The Green Bay Packers will face the Buffalo Bills on Sunday at Lambeau Field.
- Green Bay is 4-2 all-time at home against Buffalo, including wins in each of the last three contests.
- All six games between the two clubs in Wisconsin have been decided by 10-plus points.
- The Bills’ last trip to Lambeau Field came in 2010, a 34-7 win by the Packers.
- Regardless of location, it is only the third time the two teams have played in the month of September, with Buffalo winning at home in 2000 and Green Bay winning at home in 2010.
- While it is the second consecutive season the Packers have opened with three of the first four games at home, it marks just the eighth time since 1990 (2012, 1999, 1997, 1994, 1992, 1990).
- This is the fourth time in franchise history that the Packers have opened the season with a win, loss and tie in the first three games they have played (1987, 1973, 1923).
- This is the latest in the regular season the Packers have faced their first opponent from the AFC since 2012, when they played the Indianapolis Colts in Week 5.
- It is the fourth consecutive season that Green Bay has a loss or less through the first three games (2-1 in 2016-17 and 3-0 in 2015).
- Each of the last 10 times the Packers have suffered a loss in the month of September, they have bounced back to win the next week.
- Sunday, the Packers will wear a re-creation of the team’s uniform from 1937-48 for the fourth time (San Diego, Week 5 in 2015 / Dallas, Week 6 in 2016 / Baltimore, Week 11 in 2017). It is navy blue and gold, and includes a gold yoke across the shoulders with faded gold pants and high navy socks. Green Bay is 8-5 when wearing a third jersey, including wins in seven of the last 10.
- Green Bay will return to the road as it travels to play division foe Detroit on Sunday, October 7, at 12 p.m. CDT.
- Since 2006, the Packers are 6-6 against AFC East teams, but have won three of the last four contests and are 5-3 in the last eight games.
- Dating back to 2010, Green Bay is 3-1 at Lambeau Field against teams from the AFC East.
- Each of the last seven games Green Bay has played against AFC East teams have been decided by nine points or less.
- The Packers have scored 26-plus points in four of the last five games against teams from the AFC East.
- QB Aaron Rodgers has started seven games against the AFC East, totaling 11 passing touchdowns and three interceptions.
- At home, Rodgers has recorded passer ratings of 109-plus in three of four games (112.6, 109.8, 116.3) he has started against the AFC East.
CBS will broadcast the game to a regional audience with playby- play man Ian Eagle and analyst Dan Fouts handling the call from the broadcast booth and Evan Washburn reporting from the sidelines.
- Milwaukee’s WTMJ (620 AM), airing Green Bay games since November 1929, heads up the Packers Radio Network that is made up of 50 stations in four states. Wayne Larrivee (play-by-play) and twotime Packers Pro Bowler Larry McCarren (analyst) call the action. McCarren first joined the team’s broadcasts in 1995 and enters his 24th season calling Packers games. After originally being paired together in 1999, McCarren and Larrivee enter their 20th season of broadcasts together. In Week 1, they surpassed Jim Irwin and Max McGee for the most regular-season and postseason games broadcast for the Packers.
- Sports USA Radio will air the game on radio across the country. Josh Appel (play-by-play) and Doug Plank (analyst) will call the action.
- The broadcast is also available on Sirius Satellite Radio (WTMJ feed).
- DIRECTV subscribers can watch the game on Channel 706.
- Of the 53 players on Green Bay’s roster, 31 of them (58.5 percent) were draft picks of the Packers. Green Bay has nine players that were drafted in the first round, including seven that were selected by the Packers.
- Green Bay has 39 players on the roster that were draft picks (73.6 percent), including 22 players that were selected in the first three rounds (41.5 percent).
- Over a third of the players (18 of 53, 34.0 percent) on Green Bay’s roster entered the league as a sixth-round or seventh-round pick or as an undrafted player.
- Of the 53 players on the roster, 41 of them (77.4 percent) are 28 years old or younger (as of Sept. 30) and 27 players (50.9 percent) are 24 years old or younger.
- The Packers have 11 players that have made at least one Pro Bowl, with seven of those players being draft picks of Green Bay (Davante Adams, David Bakhtiari, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, Randall Cobb, Mike Daniels, Clay Matthews, Aaron Rodgers).
- Of the 53 players on the roster, 40 began their pro careers with the Packers (75.5 percent).
- Over half the roster consists of players with experience ranging from rookie to three years (32 of 53, 60.4 percent).
BY AGE (as of Sept. 16)
- 21-24: 27 players
- 25-28: 14 players
- 29-32: 8 players
- 33-plus: 4 players
BY EXPERIENCE
- R-1: 14 players
- 2-3: 18 players
- 4-5: 5 players
- 6-9: 11 players
- 10-plus: 5 players
- 1st: 9 players
- 2nd/3rd round: 13 players
- 4th/5th round: 13 players
- 6th/7th round: 4 players
- Undrafted: 14 players
- All-time, Regular season: 4-8
- All-time, Postseason: 0-0
- All-time, in Green Bay: 3-1
- Streaks: The Packers and Bills have split the past six meetings with the home team winning every game.
- Last meeting, regular season: Dec. 14, 2014, Ralph Wilson Stadium, Buffalo won, 21-13
- Mike McCarthy: 132-79-2, .624 (incl. 10-8 postseason); 13th NFL season
- Sean McDermott: 10-10, .500 (incl. 0-1 postseason); 2nd NFL season
- Head to Head: 0-0
- vs. Opponent: McCarthy 1-2 vs. Bills; McDermott 0-0 vs. Packers
- Led Green Bay to its eighth consecutive playoff appearance in 2016, tied for the fourth-longest streak in NFL history. Has led the team to nine playoff appearances in the last 11 years (2007, 2009-16).
- Ranks second in franchise history in total victories, trailing only Curly Lambeau.
- Guided the Packers to top-10 finishes in scoring in eight straight seasons (2007-14), joining the Patriots as the only other team to accomplish the feat over that span; Packers led the league in scoring in 2014.
- Reached the 100-win plateau faster than any active NFL head coach, needing just 155 games.
- Joined Vince Lombardi and Mike Holmgren as the only coaches to guide the Packers to a Super Bowl title with a win over Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XLV.
- In his first year in Buffalo, led the Bills to their first playoff berth since 1999 with a 9-7 record, becoming the third coach in team history to earn a playoff berth in his first season at the helm.
- Developed a top-10 defense in four of his six seasons as the defensive coordinator of the Carolina Panthers.
- During his tenure in Carolina, the Panthers defense ranked second in the league in sacks (261) and third in turnovers forced (169).
- Also helped Carolina to three division titles and a trip to Super Bowl 50.
- Prior to his time with the Panthers, spent 12 seasons in Philadelphia, including two years as the Eagles' defensive coordinator.
- The two teams have met only 12 times, the first game coming in 1974, a 27-7 Bills victory at Lambeau Field. In that contest, the Packers actually held RB O.J. Simpson to 62 yards on 16 carries, but Bills QB Joe Fergsuon gave the team a lead it would not relinquish with a firstquarter TD pass to WR Ahmad Rashad, and RB Jim Braxton punched in three TD runs.
- Buffalo won five of the first six meetings. The teams have split the past six contests with the home team winning each game.
- Each team has recorded one shutout in the series, the Bills in 1988 at Buffalo (28-0) and the Packers at Lambeau Field in 2002 (10-0).
- Seven points is the closest margin of victory in any of the 12 meetings, a 19-12 Buffalo victory in 1979.
Packers defensive coordinator Mike Pettine spent one season (2013) as the Bills’ defensive coordinator and helped the defense register a team-record 57 sacks...Green Bay offense – pass game coordinator Jim Hostler served as a senior offensive assistant in Buffalo in 2014...Bills S Micah Hyde was originally selected by the Packers in the fifth round of the 2013 NFL Draft and played four seasons (2013-16) for Green Bay, appearing in 63 games with 33 starts...Buffalo T Marshall Newhouse also began his career in Green Bay as a fifth-round selection in the 2010 draft and saw action in 47 games (31 starts) from 2011-13...Packers tight ends coach Brian Angelichio is from Ilion, N.Y., played linebacker at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. and coached collegiately in New York at SUNY-Brockport (1995) and Ithaca College (1996-2005)...Green Bay defense – run game coordinator/inside linebackers coach Patrick Graham got his coaching start as a graduate assistant at Wagner College in New York City from 2002-03...Bills C Ryan Groy is from Middleton, Wis., and played at the University of Wisconsin from 2010-13...Buffalo linebackers coach Bob Babich served as the outside linebackers coach at Wisconsin in 1987...Pettine and Babich coached together for one year (1994) at the University of Pittsburgh...Packers associate head coach/linebackers coach Winston Moss played for the Raiders for three seasons (1991-93) while Bills wide receivers coach Terry Robiskie was the offensive coordinator in Los Angeles...Green Bay special teams coordinator Ron Zook coached alongside Bills quarterbacks coach David Culley from 1996-98 on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ coaching staff...Green Bay T/G Byron Bell played in Carolina for four seasons (2011-14) during Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott’s time as the Panthers’ defensive coordinator...Bell also played with Bills WR Kelvin Benjamin and DT Star Lotulelei in Carolina... Packers TE Jimmy Graham was teammates with Bills RB Chris Ivory, S Rafael Bush and LB Ramon Humber during his tenure in New Orleans (2010-14)...Graham also teamed with Bills K Steven Hauschka in Seattle for two seasons (2015-16)...Hauschka played in Baltimore while Pettine (2008) and Hostler (2008-09) worked on the Ravens’ coaching staff...Hostler also coached with Buffalo offensive line/run game coordinator Juan Castillo in 2013 in Baltimore...Green Bay TE Marcedes Lewis played with Bills LB Julian Stanford (2012) and Ivory (2016-17) in Jacksonville...Ivory was also teammates with Packers CB Davon House (2016) while playing for the Jaguars...A number of Buffalo assistants coached in Jacksonville during Lewis’ tenure there: Babich (2013-15), tight ends coach Rob Boras (2010-11), running backs coach Kelly Skipper (2015-16), assistant special teams coach Matthew Smiley (2013-16) and assistant defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton (2013-16)...Skipper also served as UCLA’s offensive coordinator during Lewis’ first season (2002) playing for the Bruins...Boras coached Green Bay TE Lance Kendricks for five seasons (2012-16) with the Rams in St. Louis/Los Angeles...Packers CB Tramon Williams played alongside Bills S Jordan Poyer and DE Nate Orchard for two seasons (2015-16) in Cleveland...Pettine, Angelichio and Green Bay defensive quality control coach Ryan Downard also coached for the Browns during that time...Green Bay DL Muhammad Wilkerson played with Bills G Vladimir Ducasse (2011-13), Ivory (2013-15) and Stanford (2016-17) in N.Y. with the Jets...Pettine also coached on the Jets staff for three years (2010-12) during Ducasse’s time in New York...Buffalo assistant offensive line coach Andrew Dees coached at Temple during Wilkerson’s three seasons (2008-10) with the Owls...Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin served as head coach of the Dolphins for three seasons (2012-14) while Bills TE Charles Clay played in Miami...Graham served as position coach for Bills DT Robert Thomas with the N.Y. Giants from 2016-17...Green Bay quarterbacks coach Frank Cignetti also coached on the Giants’ staff during that time...Graham also coached with Buffalo offensive coordinator Brian Daboll for two seasons (2014-15) in New England...Daboll coached at the University of Alabama during Green Bay P JK Scott’s final season (2017) with the Crimson Tide...Angelichio coached at the University of Pittsburgh while Bills RB LeSean McCoy played for the Panthers from 2007-08...Packers S Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and Bills LB Matt Milano were teammates at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Fla. ...Former college teammates include: Packers QB Aaron Rodgers and Bills LB Lorenzo Alexander (California), Packers T Bryan Bulaga, DL Mike Daniels and Hyde (Iowa), Packers CB Josh Jackson and Bills G Ike Boettger (Iowa), Packers LB Blake Martinez, RB Ty Montgomery and Bills DE Trent Murphy (Stanford), Packers DL Kenny Clark and Bills T Conor McDermott (UCLA).
