Patriots-Packers Week 4 news, notes, and fun facts
FOXBORO -- The Patriots have a pretty big game this weekend. It's not often that New England squares off against the Green Bay Packers, and on Sunday, they will do so at the famous Lambeau Field.
So, yeah, it's kind of a big deal. Especially with all that is going on around the New England Patriots at the moment.
It's October, so we aren't expecting an icy tundra and red faces on the sidelines come kickoff. But it's October, so don't expect Dan Roche to end up in any pools during his trip to Wisconsin. (Though that would be some phenomenal television -- again.) It will be near-perfect football weather though, with temps expected in the high 60s for kickoff.
As much as the Patriots are trying to keep everyone guessing, Mac Jones is highly unlikely to participate in this one after he suffered what is being reported as a severe high ankle sprain in last Sunday's loss to the Ravens. Brian Hoyer will likely be taking his place at quarterback, so this game certainly doesn't have the luster of, say, a Tom Brady-Aaron Rodgers matchup.
But the Packers offense hasn't been great to start the season, while the Patriots defense has been pretty good. (For the most part.) If New England offense could just stop turning the ball over in key situations, they may have a chance on Sunday.
Vegas doesn't think so, though, with New England sitting at 9.5-point underdogs as of Wednesday. Some books have them as double-digit underdogs, which happens less frequently than a Patriots trip to Green Bay.
But it's Patriots-Packers, and CBS has its top crew of Jim Nantz and Tony Romo calling the midafternoon tilt. As of right now, this is New England's only 4:25 p.m. kickoff of the season, so enjoy the premier timeslot while you can.
All that being said, let's jump right into all the news, notes, and fun facts you need to know for the Week 4 Patriots-Packers clash.
Week 4 Notes
- Sunday marks the 12th meeting between the Patriots and the Packers, with New England leading the overall series 6-5.
- This is the first matchup between the two teams since Nov. 4, 2018. New England won that meeting, 31-17, at Gillette Stadium.
- The last time these two teams played in Green Bay was on Nov. 30, 2014. The Packers took that meeting, 26-21. It was New England's last loss of the season, as the Patriots went on to win Super Bowl XLIX.
- New England is 1-2 overall at Lambeau Field. The Patriots also played a road game against the Packers in Milwaukee in 1988, which they lost 45-3.
- The first regular season win by the Patriots under Robert Kraft's ownership was against the Packers, a 17-16 victory at Foxboro Stadium on Oct. 2, 1994.
- We'd me remiss not to mention the only time these two teams met in the postseason. The Packers beat the Bill Parcells-led Patriots, 35-21, in Super Bowl XXXI in New Orleans on Jan. 26, 1997.
- Since conference realignment in 2002, the Patriots are 61-20 against the NFC, which is the best inter-conference record in the NFL over that span.
Players Notes
- Bill Belichick is going for his 323rd win on Sunday, which would put him one win away from a tie for second place with George Halas on the NFL's all-time wins list.
- Matthew Judon has recorded a sack in each of the first three games this season. If he can get to Rodgers on Sunday, he'd become just the second Patriots player to a record a sack in the first four games of the season, joining Hall of Famer Andre Tippet, who accomplished the feat in 1986.
- Deatrich Wise had three sacks against Baltimore last Sunday and is up to four for the season. With one more sack, the first-year captain would tie his career-high of five, which he set as a rookie in 2017.
- The Patriots have had a 100-yard receiver in each of the last two games: Nelson Agholor in Week 2 against the Steelers and DeVante Parker in Week 3 against the Ravens. If another receiver goes over 100 yards this weekend, it will mark the first time that the Patriots have had three such games since a four-game stretch during the 2018 season.
- Parker had 156 receiving yards off his five receptions last week. The Patriots have only had two players go for 150 receiving yards in back-to-back games: Stanley Morgan in 1979 and Wes Welker in 2011.
- Corner Jonathan Jones forced a fumble against the Ravens last Sunday, and if he does it again this weekend, he'd be the first Patriots player to force a fumble in back-to-back weeks since Jamie Collins did so in 2019.
- Brian Hoyer has lost his last 11 starts. His last start came with the Patriots against the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020, when he got the call after Cam Newton tested positive for COVID-19.
- Aaron Rodgers is 1-1 in his career against the Patriots as Green Bay's starter, and 1-2 overall. He came in for an injured Brett Favre in 2006 with the Packers trailing 21-0, so it's hard to give him the loss for that game. In his two starts against New England, Rodgers completed 59 percent of his passes for 627 yards and four touchdowns.
Connections
- Patriots defensive lineman Lawrence Guy was a seventh-round draft pick by the Packers in 2011. He spent his rookie season on IR and was signed to the practice squad in 2012, but was released that October without ever playing a game for Green Bay.
- Packers running back A.J. Dillon and linebacker Isaiah McDuffie went to Boston College.
- Packers tight end Tyler Davis went to UConn. Green Bay tight ends coach John Dunn coached at UConn.
- Green Bay running backs coach Ben Sirmans went to Maine and was the running backs coach at Boston College from 2007-11.
Tune in to Sunday's Patriots-Packers game on WBZ-TV -- your home of the New England Patriots! Coverage begins Wednesday night with Patriots 1st Down at 9:30 p.m. on TV38, and continues Friday night at 7 p.m. with Patriots All Access on WBZ-TV. Pregame coverage kicks off at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday morning with Patriots GameDay, the Pats and the Packers kick off at 4:25 p.m., and we wrap it all up with Patriots 5th Quarter after the game over on TV38.
