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 in 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 in PDF format, located in the Packers.com Game Centers.
Here are some highlights from the Week 9 Dope Sheet:
SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL: Sunday Night Football became a reality in 1987, when ESPN purchased rights to launch the prime-time series. A landmark in television history, it was the NFL's debut on the cable medium.
- From 1987-97, for 11 years, ESPN held the Sunday night slot for only the last half of each season. In 1998, the network began airing Sunday night games exclusively, virtually every week.
- TNT held rights to air Sunday night games, mostly over the first half of each season from 1990-97.
- Veteran ESPN play-by-play man Mike Patrick has called every primetime NFL broadcast for the network, which will air its 200th broadcast later this season.
- Since it began in 1987, Sunday night football has annually finished as the highest-rated series on ad-supported cable (excluding premium networks, such as HBO, etc.).
STINGY ON KICKOFF COVERAGE: The Packers kickoff coverage under first-year special teams coordinator John Bonamego is tied with Atlanta for first in the NFL, keeping opponents, including explosive Dante Hall, to an average start of their own 25.3 yard line. The unit, which ranked 15th in 2002, also continues to post the league's lowest average per return.
OUT OF THE LOCKER ROOM: The Packers have scored a touchdown on the first possession of the second half in each of their last three games.
CLIMATE-CONTROLLED SITUATIONS: No team has a better overall record since 1992 than the Packers. But one of the team's blemishes during that period (since Brett Favre became quarterback) has been games in domes. Including postseason, Green Bay is 13-21 under roofs since 1992, dropping 10 of its last 13, including a 2001 divisional playoff at St. Louis.
- In 11 of their 13 dome wins, the key to victory was a positive turnover ratio (the only exceptions were in 2001 at Minnesota and 1992 at Detroit). Green Bay in that span is 2-19 in domes with an even or negative ratio.
Click here to download a PDF of the complete Week 9 Dope Sheet.
