Favre vs. Manning. Will the dome be rocking!
Two teams with Super Bowl aspirations, the Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts, meet at the RCA Dome this Sunday. Each club is led by a marquee quarterback expected to cap his career in Canton, Ohio at the Pro Football Hall of Fame -- Brett Favre of the Packers and Peyton Manning of the Colts.
Manning threw for two touchdowns in an impressive 31-17 win at Tennessee last week, while Favre and Green Bay aim to rebound after a 21-10 home loss to Chicago.
Favre and Manning not only have a reputation for excellence, but also for consistency. Favre has started 191 consecutive games, the most in NFL history by a quarterback. Manning, with 98 consecutive starts, is fourth in NFL annals and rapidly approaching his milestone 100th start in a row.
The five quarterbacks with the most career consecutive starts:
(Quarterback, Team, Starts, Years)
Brett Favre, Green Bay, 191, 1992-present
Ron Jaworski, Philadelphia, 116, 1977-84
Joe Ferguson, Buffalo, 107, 1977-84
Peyton Manning, Indianapolis, 98, 1998-present
Dan Marino, Miami, 95, 1987-93
Favre is working on another "consecutive game" streak -- for touchdown passes. The Kiln, Miss. native has a TD pass in 27 consecutive games, tied with Manning and Chris Chandler for the fourth longest streak all-time.
Following are the longest streaks of consecutive games with a TD pass:
(Player, Team, Consecutive Games with TD Pass, Years)
Johnny Unitas, Baltimore, 47, 1956-60
Dan Marino, Miami, 30, 1985-87
Dave Krieg, Seattle, 28, 1983-85
Brett Favre, Green Bay, 27, 2002-?
Chris Chandler, Atlanta, 27, 1997-99
Peyton Manning, Indianapolis, 27, 1998-99
While these quarterbacks are at the top of their games, their presence also presents an opportunity for defenses to rise to the occasion. Both teams have top young defenders eagerly awaiting the challenge.
"As a defensive player, you always get excited to play against someone of his talent," says Packers second-year linebacker Nick Barnett of Manning. "Peyton works as hard as anyone in the league. He's successful because he knows how to read every situation. It's a challenge for us and it can only make us better."
