and Packers RB Brandon Jackson were teammates at Nebraska and were drafted 24 spots apart in 2007 (Jackson 63rd overall, Bradley 87th)...Eagles CB Asante Samuel and Packers S Atari Bigby played in the same defensive backfield for two years at Central Florida (2001-02), while Eagles S Kurt Coleman and Packers CB Brandon Underwood were both reserve DBs at Ohio State in 2006...Other former college teammates include Eagles DT Antonio Dixon and Packers CB Sam Shields (Miami), Eagles T King Dunlap and Packers CB Pat Lee (Auburn), Eagles LB Omar Gaither and Packers C Scott Wells (Tennessee), Eagles T Winston Justice and Packers LB Clay Matthews (USC), Eagles CB Trevard Lindlay and Packers P Tim Masthay (Kentucky), Eagles S Quintin Mikell and Packers G Daryn Colledge (Boise State), and Eagles T Jason Peters and Packers LS Brett Goode (Arkansas).
INDIVIDUALLY VS. EAGLES
While playing for St. Louis, DE Ryan Pickett had the first of his three career-best 12-tackle games at Philadelphia on Dec. 1, 2002...In seven career games against the Eagles, including playoffs, WR Donald Driver has 23 receptions for 292 yards...In three games, including playoffs, LB Nick Barnett has 29 tackles (24 solo), two fumble recoveries and one interception vs. the Eagles...WR Greg Jennings had five catches for 86 yards in the 2006 meeting...In the ‘07 encounter, RB Brandon Jackson totaled 75 yards from scrimmage (15 rushes for 40 yards, four receptions for 35 yards).
LAST MEETING, REGULAR SEASON
* Sept. 9, 2007, at Lambeau Field; Packers won, 16-13.
* The Packers won without scoring an offensive TD, taking advantage of two muffed punts by the Eagles to account for 10 points.
* On the first, LB Tracy White recovered Greg Lewis’ fumbled punt for a TD less than 2 minutes into the game. Then J.R. Reed bobbled a punt with 59 seconds remaining in the game, and CB Jarrett Bush recovered to set up K Mason Crosby’s game-winning 42-yard FG with two seconds left.
* Crosby also had a 53-yard FG in the first quarter for his first NFL points. He became the first player in NFL history to kick a 50-plus-yard FG and a game-winning FG in the final minute of his first game.
* RB Brian Westbrook totaled 131 yards from scrimmage for Philadelphia (85 rush, 46 rec.) while WR Jason Avant had a 9-yard TD catch.
LAST MEETING, IN PHILADELPHIA
* Oct. 2, 2006, at Lincoln Financial Field; Eagles won, 31-9.
* In the third quarter with the Eagles clinging to a 10-9 lead, QB Donovan McNabb hit WR Greg Lewis on TD passes of 45 and 30 yards just one minute, 17 seconds apart.
* McNabb’s fourth-quarter TD run, his second of the game, sealed the Monday Night Football victory for Philadelphia.
* Green Bay K Dave Rayner hit three field goals in the contest, including a 54-yarder that tied a franchise record.
* The Packers dropped their ninth straight game in Philadelphia, a streak that began in 1974. The Packers last defeated the Eagles in Philadelphia in 1962, 49-0, under head coach Vince Lombardi.
A LOOK AT THE 53
* Faced with some of the toughest cuts of his tenure, General Manager Ted Thompson and the football operations staff finalized the opening-day roster this past weekend.
* It’s a balanced roster for Green Bay, which holds 26 offensive players, 24 defensive players and three specialists.
* Of the 53 players on Green Bay's roster, 36 of them (67.9 percent) were drafted by the Packers, and 39 of them (73.6 percent) played in a game for the Packers in 2009.
* Six of the team's seven draft picks from 2010 made the 53-man roster. The only one that didn't, sixth-round RB James Starks, is on the reserve/physically unable to perform list due to a hamstring injury. Three non-drafted free agents (G Nick McDonald, CB Sam Shields and LB Frank Zombo) also made the final roster.
* 11 players on the team have yet to play in an NFL regular-season game. The list is comprised of the nine rookies and two first-year players (P Tim Masthay and TE Tom Crabtree).
* The breakdown by position is fairly consistent with last year’s opening-day roster. The Packers kept one more offensive lineman and one more tight end with one fewer running back and one fewer linebacker on the final 53.
PRESEASON MOMENTUM
* Last year during the preseason, Green Bay’s No. 1 offense put together a string of impressive performances that it carried over into the regular season. With another strong preseason this year, the offense looks to do the same again in 2010.
* In a little more than four quarters of work this preseason, the No. 1 offense scored seven touchdowns, with all seven of those drives 70 or more yards in length.
* The first offensive unit put together several long scoring drives, but it didn’t take them much time to find the end zone. Of the seven touchdown drives, four of them were three minutes or less. Green Bay’s No. 1 offense had an average drive time of just 3:41 on its seven touchdowns.
* Leading the way was QB Aaron Rodgers, who ranked No. 1 in the NFL during the preseason with a 141.2 passer rating. Rodgers completed 41-of-53 passes (77.4 percent) for 470 yards and a league-leading six TDs with no INTs.
* Rodgers’ performance in the first three contests mirrored what he did during the 2009 preseason, when he posted a 147.9 passer rating on 29-of-41 passing (70.7 percent) for 465 yards and six TDs with no INTs. The No. 1 offense scored nine TDs and a FG on 13 possessions during the ’09 preseason.
* Over the last two preseasons, Rodgers connected on 70-of-94 attempts (74.5 percent) for 935 yards, 12 TDs and no INTs for a 145.2 passer rating.
* Rodgers’ favorite target this preseason was third-year TE Jermichael Finley, who led the team and tied for the NFL lead among tight ends with 12 receptions for 163 yards (13.6 avg.) and two TDs. Finley caught six passes for 85 yards (14.2 avg.) and a TD in just a half of work against Indianapolis in the third preseason contest.
* Credit must be given to the Packers’ offensive line, as it didn’t allow a sack of Rodgers in the three preseason games he played in. The No. 1 line didn’t yield a single sack in the 2009 preseason on Rodgers’ 41 attempts, and is made up of the same five players that started the final seven games in 2009.
* Green Bay’s offense as a whole was productive this preseason, ranking first in the league at 406.0 yards per game with an average of 296.0 yards passing per contest, also first in the NFL. The Packers also led the league with 106 first downs and 123 points in the preseason.
RETURNING TO HEALTH
* While the offense can credit some of its preseason sucess to the stability in the starting lineup each week, it was a different story for Green Bay’s defense during the preseason.
* Of the 11 projected starters for Week 1, only five played in each of the preseason games. The starting outside linebackers, Clay Matthews (hamstring) and Brad Jones (shoulder), missed four games and three games, respectively. DE Cullen Jenkins missed the final two games with a calf injury, inside linebackers Nick Barnett (knee) and A.J. Hawk (ankle) sat out games, while CB Charles Woodson rested for both road contests.
* Matthews and Jones both returned to practice as full participants on Monday with Jenkins expected to return to the practice field either Wednesday or Thursday, so the Packers should have their full complement of defensive players for the season opener against an Eagles offense led by new starting QB Kevin Kolb.
* “We’ll exercise a full game plan for Philadelphia,” Head Coach Mike McCarthy said. “We will not play with any restrictions as far as volume or creativity. We trust the players that are coming back off of injury and we feel it is important to have quality preparation throughout the week and get ourselves ready to play at the level we are capable of playing.
* “Injuries are a part of the game. We had more than usual in the preseason for the defensive side of it, but it’s also the way the game goes in the NFL. I’m not concerned about it. I think it’s really just part of the path that is created in this league.”
* With veteran CB Al Harris out for at least the first six games as he continues his rehab from a major knee injury sustained in Week 11 last season, fourth-year CB Tramon Williams moves into the starting lineup on the right side. Second-year CB Brandon Underwood, who appeared to be the leading candidate to take over Williams’ nickel role, has been out since injuring his shoulder in the third preseason contest vs. Indianapolis. McCarthy said the team will take the week of practice before deciding on a nickel back if Underwood is out, with rookie CB Sam Shields in contention to fill that spot.
* One area that remained a constant from last year during the preseason was the Packers’ stout run defense, with Green Bay allowing opponents an average of just 80.3 yards per game on the ground in the first three preseason contests. The No. 1 defense played just one series in the preseason finale at Kansas City.
* The defense held each of its first three opponents to under 100 yards rushing, and allowed only one 15-plus yard run by a back in those three contests.
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