The NFL website is running a blurb saying it was on this day in 1919 that newspaper writer George Whitney Calhoun first calls a Green Bay Football team "The Packers". This would be about five weeks since the acknowledged first meeting August 11th of that year, but it does make a good story on the day eighty eight years later when a Packers player becomes the Quarterback with the most wins ever in the league.
The GB Game 2 Stats will forever show this achievement as a quality victory over the New York Giants (35–13), with Brett Favre connecting for three touchdown passes and a Quarterback rating of 112.4. The 149th time No. 4 leads his team off the field with a Win.
The Packers are now 2 – 0 to begin this year and a lot can happen but I am beginning to believe that General Manager Ted Thompson knows what he has being doing since assuming responsibility for the organization at the beginning of 2005. For one thing, this very young group of players is beginning to perform very well as this is the sixth consecutive victory going back to the end of last season. Equally important, the club is in tremendous financial condition to preserve and expand talent.
Packers in salary-cap heaven: The Green Bay Packers are among the healthiest salary-cap teams in the NFL and in a pay-as-you-go cycle that should keep them in excellent cap standing for the next several years, if not longer. Not only are they $12.2 million under this year's salary cap of $109 million, they have player contracts for 2008 that count about $91 million in cap costs, or about $25 million under next year's projected cap of $116 million.
Thompson was a financial planner after finishing his playing career in the NFL and is, by nature and experience, more conservative with the Packers' money than his predecessors. … It's no different than anybody in any business," Thompson said this week. "You don't necessarily like to borrow into the future for today. It just makes more sense from a business model to do it that way.
Achieving goals in a framework of financial responsibility. I am tempted to do a compare and contract with our Governor, but today is too good to waste contemplating the ugly aspects of life. Congratulations Brett. Go Pack Go. - Photo: Tom Lynn (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
