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 End of Season Dope Sheet:
SEASON REVIEW: The Packers finished 4-12, sustaining their first losing season since 1991 and missing the playoffs for the first time in five years, since 2000.
-In the final league rankings, the Packers finished 18th on offense (30th in rushing, seventh in passing). Green Bay finished seventh on defense, 23rd against the run and first against the pass - extending the team's NFL record by leading the league in passing defense for a 10th season.
-In 10 of their 12 losses, the Packers had a legitimate, late opportunity to win. Six games were decided by three points or less. Only Dallas (7) and Washington (6) played as many.
-Green Bay starters lost 48 combined games due to injury, including 15 by the team's leading 2004 receiver Javon Walker (knee, lost in Game 1) and 11 by leading 2004 rusher Ahman Green (quadriceps tendon, season ended in Game 6).
-Stung by turnovers on offense, and lack of takeaways on defense, the team finished tied for last in turnover margin, minus-24.
NO. 1 AGAINST THE PASS: The Packers finished with the league's top-ranked passing defense, allowing 167.5 net yards per game.
-The last time Green Bay finished first against the pass was 1996, when it won Super Bowl XXXI.
-Under the leadership of Vince Lombardi, Green Bay ranked first in the NFL defending the pass for five consecutive seasons (1964-68). Over a longer stretch, over seven straight years, the Packers ranked no lower than second. They were first in 1962 and second in 1963.
-The Packers extended their NFL record by leading the league in passing defense for a 10th season (also 1947-48, 1962, 1964-68 and 1996).
4-12 DIDN'T MAKE SENSE, ON PAPER: Two manifestations of turnover margin's impact: the Packers outgained opponents in 12 of their 16 games, and entered the season's final month having actually scored more points than opponents. For most of the year, the Packers could hang their hat on the fact that no team had blown them out, and that they had a legitimate opportunity to win every game, including a 17-3 loss at Detroit, Sept. 11, when a penalty nullified Javon Walker's potential game-turning 55-yard reception. The 2005 Packers were the first team in NFL history to:
-Score more points than opponents through 11 games with no more than two wins (Green Bay opened 2-9 but outscored the other team 232-223) and...
-Score as many points as opponents through 13 games with no more than three wins; the Packers were 3-10 but had matched opponents in scoring, 255-255.
-Plus, on only four occasions - Sept. 11 at Detroit, Sept. 25 vs. Tampa Bay, Nov. 21 vs. Minnesota and Dec. 19 at Baltimore - opponents put up more total offense than the Packers.
-According to Elias Sports Bureau, the Packers became the seventh team in NFL history, and the first since the 1988 Saints, to win and lose games by at least 40 points in a single season. Green Bay defeated New Orleans, 52-3, on Oct. 9, and lost at Baltimore, 48-3, on Dec. 19.
COLLINS ON ALL-ROOKIE TEAM: Pro Football Weekly and the Pro Football Writers of America selected S Nick Collins to their annual All-Rookie team.
-Collins, the Packers' first of two second-round selections (51st overall), joined the Jets' Kerry Rhodes as one of two NFL safeties on the squad.
-Making the jump from Division I-AA Bethune-Cookman to the NFL, Collins started all 16 games at free safety, finishing fourth on the team with 96 tackles (66 solo), while notching one interception among nine passes defensed, and one forced fumble.
-The rookie also added 10 stops on special teams and secured each of the team's two opponent onside kickoffs, extinguishing potential rallies in wins over Atlanta and Seattle.
-Upon drafting Collins, General Manager Ted Thompson assigned the rookie No. 36, last worn by four-time Pro Bowler LeRoy Butler; Thompson told Butler he wouldn't give out the number to just any player, tabbing Collins worthy of the honor.
-At Detroit (Sept. 11), Collins became the first Packers rookie to start a regular-season opener at safety since Chuck Cecil in 1988; Cecil, a fourth-round pick out of Arizona, lined up in the backfield Sept. 4, 1988, a 34-7 loss to Jim Everett and the L.A. Rams in Lindy Infante's first contest as Packers coach.
GADO, KAMPMAN ARE "ALL-JOE:" USA Today's Larry Weisman Dec. 27 announced that Packers RB Samkon Gado and DE Aaron Kampman have earned a place on the writer's annual All-Joe Team. Weisman on the team:
-"The All-Joe team takes its name from Joe Phillips, a defensive tackle for 14 years for the San Diego Chargers, Kansas City Chiefs, St. Louis Rams and Minnesota Vikings before his retirement in 1999.
-"The Chiefs, looking for help against the run, signed Phillips in 1992 after his release by the Chargers. The addition of a 300-pound nose tackle allowed the Chiefs to switch from a 4-3 to a 3-4 scheme. They asked Phillips to tie up blockers and let the linebackers flow to the ball, which he did.
-"That's classic grunt work at one of football's truly thankless positions, where the results don't show up in individual statistics. Phillips didn't make a lot of tackles, and he didn't have to. He fought off double-team blocks, refused to be moved from the hole and made the guys around him better, inspiring the creation of the All-Joe team.
-"The NFL's stars wouldn't succeed without the All-Joes around them. They'd never make the Pro Bowl absent the guys who willingly attack the game's grittier tasks. Hence the All-Joe motto: If you work hard, good things will happen. To someone else."
-Gado's 582 rushing yards and three 100-yard rushing games were the second-highest totals ever for a Packers rookie, behind John Brockington in 1971. Gado's established rookie rushing records with six touchdowns and 171 yards in a single game, vs. Detroit (Dec. 11).
-Kampman's 105 tackles were the second-most ever recorded by a Packers coaching staff, behind Ezra Johnson, who had 107 in 1983.
HARRIS IS ALL-LUNCH PAIL: Pro Bowl alternate Al Harris on Dec. 18 received recognition from FOX Sports' Daryl "Moose" Johnston, earning a spot on the broadcaster's annual 'Lunch Pail Crew.'
-Harris, the leader of Green Bay's No. 1 ranked passing defense, joined Chicago's Nathan Vasher and Seattle's Lofa Tatupu as one of three NFL cornerbacks on the all-star team.
-"The Lunch Pail Crew," Johnston says, "is a tribute to the blue-collar worker who leaves the house every morning with his lunch pail to do an honest day's work. Every winning team has to have impact players on their roster. The quarterback who can make every throw, the wide receiver that has to be double-covered, the defensive lineman that is a disruptive force or the safety that can change a game with a big hit.
-"But the glue that holds these teams together are the players that inspire their teammates by the way they play the game. Some are marquee players that every fan knows about; others toil in obscurity. It's the guys that don't need to read their names in the paper and are not worried about statistics. All they want to do is compete on the football field and do anything and everything they can to help their team win.
-"They will grade themselves harder than their coach, striving each and every week to play the unattainable perfect game. If they score a touchdown, sack a quarterback or intercept a pass that is simply icing on the cake. Their driving force is to be part of a championship team."
