Favre has last laugh
Published Monday November 2nd, 2009
GREEN BAY, Wis. - For the second time in less than a month, Brett Favre sliced up his former team and stuck it to the franchise that cast him aside as the Minnesota Vikings beat the Green Bay Packers 38-26 at Lambeau Field on Sunday.
If walking out to waves of loud jeers from his former fans threw Favre off his game, it didn't last long. Despite being jeered repeatedly by Packers fans who once cheered his every move, Favre completed 17-of-28 passes for 244 yards and four touchdowns. The Vikings (7-1) took a firm hold on the NFC North standings.
Rookie receiver Percy Harvin caught five passes for 84 yards and a touchdown and had five returns for 175 yards.
The Vikings' defence roughed up Favre's successor, Aaron Rodgers, sacking him six times. But with the Packers (4-3) on the verge of getting routed, Rodgers rebounded with three second-half touchdowns.
Favre left the field surrounded by cameras, pumping his fist to a mix of cheers and boos as he jogged down the tunnel. He hugged cornerback Al Harris, Driver and Jennings.
Despite the final score, it was an awkward homecoming for Favre, whose high-profile standoff with the front office split the loyalties of Packers fans last summer.
There weren't many signs of a split on Sunday.
Fans booed Favre loudly - first when he walked out of the tunnel for pre-game warmups, then again when he ran out of the tunnel for the game, and on every snap during the Vikings' first few offensive possessions.
In other games Sunday, it was: St. Louis Rams 17 Detroit Lions 10; Indianapolis Colts 18 San Francisco 49ers 14; Baltimore Ravens 30 Denver Broncos 7; Tennessee Titans 30 Jacksonville Jaguars 13; San Diego Chargers 24 Oakland Raiders 16; Carolina Panthers 34 Arizona Cardinals 21; Philadelphia Eagles 40 New York Giants 17; Dallas Cowboys 38 Seattle Seahawks 17; Miami Dolphins 30 New York Jets 25; Houston Texans 31 Buffalo Bills 10; Chicago Bears 30 Cleveland Browns 6.
At Detroit, as expected of two teams that combined for one win entering the day, the Rams and Lions played an awful football game. St. Louis, though, loved the outcome - for the first time all season.
Steven Jackson's 25-yard touchdown run with 1:38 left snapped the Rams'17-game losing streak.
The Rams (1-7) avoided matching their worst start in franchise history. They also ended talk about joining Detroit (1-6) as the only teams in NFL history to have an 0-16 season. St. Louis' key score came on a trick play. It lined up to kick a field goal and had kicker Josh Brown throw a short pass to a wide-open Daniel Fells, whose 36-yard reception gave the Rams a 10-2 lead in the final minute of the first half.
Detroit scored its only points on offence early in the fourth quarter when top overall draft pick Matthew Stafford had a 4-yard run and 2-point conversion pass to tie the game.
St. Louis hadn't won since beating Dallas on Oct. 19, 2008. At Indianapolis, the Colts won their 16th straight regular-season game, the equivalent of an undefeated season, and Jim Caldwell became the first rookie coach since the NFL merger to open his career with seven consecutive wins.
Peyton Manning topped 300 yards and got credit for another Colts rally, but it was Joseph Addai who won it. The fourth-year running back threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Reggie Wayne early in the final quarter to give the Colts their only lead. The Colts (7-0) are the last unbeaten team in the AFC for the fourth time in five years.
At Baltimore, rookie Lardarius Webb returned the second-half kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, and the Ravens ended a three-game losing streak with a surprisingly easy victory.
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