Here are some highlights from the 2007 Schedule Dope Sheet:
QUICKLY: Three prime-time contests, including a Sunday night rematch with the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field, highlight the Green Bay Packers' 87th regular-season schedule, released today by the National Football League...The '07 slate includes six playoff teams (Chicago, Philadelphia, San Diego, Dallas, N.Y. Giants and Kansas City)...The Packers also welcome the Chargers to Lambeau Field for the first time since 1996 (only the Bengals have waited longer to play in Green Bay, since 1995) and make their first trip to Kansas City since 1996. The only other active city in which the Packers have waited longer to visit during the regular season is Cleveland (1995)...Following is an overall analysis of the schedule and related items, follwed by a game-by-game capsule look at each week.
PLAYOFF TEAMS EARLY: Of the six opponents who qualified for the 2006 playoffs, three are right away - the first three tilts of the year. What's more, four of the first five games, including the Oct. 7 rematch with the Bears, are against playoff foes.
PRIME TIME: The Packers will play three prime-time contests, barring any changes via the league's flexible scheduling options. Two of those three - at Denver Oct. 29 (ESPN) and at Dallas Nov. 29 (NFL Network) - are on the road. The third is the Oct. 7 Bears game (NBC).
SPEAKING OF NBC: The Packers played their way onto the showcase game of the week last season, a flexed Week 17 win at Chicago on New Year's Eve. This year, though, the team earned one of a handful of initial NBC appearances, Oct. 7 vs. Chicago.
The league renewed its partnership with NBC in 2006, bringing back familiar faces Al Michaels and John Madden in the booth, and producer Fred Gaudelli in the truck.
Before Dec. 31, 2006, the last time Green Bay had played on the network was also the network's last NFL broadcast prior to '06, Super Bowl XXXII in San Diego, Jan. 25, 1998. The Packers lost, 31-24, to the Denver Broncos.
In the regular-season, however, the Packers now own a 14-game winning streak on NBC.
Green Bay hasn't dropped a regular-season game on NBC in 16 years, since Nov. 10, 1991, when Jim Kelly, Andre Reed and Don Beebe topped the Packers, 34-24, at Milwaukee County Stadium. Marv Albert and Paul Maguire were in the television booth as Buffalo improved to 10-1.
The last time the network televised from Lambeau Field was the 1997 regular-season finale, Dec. 20 vs. Buffalo, a 31-21 Packers win.
McCARTHY TO RETRACE COACHING ROOTS: Head Coach Mike McCarthy in 2007 makes trips to Pittsburgh and Kansas City, two significant stops on the ladder that led him to his current post, for the first time since leaving those cities.
{sportsad300}The Aug. 11 preseason opener at Heinz Field will be the first time he has coached in his hometown since leaving the staff of the Pitt Panthers prior to the '93 season. McCarthy was a volunteer assistant (1989), graduate assistant (1990-91) and wide receivers coach (1992) for the Panthers. Including his tenure as an assistant, he has yet to coach an NFL game there.
Then, the Nov. 4 game at Kansas City marks McCarthy's first trip to Arrowhead Stadium since leaving the Chiefs after the '98 season. Hired from Pitt in 1993 by Marty Schottenheimer, McCarthy was both an offensive assistant (1993-94) and quarterbacks coach (1995-98) for the Chiefs.
