-THE PACKERS TONIGHT will be shooting for their fourth straight Lambeau Field victory on "Monday Night Football." They launched their current home field streak in dramatic fashion, defeating the Minnesota Vikings in overtime, 26-20, on a rain-swept night (Nov. 6, 2000).
In the interim, they have blanked the Washington Redskins, 37-0 (Sept. 24, 2001) and turned back the Miami Dolphins, 24-10 (Nov. 4, 2002).
-OVERALL, THE PACKERS HAVE HAD good success in "Lambeau" on MNF, having won 8 of 11 appearances, dating to Oct. 1, 1979, when they won in their very first "Monday Night" showing, upsetting the New England Patriots, then regarded as prime Super Bowl contenders, 27-14.
-SPEAKING OF STREAKS, the Packers will be in quest of a ninth straight prime-time victory in tonight's contest while the Eagles will be seeking their ninth straight road victory in November.
-SHOULD QUARTERBACK BRETT FAVRE preside over a victory tonight, it would be the 120th of his career and break a tie with fabled Johnny Unitas, thus lifting No. 4 into fourth place alone among the top winners in professional football history.
Immediately ahead, Fran Tarkenton, who is third all-time with 125 career wins. John Elway is the career leader with 148, followed by Dan Marino with 147.
-IF FAVRE THROWS A TOUCHDOWN PASS for an 18th consecutive game, he also would tie the second-longest such streak in Packers annals. He already owns a streak of that length, forged over the 1997 and 1998 seasons, as well as a third-longest 17-game string, a total he now has recorded twice, first over the 1994 and 1995 seasons and in the streak with which he enters tonight's game.
Cecil Isbell, who fashioned his streak over the 1941 and 1942 seasons, holds the club record, having thrown a TD pass in 22 straight games.
-FROM THE DURABILITY PERSPECTIVE, Favre will be making his 182nd consecutive start - despite a broken thumb, and extending his NFL record for quarterbacks. Also the longest in the NFL at any position, it is the 10th-longest starting skein in league history.
Favre also is playing in his 184th consecutive game, leaving him only 3 short of the club record, 187, by Hall of Famer Forrest Gregg.
-GREEN 'ON THE VERGE': With an outing tonight just slightly more productive than his 108.9-yard rushing average per game for the first eight weeks of the season, running back Ahman Green tonight would become only the second player in the Packers' history to rush for 1,000 yards in four seasons - as well as four consecutive seasons.
Green, who needs 129 yards to scale the 1,000-yard mark, goes into action with 871 yards in 172 attempts, a 5.1-yard average.
The fleet and powerful ex-Cornhusker launched his "1,000" streak in 2000 - his first year in a Green Bay uniform after being acquired in a trade with Seattle - rushing for 1,175 yards in 263 attempts. He followed with a career-high 1,387 yards in 2001 and 1,240 in 2002.
Green currently is on a pace to amass a career-best 1,742 yards this season. If he should finish the year in that statistical vicinity, No. 30 would set a new Packers record. The current mark, 1,474 yards, was established by Hall of Famer Jim Taylor in 1962.
-IT FITS: Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Tice recently delivered one of the most succinct descriptions of the Packers' indestructible quarterback, Brett Favre, ever articulated. Asked, in a conference call with Wisconsin sports media if he expected to see Favre - nursing a broken thumb - play against the Vikings, Tice shot back, "Are you kidding?...He wears a cloak."
-RYAN LONGWELL, with a three-field goal harvest against Minnesota last week, has closed in on the Packers' career FG record. He now has 170 in his six-plus seasons as Green Bay's resident placekicker and needs four more to surpass current record holder Chris Jacke, who made 173 during his 8-year Packers career (1989-96).
-ANDY REID, the head coach/executive vice president of football operations for the Eagles, is the fifth former Packers player or assistant coach to serve as head coach of the Birds. Walt Kiesling (1943) was the first, followed by Hugh Devore (1956-57), Nick Skorich (1961-63), Ray Rhodes (1992-93) and Reid, who took over in the City of Brotherly Love in 1999.
Kiesling, a guard, played for the Packers in 1935 and 1936, helping them win an NFL title in '36, and returned to serve on Curly Lambeau's coaching staff from 1945 through '48. Devore was a member of Gene Ronzani's Packers staff in 1953 and Skorich of Ray "Scooter" McLean's staff in 1958. Rhodes (1992-93) and Reid (1992-98) both served on Mike Holmgren's staff during his seven-year tenure as head coach.
-AN 'ANNIVERSARY' OF SORTS: Tuesday, it will be 41 years since the Packers set their all-time single-game yardage record, one accomplished against the Eagles in Philadelphia's Franklin Field (Nov. 11, 1962) when they amassed 628 yards (294 yards rushing and 334 passing) in a 49-0 victory.
-THE ANTHEM: Jo Dee Messina, a national recording artist, will sing the national anthem prior to tonight's game.
-WITH 'VETERANS DAY' to be observed Tuesday, Oneida Nation dancers will pay tribute to United States war veterans with a halftime performance of tribal dances.
-NEXT WEEK: The Packers return to the road next Sunday (Nov. 16), invading Tampa's Raymond James Stadium to take on the reigning Super Bowl champion Buccaneers. Kickoff is set for 3:15, CST (Wisconsin time).
