PACKERS HAVE DIVISION CROWN IN SIGHT, DALLAS ON HORIZON
DETROIT - Nothing Brett Favre does is truly surprising anymore, and because of that the same must be said of the 2007 Green Bay Packers.
Though he insisted afterward he did "nothing spectacular," Favre was nothing short of scintillating in his team's 37-26 victory over Detroit on Thanksgiving Day at Ford Field.
The veteran quarterback and team leader added to a potential MVP resume with 31 completions - including a franchise-record 20 in a row - in 41 attempts for 381 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions as the Packers improved to 10-1 and all but wrapped up the NFC North title, taking a four-game lead on the Lions (6-5) with just five to play. Green Bay also kept pace with the Dallas Cowboys for the NFC's top record heading into next Thursday's showdown in Dallas that could potentially decide the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the conference playoffs.
Afterward, several Packers talked about taking the holiday to enjoy this win and not concerning themselves with the Cowboys until they return to practice on Sunday. And there's certainly plenty of healing needed on the defensive side, as a rash of injuries depleted the unit, most notably one to cornerback Charles Woodson's toe that will be evaluated more extensively Friday.
But for now, it's worth marveling at Favre's performance on a national stage as he chalked up a few more records in what already had become a record-setting season.
"I wasn't with him in his MVP years, but it's impressive the way he's playing right now," Head Coach Mike McCarthy said.
To be sure. Favre threw at least three TD passes in a game for the 63rd time, breaking Dan Marino's NFL mark of 62. He posted his seventh 300-yard passing game of the season, tying his own team record set in 1995, the first of his three straight MVP years.
He also posted a passer rating of 128.2, the eighth time in 11 games this season he's been over 100. That was due primarily to his flawless play from the tail end of the second quarter through the opening moments of the fourth, when Favre utilized four- and five-receiver formations to set a new franchise mark with 20 straight completions. The previous record had been 18, shared by Lynn Dickey and Don Majkowski.
"If he's playing perfect, the sky is really the limit," said receiver Greg Jennings, who caught two TD passes to give him a team-high nine on the season. "It felt like he was perfect today. He was pretty perfect in our eyes."
That perfect stretch gave the Packers some breathing room in what had been a very tight game.
Green Bay erased an early 6-0 deficit when rookie Aaron Rouse's interception and 34-yard return to the Detroit 11-yard line set up a TD pass to Jennings. On the Packers' next possession, deep passes to Donald Driver for 38 yards, James Jones for 18 yards, and Driver for 19 more led to Ryan Grant's 5-yard TD run and a 14-6 lead.
After Detroit cut the deficit to 14-9, Favre went on his rampage beginning with the 2-minute drill at the end of the second quarter.
He completed seven straight throws to lead to a field goal on the final play of the first half. He then opened the second half with seven straight completions, including a 43-yarder to Koren Robinson, on a seven-play, 80-yard drive capped by Jennings' second score. And then he added four more completions on six-play, 80-yard drive that was finished off with a 3-yard TD to Ruvell Martin.
Two more completions on the next possession pushed the streak to 20, the last a 41-yard catch-and-run by Driver. The streak ended on an incomplete pass to Robinson in the end zone when he just missed getting his feet down in bounds. But the ensuing field goal gave the Packers a 34-12 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Favre preferred to credit his receivers for making a lot of those plays. As has been the trademark of this receiving corps, the yards gained after the catch were prevalent play after play.
"If you're completing passes, you're giving those guys a chance to score, and today was about the best example I can give you as far as dumping it off and letting them make plays," Favre said.
"One week it's down-the-field throws, the other week it's short, efficient passes. Teams aren't really doing anything crazy to us defensively. It's coming down to execution, and today I thought we executed extremely well."
{sportsad300}Driver led the way with 10 catches for 147 yards, while Jones and Jennings added five receptions apiece for 75 and 60 yards, respectively. During the 20 straight completions, the Packers had the ball four times, scored 20 points, and gained 302 of their 481 total yards.
"We were just executing real well," Jones said. "That's how we practice. If we had played the Detroit Lions on Tuesday, we probably would have done the same thing because we practiced that way."
Detroit didn't fold, rallying for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to pull within one score at 34-26, but the Lions never got the ball back with a chance to even things up.
The Packers put together one more scoring drive, highlighted by runs of 12 and 27 yards by Grant, who finished with 15 carries for 101 yards to go over the century mark for the third time in five games. Grant had 94 of his yards in the second half.
Mason Crosby's third field goal, from 26 yards, made it 37-26 with 1 minute, 44 seconds left and sealed the game, giving the Packers their best record through 11 games since the championship season of 1962. And now they'll take that 10-1 mark to Dallas for arguably the team's biggest regular-season game since the Christmas Eve showdown for the NFC North title at Minnesota in 2004.
"I have no idea what's going to happen in Dallas," Favre said. "We win, they win, they blow us out, we blow them, ... who knows.
"But up to this point it's been pretty satisfying, and I think all our guys need to be patted on the back and be commended for what we've done. But then you put that aside and we go see what happens the next few games."
