-A VICTORY THIS AFTERNOON would give the Packers - the NFL's only undefeated home team this season coming into today's game - their first unblemished home record (8-0) since 1997 and their 11th in team history. Their previous undefeated home records were forged in 1924-25, 1929-32, 1944, 1962, 1996-1997.
With a win, the Packers would become only the second team in pro football history with 11 undefeated seasons at home. The Chicago Bears are the all-time leaders with 13. The Minnesota Vikings rank third, behind the Packers, with 7, followed by the Detroit Lions with 6 and the Miami Dolphins and Philadelphia Eagles with 5 apiece.
-QUARTERBACK BRETT FAVRE, with 25 touchdown passes and two games remaining, is within reach of a seventh 30-TD season. If accomplished, he would be extending his own NFL record (1994-98 and 2001).
He also will be making his 172nd consecutive start, extending his NFL record for quarterbacks. It also is the longest current playing streak in the NFL at any position.
-FAVRE, INCIDENTALLY, can improve his "starting" record in the month of December to 35-10 by presiding over a victory this afternoon.
-RUNNING BACK AHMAN GREEN, needs 93 yards to move past the legendary Paul Hornung into seventh place on the Packers' all-time rushing list, who closed out his nine-year Packers career with 3,711 yards. Green goes into action with 3,619, including 1,057 this season.
-GREEN NEEDS ONLY 49 yards to surpass Hornung's combined career rushing and receiving production, 5,191 yards. Green enters the game with 5,143 combined yards (3,619 rushing and 1,524 receiving).
-TIGHT END BUBBA FRANKS is in position to set an all-time single-season mark for receptions by a Packers tight end. He enters today's contest with 51 catches - 5 short of the 56 Paul Coffman posted in 1979 to set the record.
-PLACEKICKER RYAN LONGWELL can post a career single-season high in scoring with a productive outing today. With 119 points, he begins the season's 15th game needing 13 this afternoon to eclipse his current high, 131, established in 2000.
-HE'S SPECIAL: Linebacker Torrance Marshall, with two games remaining, already has entrenched himself among the premier special teams players in recent Packers history with 21 coverage tackles. Based upon statistics recorded since the team began to track special teams tackles in 1976, Marshall's total already is tied for the fifth best production in that 26-year span. Guy Prather posted the highest single-season total during that period, 27, in 1981, followed by Cliff Lewis with 24 in 1983, Burnell Dent with 23 in 1989, Jackie Harris with 22 in 1990 and Bernardo Harris with 21 in 1996.
Other high totals: 19, by Steve Wagner in 1989, Jim Laughlin in 1983 and John Dorsey in 1984.
Marshall's teammate, Paris Lenon, also could finish the season in the 20s, having already registered 18 stops.
-TIGHT END TYRONE DAVIS has fond memories of the Bills' last visit to Lambeau Field (Dec. 20, 1997). Davis, then closing out his third pro season, scored the first 2 touchdowns of his NFL career that afternoon. The first score came when he recovered a fumbled punt in the end zone less than two minutes into the game, giving Green Bay a quick 7-0 lead, while the second came on 2-yard pass from Brett Favre midway through the second quarter of the Packers' season finale.
-LONG SNAPPER ROB DAVIS marks a milestone of sorts. He is playing in his 86th consecutive game, the third-longest such streak on the team.
-NEXT WEEK: The Packers close out their 2002 regular season schedule on the road, taking on the New York Jets at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., next Sunday (Dec. 29). Kickoff is set for 3:15, CST (Wisconsin time).
