As he looked back this week on his last trip to St. Louis, Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre wasn't awed by the fact he threw a playoff-record six interceptions at the Edward James Dome in January 2002.
As far as he was concerned, it could have been worse.
"Like I told (GM/Head Coach Mike Sherman)," Favre remembered, "'If I stay in the game, I can throw eight.'"
Those six interceptions were a product of many things, really. Less than perfect accuracy? Well, sure. But four of the six passes were tipped, and when you're an NFL quarterback and your team is trailing in a one-and-done playoff setting, there's no sense having any ammo left over at end.
And Favre has never been afraid to go down firing.
"At some point it doesn't matter," Favre said of the interceptions. "I could have sat there and completed little 5-yarders, but we needed to score points. And I remember saying after the game, if you play long enough, things like that will happen."
Over the course of Favre's 12-year career with the Packers, domes have been a thorn in his side.
In 20 dome losses Favre has tossed 42 interceptions compared to 25 touchdowns.
On the other hand, Favre noted this week that his biggest career win, in Super Bowl XXXI, came in a dome. And in 12 dome victories, Favre has a combined 100.4 passer rating with 27 touchdowns and just six interceptions.
So even though Favre hasn't always shined indoors, he doesn't dread this weekend's game under the roof.
"I'd like to think that in my career up to this point I've faced everything and have succeeded in every one of those challenges that I've faced," Favre said. "Statistically, if you look at our past, my past, the odds would be against me. But I consider it a challenge."
Ranked fifth in the league in rushing -- their highest ranking since 1967 -- the Packers would like nothing more than to pound the ball on the ground with running back Ahman Green. But, as the previous meeting with the Rams demonstrated, that's difficult to do if you're playing catch-up.
"What happened (in the playoff loss) was, we got into a position where we were throwing every snap," Favre remembered. "I was taking the check-downs, so what they were doing, which was smart, they were not rushing. They'd rush the outside guys and take the two defensive tackles and just kind of spy on Ahman.
"If he came to their side, they were just standing there like they were being blocked and you'd go to dump it and they would tip it. It was a good scheme, and when it rains it pours.
"But we still throw it to Ahman. I don't know if we're that different offensively. The key to the game is not falling behind and still being able to balance your attack."
Silent Snap
To survive in the deafening conditions in the Edward Jones Dome, there will be situations Sunday when the Packers offense will have to rely on a silent snap.
The benefit, of course, is that the offensive tackles and tight ends don't have to depend on hearing a snap count to know when to start the play. The negative though, is that they have to react to the sight of the snap. Just like the defense.
"When there is no snap count, you obviously don't have any edge whatsoever (over the defense)," Sherman said. "If it was a positive, you would do it all the time. So certainly it's not a positive. It may be the lesser of two evils at times."
As usual when preparing for an indoor game, the Packers practiced inside the Don Hutson Center this week, blasting crowd noise through the sound system to simulate a game environment.
Sherman said the Packers usually have five procedural penalties over the course of a practice week, but this week the team had only one.
"I thought overall we did a nice job," Sherman said. "But practice is practice and games are games and fabricated noise is different than a bunch of St. Louis fans. But this is all we can do right now, so we did it and I thought they responded quite well."
Kampman's Comeback
For a guy who has built a reputation for never slowing down, the first few weeks on the sidelines were unbearable for Aaron Kampman.
Inactive the past four games with a badly sprained ankle, the second-year defensive end admitted this week that initially he had difficulty dealing with the frustration of the injury.
"Finally I just came to the realization that I was doing everything humanly possible and it was going to heal when it heals," Kampman said. "There's nothing else I can do about it, and that's the attitude I've taken so I don't have those negative thoughts of frustration running through my mind."
It's helped that the ankle is starting to improve.
Kampman practiced this week and is one of the likely candidates to start at power end in place of Joe Johnson, who was placed on injured reserve Wednesday.
Kampman said that he's eager to get back on the field, but downplayed the notion the opportunity for increased playing time has helped to light a fire under him.
"My fire has been lit for a long time," he said. "You never want to leave your teammates hanging. Ever since I've been injured, I've felt pressure to come back as soon as possible, so it's no different this week.
"I want to be back as soon as I can."
McKenzie Practices
Mike McKenzie was on the practice field Friday for the first time since leaving the Kansas City game with back spasms.
The Packers' leading defensive back with 13 passes defensed this season, McKenzie is still listed as questionable, had an impressive showing.
"He did do some things out here, more than I expected him to do," Sherman said. "These things, spasms, can come back on you. So we'll see how he is in the morning and know more about that."
If McKenzie can't play Sunday, he would likely be replaced in the starting lineup by Bhawoh Jue.
Footnotes
Standing 6-foot-4 and weighing 330 pounds, Packers offensive tackle Kevin Barry is quite a load by himself.
But for a player that big, even the equipment packs on the pounds.
This week the Packers received a shipment of shoes for Barry. The box containing 12 pairs of size 16 shoes weighed in at an astonishing 54 pounds.
For the record, practice squad player Jason Jimenez wears the biggest shoe on the roster, a size 18.
Ryan Longwell's kicking shoe is the smallest in the locker room, a size 8. On his plant foot, Longwell wears a size 9.5
Antonio Chatman also wears size 9.5.
