Favre earns another piece of NFL history
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By JASON WILDE / Lee Newspapers
Monday, September 17, 2007 2:02 AM CDT
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — They’ve been piling up for years — the trophies, the certificates, the game balls.
Ask Brett Favre where they are, and the Green Bay Packers quarterback won’t have a clue. Some are probably stashed in the attic, or the basement, or the garage, divvied up between his homes in Green Bay and Hattiesburg, Miss. Most are probably at his mom’s house in Kiln, at least the ones that weren’t washed away by Hurricane Katrina a couple years back.
You see, Favre’s never been much for such things. Never has been, from the first one he got at age 10.
“From Day One, when I was in the fifth grade, they gave out trophies for individual achievements,” Favre said following the Packers’ 35-13 victory over the New York Giants at the Meadowlands Sunday. “But I’ve always been about the team, and that hasn’t changed. I would much rather take a win.”
Sunday’s triumph gave him yet another one of those wins — No. 149 of his career, to be exact. Now, no quarterback in NFL history has more. And for his efforts — Favre completed 29 of 36 passes for 286 yards, with three touchdowns and one interception for a 112.4 rating — he got the game ball from coach Mike McCarthy.
“I think it’s unfair the quarterback gets labeled with wins and losses. I think it’s a team effort,” said Favre, who also moved within three of Dan Marino’s all-time touchdown pass record of 420 (and within two of George Blanda’s all-time interception record of 277). “Last week (a 16-13 win over Philadelphia) is a perfect example. I didn’t do nothing last week and they gave me a win. I give it to our defense and special teams.”
Those two phases came through again for Green Bay (2-0), as the special teams again tilted the field in the Packers’ favor while the defense made sure that New York quarterback Eli Manning didn’t inspire his Giants (0-2) by playing through the right (throwing) shoulder injury he suffered last week.
But unlike last Sunday’s victory over the Eagles, the Packers’ offense more than pulled its weight, led by the 37-year-old Favre, who turned a 10-7 halftime deficit around by completing his first 14 second-half passes and going 18-for-21 for 147 yards in the final 30 minutes, during which the Packers reached the end zone on four of their five possessions.
“I know there’s a lot made of statistics and touchdowns, but when you go out and win over that long of a period of time, I think that’s the ultimate compliment a quarterback can have,” McCarthy said. “If you ask me which is the biggest record he will achieve, I think he just accomplished it.”
And as a result, the Packers accomplished something they haven’t done since 2001: A 2-0 start.
“It’s been awhile since we’ve been 2-0,” said tight end Bubba Franks, who had four receptions for 20 yards and a touchdown and was one of eight different receivers to catch passes from Favre. “After having that sick feeling in your stomach a couple years in a row, it feels pretty good right now. But hey, it’s just the second game. We’ve got to get ready for San Diego.”
Indeed, while both the Eagles and Giants were playoff teams last year, the Chargers (2-0) will pose a much greater challenge. Packers general manager Ted Thompson called them “a bona fide AFC powerhouse,” and the Giants — with their eight penalties for 63 yards, lowlighted by tight end Jeremy Shockey’s knuckleheaded spike in the second quarter — clearly aren’t that.
“I think we are a better football team than we have shown,” said Giants coach Tom Coughlin, whose team lost 45-35 to Dallas last week. “Obviously I don’t have any real grounds for saying that, it is just a belief. I do believe we are all in it together and I do believe we are all embarrassed.”
The Packers, on the other hand, are surprising. With the help of Tramon Williams’ 42-yard return of the second-half kickoff, Favre gave his team a 14-10 lead on his 2-yard TD pass to Franks, then answered a Giants field goal with an efficient 10-play, 80-yard drive that culminated in a 3-yard TD strike to tight end Donald Lee.
Charlie Peprah stripped Giants returner Ahmad Bradshaw on the ensuing kickoff, with Tracy White recovering, and five plays later, Favre zinged a 10-yard TD strike to Donald Driver on a busted play for a 28-13 lead. Game over.
“We didn’t even script that one,” said Driver, who led the way with eight receptions for 73 yards. “The only person I know who can do that is No. 4.”
The No. 4 of old, right?
“That’s the only Brett I know,” said Lee, who joined the Packers before the 2005 season. “He’s going to make mistakes and mess up, that’s part of the game. But I’ve always looked at him as the old quarterback I used to see on TV throwing all those touchdowns and winning the Super Bowl. That’s the only thing I expect out of him.”
And that’s exactly what the Packers got on Sunday.
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