-THE PACKERS, TODAY playing in their 36th postseason game, are one of only 10 teams in NFL annals to make as many as 35 playoff appearances.
Based on a minimum of 15 games, the Green and Gold also own the highest winning percentage in NFL history, .657, having won 23 of their 35 playoff appearances.
For the record, the Dallas Cowboys have made the most playoff appearances, 54, (including last night's defeat) and rank sixth all-time with a .593 percentage (32-22).
-THE PACKERS ARE 11-AND-1 in postseason play in Lambeau Field, having lost a playoff game for the first time ever on home turf last January (27-7 to the Atlanta Falcons).
-A PACKERS VICTORY TODAY would enable Mike Sherman to square his playoff record as Green Bay's head coach. He this afternoon enters his fourth playoff game with a 1-and-2 postseason mark.
-QUARTERBACK BRETT FAVRE, who has been virtually unbeatable in Lambeau Field, owns a 6-1 postseason record as a starting quarterback at home, his half-dozen victories including a 30-13 win over the Carolina Panthers in the 1996 NFC Championship Game, a success which qualified the Packers for Super Bowl XXXI against the New England Patriots.
Favre also owns a 35-1 record in "Lambeau," including playoffs, when the temperature is 34 degrees or below.
-BY THROWING ONE touchdown pass today, Favre can make major playoff history. By so doing, he would set an all-time record for the most consecutive games throwing a TD pass in the postseason. He enters this afternoon's contest tied with Dan Marino at 13 games.
Favre also goes into action tied with Terry Bradshaw for having authored the third-most TD passes in the playoffs, 30. Joe Montana leads with 45 (in 23 games), followed by Marino with 32 in 18 career playoff games.
-STATISTICALLY, FAVRE OWNS almost every Packers major playoff record, a collection of 13 in the list follows:
CAREER
- Most Games Played - 17
- Most Passes Completed - 338
- Most Passes Attempted - 564
- Most Yards Gained on Passes - 4,187
- Most Games, 300 Yards Passing - 2
- Most Touchdown Passes, Career - 30
- Most Passes Intercepted - 21
GAME
- Most Passes Completed - 28 (1/16/94 at Dallas)
- Most Passes Attempted - 45 (1/16/94 at Dallas)
- Most Passes Intercepted - 6 (1/20/02 at St. Louis)
- Best Completion Percentage - 75.86 (1/13/02) vs. San Francisco
- Longest Completed Pass - 81 yards (1/26/97) vs. New England, to A. Freeman
- Most Consecutive Games, TD pass - 13, 1995-2002 (current)
-FAVRE NOW HAS THROWN touchdown passes to 36 different receivers during his 12-year Packers career. They include two new additions during the '03 season - tight end Wesley Walls and running back Tony Fisher.
-RECORD 'D:'The Packers - and Lambeau Field - still jointly own the NFL postseason record for the fewest yards rushing allowed in a playoff game. Coordinator Fritz Shurmur's defenders held the Detroit Lions to a minus-4 yards - and the redoubtable Barry Sanders to a minus-1 (in 13 attempts) - en route to a 16-12 victory in their Wild Card playoff here following the 1994 season (Dec. 31, 1994).
-FOR THE RECORD: The Packers established their postseason scoring record 20 years ago this week. They set the mark in the process of defeating the then-St. Louis Cardinals, 41-16, in a Super Bowl Tournament game In Lambeau Field on Jan. 8, 1983.
En route, quarterback Lynn Dickey tied a Packers playoff record by throwing 4 touchdown passes in the winning process, completing 17 of 23 attempts for 260 yards, without an interception.
Wide receiver John Jefferson also set a club postseason mark with 148 receiving yards - a record which still stands - on 6 catches.
-AHMAN GREEN, in setting a new Packers season rushing record in the season just passed, now owns two of the top four 1,000-yard rushing seasons in Packers history - and four of the top seven.
In addition to Green's record 1,883 yards in the season just concluded, his 1,387 yards in 2001 rank fourth, all-time, while his 1,240 in '02 rank sixth and his 1,175 in 2000 seventh overall.
Jim Taylor, the former record-holder, now owns the second-highest total, 1,474 in 1962, and the fifth-highest, 1,307 in 1961, with Dorsey Levens holding the third-best mark, 1,435 in 1997.
-AH-MAN!: In the wake of his prodigious production in the '03 season, Green has soared all the way to second place on the Packers' career list for combined running back rushing and receiving yards in just four seasons.
The former Nebraska Cornhusker has amassed 7,598 yards in over that 62-game span, 5,685 rushing and 1,913 receiving, or an average of 1,900 yards per season - the most productive four-year span by a running back in Packers history.
As a result, Green now trails only Jim Taylor on the lifetime, combined rushing/receiving list. Taylor, who played 9 seasons (1958-66), closed out his career with 9,712 total yards (8,207 rushing and 1,505 receiving).
Green, who rolled up a club-record 2,250 combined yards in '03 (1,883 rushing and 367 receiving) thus can surpass Taylor with another 2,000-yard season (2,115, to be exact).
-RARE ROOKIE: The "returns" are in and linebacker Nick Barnett, the Packers' first round draft selection in '03, played like a first-rounder. The mobile Oregon State alumnus became the first rookie to lead the Green Bay defense in tackles since 1979.
Barnett finished his baptismal season with 134 tackles, including a team-leading 95 solos. He also posted a pair of quarterback sacks, forced one fumble and was credited with 9 passes defensed, including 3 interceptions.
Rich Wingo of Alabama, a seventh-round draft selection in 1979, was the last rookie to lead the Packers in tackles. He closed out his initial season with 166 tackles, 151 unassisted.
-WIDE RECEIVER ROBERT FERGUSON, a starter who did not launch his considerable contributions to the special teams until Week 4 in Chicago, closed out the season leading Packers kamikazes in tackles with 17.
He also caught a career-high 38 passes for 520 yards, a 13.7-yard average, and 4 touchdowns.
-PACKERS WILL continue to pay tribute to Tony Canadeo throughout their participation the National Football League playoffs, GM/Head Coach Mike Sherman has announced.
Packers players have worn a decal bearing Canadeo's retired jersey number - 3 - on the back of their helmets for the last four games of the season in memory of the late Hall of Fame halfback.
Canadeo, one of the most storied players in team history, died Nov. 29.
-A SPECIAL THANKS: A thank you from the Brett Favre family, in recognition of the tremendous support the family has received after the passing of Brett's father, Irv, Dec. 21, is in today's GameDay program.
-THE ANTHEM: John Vincent, customarily the resident "voice" at Mike Ditka's Restaurant in Chicago, will sing the national anthem prior to today's game.
-AT THE CONCLUSION of the anthem, there will be a fly-over by four Air Force Blackhawk helicopters. The helicopters are based at Truax Field in Madison, Wis.
-POOL REPORTERS: Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Pete Dougherty of the Green Bay Press-Gazette, appointed by the Pro Football Writers of America, are the pool reporters for today's game.
