TODAY: Green Bay looks to rebound from a loss to Chicago in its season opener last week...Two of the game's youngest coaches square off. Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy bids for his first NFL win...McCarthy faces the organization for which he built his reputation as a respected offensive coach. The most successful offensive coordinator (2000-04) in Saints history, McCarthy helped the organization collect 10 team records and 10 Pro Bowl selections...Less than a year after the Packers' 52-3 triumph over New Orleans at Lambeau Field, each club enters 2006 with a very different roster and coaching staff...Brett Favre, one of Archie Manning's biggest fans as a youngster in Kiln, Miss., is 3-1 with a 108.1 passer rating in four career starts against the Saints...Devastating the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Hurricane Katrina destroyed the boyhood home in which Favre followed Manning. Much of Mississippi remains slow to recover as the Saints prepare to re-open the Louisiana Superdome next week.
HONORARY CAPTAINS: Former Packers center Frank Winters, a member of the Super Bowl XXXI Championship team, will serve as honorary captain for today's game...As part of the organization's season-long celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Super Bowl win, General Manager Ted Thompson has invited members of the 1996 team to serve as honorary captains for each of the Packers' remaining home games...Winters also was at the Packers Pro Shop yesterday, and on the Club Level this morning, visiting with fans.
PREGAME INFORMATION: Today's national anthem - John Vincent, a Sinatra-style artist who regularly performs at Mike Ditka's restaurant in Chicago, returns to perform our Star Spangled Banner...Following the anthem, twin F/A-18 Hornets from Naval Air Station Oceana in Virgina Beach, Va., (part of the Blue Blasters from Squadron VFA-34) will rocket over the scoreboards.
NEXT WEEK: Green Bay embarks on its first road trip, a flight across the lake to Detroit for a noon CDT?kickoff Sunday (FOX)...New Orleans returns home to re-open the Louisiana Superdome, a Monday night game (7:30 CDT, ESPN) against the Atlanta Falcons...Credential applications to cover the Packers' road games at Detroit (tomorrow, noon CDT) and Philadelphia (Mon., Sept. 25, noon CDT) are due in the next eight days.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR TODAY & IN COMING WEEKS -
56 NICK BARNETT:
-Needs one stop for 500 career tackles (has played just 48 NFL games).
80 DONALD DRIVER:
-Has 26 career TD receptions from Brett Favre. On the team's all-time combination list, needs two more to match No. 8 Bart Starr-Boyd Dowler (28), three to tie No. 7 Arnie Herber-Don Hutson (29), and six to reach No. 5 (tie) Lynn Dickey-James Lofton and Favre-Robert Brooks?(both 32).
-Needs 100 yards receiving in one game to break a tie with No. 8 Robert Brooks and Carroll Dale (13), in four games to match No. 6 Billy Howton and Max McGee (17), in six games to tie No. 5 Boyd Dowler (19), and in seven games to tie No. 4 Antonio Freeman (20). Driver enters with 13 career 100-yard efforts.
-Needs five receptions at Lambeau Field to surpass No. 3 Sterling Sharpe (174), nine to surpass No. 2 James Lofton (178) and 44 to surpass the stadium's all-time leader, Antonio Freeman (213). Driver enters with 170 career catches at Lambeau.
-Needs 71 receiving yards at Lambeau Field to surpass No. 3 Sterling Sharpe (2,309) on the stadium's all-time list. Driver enters with 2,239 career receiving yards at Lambeau.
-Has a reception in 65 consecutive games, the franchise's second-longest streak behind Sharpe's 103 (1988-94).
-Needs one game played for 100 career.
-Needs 90 yards of total offense for 5,000 career.
-Needs two TD receptions to reach 30 career. In team history, only 10 players have reached the milestone. Bubba Franks enters with 29.
4 BRETT FAVRE:
On the NFL's all-time passing list...
-Needs four touchdown passes to become the second in NFL history with 400, joining Dan Marino (420). Favre enters with 396. Marino reached the milestone in his 227th NFL game. Favre enters having played 226 league contests.
88 BUBBA FRANKS:
-Needs 64 receiving yards for 2,000 career.
-Needs two TD receptions at Lambeau Field to tie No. 3 Robert Brooks (17) and five to tie No. 2 Sterling Sharpe (20) on the stadium's all-time list. Franks enters with 15 Lambeau Field TD receptions.
-Needs one TD reception to reach 30 career. In team history, only 10 previous players have reached the milestone. Donald Driver enters with 28.
30 AHMAN GREEN:
On Green Bay's all-time rushing list...
-Needs two rushing TDs to tie No. 2 Paul Hornung (50). Green enters with 48.
-Needs two overall touchdowns to surpass No. 4 Paul Hornung (62) and six to surpass No. 3 Sterling Sharpe (66). Green enters with 61 in a Packers uniform.
-Needs 14 points to surpass No. 10 Clarke Hinkle (379), 15 to surpass No. 9 Ted Fritsch (380), 31 to surpass No. 8 Sterling Sharpe (396) and 90 to surpass No. 7 Fred Cone (455). Green enters with 366.
-Needs 143 yards from scrimmage to surpass No. 2 Jim Taylor (9,712) and 332 to surpass No. 1 James Lofton (9,901). Green enters with 9,570.
Green also:
-Needs one rushing touchdown for 50 career.
-Needs one 100-yard rushing game for 30 in a Packers uniform.
-Needs 231 yards from scrimmage for 10,000 career. Green enters with 9,769 (7,432 rushing, 2,337 receiving).
31 AL HARRIS:
-Needs to return one interception for a touchdown to tie No. 5 Charley Brock, Doug Hart and Ken Ellis (all with three) on Green Bay's all-time career list. With a second TD on an interception, would match No. 4 Johnny (Blood) McNally, who returned four. Harris enters with two.
33 WILLIAM HENDERSON:
-Needs one game played for 175 career.
