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| Sunday, September 29, 2002 - 12 noon at Lambeau Field |
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1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
Final |
| Panthers |
7 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
14 |
| Packers |
3 |
7 |
0 |
7 |
17 |
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Packers Player Of The Game
With Javon Walker inactive and Terry Glenn sidelined for most of the game, Donald Driver stepped up with the first multi-touchdown game of his career. Driver finished the contest with five receptions for 97 yards. His first touchdown grab of the day happened when tight end Bubba Franks took a lateral from Brett Favre and then passed downfield to a wide-open Driver late in the second quarter. The second TD catch wasn't as easy. With the Packers trailing 14-10, Driver leapt into the air to bring down a Favre rocket in traffic and then scrambled into the end zone with 4:10 remaining in the game to put the Packers on top for good. Driver also had one rush for 15 yards.
Panthers Players Of The Game
With Lamar Smith and Dee Brown carrying the load, the Panthers' ground attack compiled 139 yards on 35 carries. Smith had 66 of those yards on 22 carries, and accounted for both of Carolina's touchdowns. Brown accumulated 52 yards on only nine carries.
Stat Of The Game
The Packers defense forced three Panthers fumbles and recovered all of them. Perhaps most crucial was Cletidus Hunt's sack and forced-fumble late in the second quarter, which halted a Panthers drive at the Green Bay 20-yard-line.
Play Of The Game
While the Packers defense also gave up some big plays, timely tackles gave the Green and Gold a victory. No tackle was more important than Cletidus Hunt's drop of Rodney Peete in the closing seconds. Facing third-and-4 at the Packers 5-yard-line, Peete looked to run a quarterback draw, but Hunt tracked him down for a loss of a yard. That tackle forced the Panthers to attempt a game-tying field goal, which sailed wide-right to give the Packers a win.
THEY SAID IT:
GM/Head Coach Mike Sherman --
On game: "I think our defense stepped up and made tremendous plays for most of the game. We let them off the hook there at the end to get down there.
"Donald Driver stepped up and made some big plays. Brett Favre stepped up. I thought our special teams improved from a week ago.
"I would give the entire team a game ball on the passion they displayed which I hadn't seen as much of until today and we need to continue to play that way. "
On the penalty: "I didn't think the play was going to be reviewed. There wasn't a sense of urgency to review the play. I knew we practiced it and made it a point of emphasis that this play was not going to be a penalty. We practiced it correctly, I stood and watched it executed correctly and the fact that there was a flag thrown on that bothered me slightly and I reacted adversely to that. I didn't want the game to continue without it being reviewed and I got upset there.
"I'll fine myself for this display, I'll take care of it. I don't think I'm somebody that loses discipline very often, but this situation required it. I responded the way I thought I would respond and probably would respond again if I didn't see action happen on something that I knew was wrong. I was wrong and overreacted, but you put your heart and soul into something and it means something to you, you don't want somebody to take it away from you."
On being on top of the division: "Being on top of the division this early doesn't mean one bit to me, what matters is where we are at the end of the year. If we had lost this game, I would've been proud of our football team because I think we played hard. We did things we hadn't been doing. We played with intensity and we played with emotion and passion. I was proud of that. I thought they battled.
"I thought our special teams, which had been much maligned, stepped up and made some plays they had to make for us against a very good - I think they're one of the best special teams units in football. They dressed eight linebackers, we dressed five - so they can play special teams.
"Whether you won or lost a game on a play, a field goal, I still felt that way and I would've commended our team on how they battled because if you can play like that and overcome some adversity - we had seven guys who played last week, didn't play this week - if you can overcome those things and play a football game and battle and scratch and crawl, in the long haul you win games. I do believe in that philosophy."
On not using a time out near the end of the game defensively: "You're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't. I thought about it and elected not to do it. Then we had the injury time out, we were going to ice him after that on the field goal, but you can't have double time outs. I was trying to figure out what they were trying to do. It's something to consider. I thought about it but didn't want to do it."
On the play of Matt Bowen: "He made a lot of good plays for us. He made some big hits for us and did some nice things for us in that game. He'll just keep getting better. He made a mistake there (on completion to Hoover) but he made up with some effort things. You know what you're getting with him."
Donald Driver --
On second touchdown reception: "When the opportunity comes, I think Brett is the type of guy that's going to throw the ball. I just happened to have the guy in man-to-man coverage and I beat the guy across the field and Brett just gave me a bullet. I can't say it was an easy pass, because it was really hard."
Brett Favre --
On the play the wide receivers: "I thought we did an excellent job for the most part. They're a good defense. I think they're better now than people had realized. Considering the circumstances and guys being in and out, I thought we did a heck of a job."
On Bubba Franks' touchdown pass: "I never thought it would be called. It's kind of like any trick play, you wait for the right opportunity and when it will be, you never know, but he had thrown it well in practice."
On all the changes in the lineup: "It was difficult, I wasn't really concerned with who was in or who was out. Mike and I actually talked about it before the game: my job doesn't change. During the course of the game or the course of the week, when you have guys going out, at some point you might have to adjust, but my focus or my approach of the game doesn't change. If you're getting hit, you're getting hit, but does that mean that you change the plays that are being called or the drops that you take or that you start flushing out of the pocket too quickly? I don't look at it that way. If there is someone else out there catching passes today as opposed to last week, and next week it may be someone different, then that's the way it is. And it's been that way ever since I got here. That's a good quality to have. "
On being 3-1: "It's a lot like '99 when we were 3-1, but we're a better football team, we're a much more disciplined football team. We played some very good football teams this year and we did back then. I don't know if I've been associated with a team that's had as many injuries or as much adversity this early in the year that we've had to overcome. I'm not making excuses because we won. It's easy to make excuses when you lose. I look out there today and there's a lot of new faces, a lot of young new faces playing and guys stepped up and made plays. Whether you play at home or away, most of the guys now are starting to realize that there are no easy games...and to be 3-1. We would've loved to have won in New Orleans...but there are a lot of teams that lost today. I think it shows the parity in this league. Anytime you can get a win regardless of how you did it, you have to feel fortunate."
Cletidus Hunt --
On final third-down tackle of Peete: "I hit him, I tried to knock him out and I ended up catching stinger doing it. But, hey, we got off the field with a victory. I'm all right, it was just a little mild stinger, nothing I can't handle."
On defense: "We took a big leap. We went into the game motivated, fired up about getting the game underway and getting three-and-out, and causing turnovers. We did just that."
Joe Johnson --
On performance of defense: "We still didn't play up to our capabilities, we still have a lot of things we can do better. We can't be complacent right now, we have to, if anything, still be frustrated by the things we didn't do well and continue to get better."
On win: "A win is a win, you're always happy to win. But not necessarily as happy when you make mistakes and make the game a lot of closer than it really is. That's something we have to learn from."
Aaron Kampman --
On defense: "We played a lot better. We talked about this week just playing with a lot more juice, a lot more passion and I think we did that. I think it helped us, obviously, play better overall defense, a better swarming defense."
On Coach Sherman yelling at officials in second quarter: "That was awesome, wasn't it? I mean, it was . . . As players it's a rallying point to see him with so much emotion. You never want to second-guess a ref's call, but obviously he thought it was a good play. It was tremendous. It was really a rallying point for I think all the players."
On first NFL game: "I've got to tell you, it was a lot of fun."
On if this game was a 'turning point' for the defense: "Shoot, I don't know. We obviously played a lot better, but you're probably asking the wrong guy. I've only played one NFL game. You'd have to ask Gilbert (Brown) or (Darren) Sharper, or someone like that."
Mike McKenzie --
On missed field goal: "It's just one of those lucky things, and if we were lucky today, we're going to take it."
On play of defense: "Collectively, we got the win. We'll look at the tape, we'll make any corrections necessary. All in all, we won the game. Defensively we made a lot of big plays. We're just going to build on it."
On two defensive penalties assessed in final Panthers drive: "We have no control over what the official is going to do. Of course we would have loved to get off the field. The kind of defense we were playing out there today, we didn't get down about it, we came back out there, we lined up and we just kept on fighting. You've got to tip your hats off to our guys today. We really laid it on the line to get the job done."
Marco Rivera --
On Favre's reaction after sacks: "That's one thing we love about Brett, he's never one to point a finger at his offensive linemen. Sometimes they are going to get a sack, and one of the guys is going to get beat. He understands that's part of the game. So he encourages us, he says, hey, don't worry about it, we'll get them next time. We really appreciate that."
On play of offensive line: "I think we did a pretty good job. We pass-protected pretty good. They threw a lot of things at us and we picked it up. We had a new fullback in there (Tony Carter) who has three or four days of practice in and had to learn the whole system. I thought he did a good job. I think for the most part we can definitely build on this game."
Darren Sharper --
On missed field goal at end of game: "The Ghost of Lambeau might have came and pushed that ball a little bit right. I feel sorry for the guy that missed it, because that's a long ride home right there. And a long flight probably after that back home to where he grew up. I don't know what's going to happen, but I wouldn't be surprised to see (Graham) on the waiver wire tomorrow."
On Joe Johnson: "Man, he played like we expected him to. That's why we brought him in here, to make those kind of plays, just be all over the field. It was just a matter of time."
On intensity level of defense: "We're tired of being a poor step-child allowing 30-some points a game. That's not the way we do it and collectively we decided, let's turn this thing around."
On Packers' lack of 'convincing' wins: "It's going to always be tough to get a victory because teams are so evenly matched nowadays. Even though you might go into a game and everyone says this team is the favorite and this team is the underdog, it doesn't always work out like that."
GAME NOTES:
The announced attendance at Lambeau Field was 63,329. That's a new Lambeau Field record, surpassing the attendance of 63,127 from the season-opener versus Atlanta.
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End of 4th quarter. Game over.
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On a drive that included two third-down conversions due to defensive penalties, the Carolina Panthers got as close as the Packers 5-yard-line, but Shayne Graham's 24-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right to preserve the Packers' lead (0:13, 4th quarter).
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Donald Driver made a leaping reception in traffic en route to his 22-yard touchdown that moved the Packers ahead (4:10, 4th quarter). Earlier in the drive, Driver had been the intended receiver on a play that drew a pass-interference penalty, negating a Carolina interception and moving the Packers to the 29-yard-line. The Packers scoring drive was 4 plays, 65 yards. Time of the drive was 2:19.
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Despite favorable field position resulting from the Brown fumble, the Packers were forced to punt (8:47, 4th quarter). Josh Bidwell's 37-yard punt dropped down near the goal line, but resulted in a touchback.
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On third-and-6, Dee Brown rushed for a Panthers first down, but Matt Bowen forced a fumble at the end of the run. Jamal Reynolds recovered for the Packers at the Carolina 38-yard-line (9:42, 4th quarter). The Panthers challenged the call on the field, but after reviewing the play, officials ruled that Brown lost control of the football before his knee hit the ground.
**
After Brad Hoover's 31-yard reception brought Carolina to the 2-yard-line, Lamar Smith did the rest. Smith's second touchdown run of the day put the Panthers on top early in the fourth quarter (12:55, 4th quarter). The Panthers scoring drive was 5 plays, 53 yards. Time of the drive was 2:51.
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End of 3rd quarter.
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After Dan Morgan's interception, the Panthers drove to the Packers 15-yard-line. But on third-and-10, Joe Johnson sacked Rodney Peete and forced a fumble that was recovered by Tod McBride (2:05, 3rd quarter).
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The Packers moved near midfield, but a deflected Favre pass intended for Karsten Bailey was intercepted by Dan Morgan to give Carolina possession at the Packers 44-yard-line (4:38, 3rd quarter).
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Brett Favre's 18-yard pass to Donald Driver moved him past Joe Montana for fifth in NFL history in terms of pass completions. As of the Driver pass, Favre had completed 3,410 passes over his career.
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Terry Glenn went to the locker room with migraine headaches. He will not return (10:18, 3rd quarter). Glenn missed practices throughout the week with headaches and nausea.
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Steve Warren's sack of Rodney Peete completed a three-and-out stop by the Packers (11:38, 3rd quarter). The sack was the first of Warren's career.
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End of 2nd quarter. Halftime.
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The Carolina Panthers looked to add another score before halftime, but after driving to the Packers 20-yard-line, Cletidus Hunt sacked Rodney Peete and forced a fumble. Joe Johnson recovered for the Packers (0:30, 2nd quarter).
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After taking a lateral pass from Brett Favre, tight end Bubba Franks passed to a wide-open Donald Driver for a 31-yard touchdown (1:43, 2nd quarter). The play initially drew a flag from the officiating crew, who ruled that Favre's pass to Franks was a forward pass. After seeing a replay on the JumboTron, Packers GM/Head Coach Mike Sherman drew a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct after throwing his headset and screaming at the officiating crew. The play was then reviewed and Favre's pass to Franks was deemed a legal backward pass. Favre helped move the Packers up the field on the drive with completions to Ferguson, Franks and Driver. The Packers scoring drive was 6 plays, 70 yards. Time of the drive was 2:04.
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End of 1st quarter.
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Lamar Smith's 3-yard touchdown run up the middle put the Panthers on the scoreboard (0:23, 1st quarter). The Panthers converted on a pair of third-and-long situations on their scoring drive, including a 61-yard catch-and-run by Steve Smith that -- with a Packers penalty -- brought the ball to the Green Bay 4-yard-line. The Panthers scoring drive was 8 plays, 83 yards. Time of the drive was 4:50.
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Darrien Gordon's 27-yard punt return gave the Packers possession at their own 48-yard-line, but the Packers failed to capitalize on the field position, going three-and-out (5:24, 1st quarter) after a pair of incompletions and a sack.
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Tyrone Williams returned to the field (8:47, 1st quarter).
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Ryan Longwell put the Packers on the scoreboard first with a 30-yard field goal (8:52, 1st quarter). The Packers drove to the Carolina 12-yard-line, getting key rushes from Ahman Green and receiver Donald Driver, plus Brett Favre completions to Robert Ferguson, Karsten Bailey and Terry Glenn, respectively. The Packers were forced to go for the field goal after Favre's third-down pass for Bubba Franks was batted away by Mark Fields. The Packers scoring drive was 11 plays, 73 yards. Time of the drive was 5:07.
**
Tyrone Williams suffered injured ribs in his collision with Hardy Nickerson on the game's opening play from scrimmage. His return is questionable (10:20, 1st quarter).
Appearing in his 163rd consecutive game, Brett Favre passes Larry McCarren for the third-longest consecutive games-played streak in Packers history. Forrest Gregg is the leader at 187 consecutive games, followed by Willie Wood's 166 consecutive appearances. Favre also extends his NFL record for consecutive starts by a quarterback to 161 today.
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The Packers forced the Carolina Panthers into a three-and-out on the game's opening possession.
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The following Packers players are inactive for today's contest: Antuan Edwards, Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, William Henderson, Vonnie Holliday, David Martin, Craig Nall (third quarterback), Javon Walker, Rod Walker.
Donald Driver and Robert Ferguson will be the starting wide receivers. Terry Glenn will come off the bench with Karsten Bailey.
Tony Carter will start at fullback in place of Henderson. Henderson has not missed a game since the first game of his rookie season. His 114 consecutive games-played were second among current Packers to quarterback Brett Favre (163 consecutive games today). |
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