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I find it AMAZING how these guys just try to pretend that their constant critical articles about Favre never happened. I mean Banks wrote Brett should retire and how he was hurting the organization by not retiring. He criticized TT for not getting rid of Favre. It's one thing for someone like Shadow to tell us last year how Favre should retire and Rodgers should start but Banks gets paid to be right.
Renaissance man
Favre melds past, present lessons to break TD record
Posted: Sunday September 30, 2007 10:03PM; Updated: Monday October 1, 2007 12:57AM
Brett Favre's 421st career touchdown pass derived from a play-audible he called just seconds before the game clock expired.
Jeff Gross/Getty Images
All-Time Record Holders for Career TD Passes
Name Years TDs
Bennie Friedman 1930-43 66
Arnie Herber 1940-43 66
Sammy Baugh 1943-62 187
Bobby Layne 1961-63 196
Y.A. Tittle 1963-66 212
Johnny Unitas 1966-75 290
Fran Tarkenton 1975-95 342
Dan Marino 1995-2007 420
Brett Favre 2007-present 421
MINNEAPOLIS -- It looked like he was going to run out of time, but then he made a late mid-course correction and wound up the hero once again.
How familiar. How fitting. How perfect that Brett Favre's record-setting moment on Sunday so closely echoed the unexpected career renaissance that keeps unfolding for him and the Green Bay Packers -- week by week in this 2007 season.
On the play that he broke Dan Marino's NFL career touchdown record against the Minnesota Vikings at the Metrodome, Favre pushed time to the limit on the play clock. He audibled to a call he felt had big-play potential and could beat the blitz, and then stood in the pocket and fired a 16-yard scoring strike to receiver Greg Jennings for a slice of history.
In other words, he showed us all again why it's never wise to doubt Brett Favre. Despite playing in his 17th NFL season, he's not out of time. And as a quarterback, he can still improvise and adapt and make the big play when it matters most. In some ways, the record-setter was the trajectory of the latter stages of his career boiled down to a snap. It was his answer to all the doubters who have weighed in on his declining game in recent years.
It was Favre changing a play, and at the same time proving he has changed his game just enough to rediscover a whole new chapter of late-career success.
"I felt like I knew we were pressed for time, but I really felt this would be a big play if we could get it off,'' said Favre of the touchdown pass. "I knew (the Vikings) were going to come with more than we could block. I knew Greg, and I feel like that's what our receivers are very good at, those type of routes.''
Favre was on the ground, planted by a Vikings defender, by the time Jennings slanted across the goal line and erased Marino from the record books. But if Favre is to be believed, he was the last one in the house to do the math and realize that history had just unfolded. While everyone else was fixated on touchdown pass No. 421, Favre said he was only thinking 7-0.
"The last thing on my mind was the record,'' Favre said, almost an hour after the 23-16 win, the Packers' fourth in a row to start the season. "Maybe 20 seconds or 30 seconds later it just kind of hit me that, 'OK, we got it off. We executed it correctly, there are no flags. This is how an efficient offense is supposed to work.' I'm excited, and as I go down and congratulate Greg, it kind of dawned on me.
"I wasn't expecting any stoppage [of the game], especially [being on the road]. I guess it is everything I thought it would be. The most important thing is that we scored and set the tone for the rest of the game.''
The truly remarkable thing about Favre and the Packers' success this season is the fact that Green Bay's offense is virtually without a running game. It's Favre and his receivers, and everybody knows it. The Packers ran 20 times for 46 yards against the Vikings, and that will ensure that they remain ranked last in the league in rushing again this week at 54.2 yards per game.
By comparison, Favre threw 45 times against the Vikings, completing 32 passes to 10 receivers. He was uncannily accurate all day long, putting a succession of balls on his receivers' fingertips. He wound up with 344 yards passing, two touchdowns, no interceptions and a sterling 108.0 passer rating. I'm sure he has played better in his Hall of Fame career; but at 10 days shy of his 38th birthday, Favre was a marvel in Minnesota.
"I think, given the year we had last year, we all appreciate to see the way he is going about his business this year,'' said Jennings, the second-year receiver who has now been lucky enough to catch Favre's 400th, 420th and 421st touchdown passes. "He is a totally different player. He is understanding us more, and he is almost like a parent that has kids for the first time. He understands us more, and he is beginning to trust us. We are what he has, and he's making the best of it.''
Favre bristles at the notion that he has changed his game this season, becoming more of a game-manager type quarterback than the gunslinger he has been known as. He acknowledges that he has had to take fewer chances downfield this season, but only because Green Bay has so often been ahead, and less desperate.
Whatever the appropriate label, something's working. He was no game manager in the classic sense against Minnesota. He was in command from start to finish of the game's tempo and momentum, and the confidence that flowed so easily in his glory years is back in full force. Dare we say it? No. 4 is having fun again.
"The record is better because we won,'' Favre said. "It was as good a team effort as we've had. [I knew] in order for us to win, I'd have to throw a touchdown pass. We are in a throwing mode right now. But the win itself was great. It's a win, and it gets this behind us. It was awkward. There was so much emphasis on this record and not on the game itself. I didn't want to get blind-sided by this record and what we are actually here for.''
There was no blind-siding of Favre on this day. The record he really cares about may be 4-0, but he's got the NFL's career touchdown pass record safely put away as well; and he did it in high style in a division rival's stadium that was once his own personal house of horrors.
As a moment captured in time, No. 421 was vintage Favre. At least the latter-day version. Total it all up, and 4-2-1 adds up to seven. How appropriate, because seven is what Favre's right arm has been good for his entire Green Bay career. More times than not, when the Packers needed it most.
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Renaissance man
Favre melds past, present lessons to break TD record
Posted: Sunday September 30, 2007 10:03PM; Updated: Monday October 1, 2007 12:57AM
Brett Favre's 421st career touchdown pass derived from a play-audible he called just seconds before the game clock expired.
Jeff Gross/Getty Images
All-Time Record Holders for Career TD Passes
Name Years TDs
Bennie Friedman 1930-43 66
Arnie Herber 1940-43 66
Sammy Baugh 1943-62 187
Bobby Layne 1961-63 196
Y.A. Tittle 1963-66 212
Johnny Unitas 1966-75 290
Fran Tarkenton 1975-95 342
Dan Marino 1995-2007 420
Brett Favre 2007-present 421
MINNEAPOLIS -- It looked like he was going to run out of time, but then he made a late mid-course correction and wound up the hero once again.
How familiar. How fitting. How perfect that Brett Favre's record-setting moment on Sunday so closely echoed the unexpected career renaissance that keeps unfolding for him and the Green Bay Packers -- week by week in this 2007 season.
On the play that he broke Dan Marino's NFL career touchdown record against the Minnesota Vikings at the Metrodome, Favre pushed time to the limit on the play clock. He audibled to a call he felt had big-play potential and could beat the blitz, and then stood in the pocket and fired a 16-yard scoring strike to receiver Greg Jennings for a slice of history.
In other words, he showed us all again why it's never wise to doubt Brett Favre. Despite playing in his 17th NFL season, he's not out of time. And as a quarterback, he can still improvise and adapt and make the big play when it matters most. In some ways, the record-setter was the trajectory of the latter stages of his career boiled down to a snap. It was his answer to all the doubters who have weighed in on his declining game in recent years.
It was Favre changing a play, and at the same time proving he has changed his game just enough to rediscover a whole new chapter of late-career success.
"I felt like I knew we were pressed for time, but I really felt this would be a big play if we could get it off,'' said Favre of the touchdown pass. "I knew (the Vikings) were going to come with more than we could block. I knew Greg, and I feel like that's what our receivers are very good at, those type of routes.''
Favre was on the ground, planted by a Vikings defender, by the time Jennings slanted across the goal line and erased Marino from the record books. But if Favre is to be believed, he was the last one in the house to do the math and realize that history had just unfolded. While everyone else was fixated on touchdown pass No. 421, Favre said he was only thinking 7-0.
"The last thing on my mind was the record,'' Favre said, almost an hour after the 23-16 win, the Packers' fourth in a row to start the season. "Maybe 20 seconds or 30 seconds later it just kind of hit me that, 'OK, we got it off. We executed it correctly, there are no flags. This is how an efficient offense is supposed to work.' I'm excited, and as I go down and congratulate Greg, it kind of dawned on me.
"I wasn't expecting any stoppage [of the game], especially [being on the road]. I guess it is everything I thought it would be. The most important thing is that we scored and set the tone for the rest of the game.''
The truly remarkable thing about Favre and the Packers' success this season is the fact that Green Bay's offense is virtually without a running game. It's Favre and his receivers, and everybody knows it. The Packers ran 20 times for 46 yards against the Vikings, and that will ensure that they remain ranked last in the league in rushing again this week at 54.2 yards per game.
By comparison, Favre threw 45 times against the Vikings, completing 32 passes to 10 receivers. He was uncannily accurate all day long, putting a succession of balls on his receivers' fingertips. He wound up with 344 yards passing, two touchdowns, no interceptions and a sterling 108.0 passer rating. I'm sure he has played better in his Hall of Fame career; but at 10 days shy of his 38th birthday, Favre was a marvel in Minnesota.
"I think, given the year we had last year, we all appreciate to see the way he is going about his business this year,'' said Jennings, the second-year receiver who has now been lucky enough to catch Favre's 400th, 420th and 421st touchdown passes. "He is a totally different player. He is understanding us more, and he is almost like a parent that has kids for the first time. He understands us more, and he is beginning to trust us. We are what he has, and he's making the best of it.''
Favre bristles at the notion that he has changed his game this season, becoming more of a game-manager type quarterback than the gunslinger he has been known as. He acknowledges that he has had to take fewer chances downfield this season, but only because Green Bay has so often been ahead, and less desperate.
Whatever the appropriate label, something's working. He was no game manager in the classic sense against Minnesota. He was in command from start to finish of the game's tempo and momentum, and the confidence that flowed so easily in his glory years is back in full force. Dare we say it? No. 4 is having fun again.
"The record is better because we won,'' Favre said. "It was as good a team effort as we've had. [I knew] in order for us to win, I'd have to throw a touchdown pass. We are in a throwing mode right now. But the win itself was great. It's a win, and it gets this behind us. It was awkward. There was so much emphasis on this record and not on the game itself. I didn't want to get blind-sided by this record and what we are actually here for.''
There was no blind-siding of Favre on this day. The record he really cares about may be 4-0, but he's got the NFL's career touchdown pass record safely put away as well; and he did it in high style in a division rival's stadium that was once his own personal house of horrors.
As a moment captured in time, No. 421 was vintage Favre. At least the latter-day version. Total it all up, and 4-2-1 adds up to seven. How appropriate, because seven is what Favre's right arm has been good for his entire Green Bay career. More times than not, when the Packers needed it most.
Choose your teamArizona CardinalsAtlanta FalconsBaltimore RavensBuffalo BillsCincinnati BengalsCleveland BrownsChicago BearsCarolina PanthersDenver BroncosDallas CowboysDetroit LionsGreen Bay PackersHouston TexansIndianapolis ColtsJacksonville JaguarsKansas City ChiefsMiami DolphinsMinnesota VikingsNew England PatriotsNew Orleans SaintsNew York GiantsNew York JetsOakland RaidersPhiladelphia EaglesPittsburgh SteelersSan Diego ChargersSan Francisco 49 ersSt. Louis RamsSeattle SeahawksTampa Bay BucsTennessee TitansWashington Redskins
SI Media Kits | About Us | Add RSS headlines
Copyright © 2007 Time Inc.
A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.SUBSCRIBE TO SI GIVE THE GIFT OF SI GIVE THE GIFT OF SI KIDS SI CUSTOMER SERVICE
Memphis football player killed on campus
CNN CareerBuilder
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