Brett Favre nearly thought better of
throwing away his wristband full of plays. After another painful
loss Sunday, he flung it anyway.
For the first time in 44 games at Lambeau Field, the three-time
MVP didn't throw an interception _ but lost.
Down by 10 with less than 10 minutes to play, Favre engineered
one touchdown drive and had Green Bay well within range for a
game-tying field goal with 44 seconds left.
``This place was electric,'' Favre said of the second-largest
crowd ever at Lambeau.
But defensive end Leonard Little turned off the power, swatting
the ball out of Favre's hand. Packers guard Daryn Colledge fell on
the fumble, but couldn't secure it, allowing the Rams to recover.
The Packers lost 23-20.
``I have had a lot of comebacks, but we haven't had too many
lately,'' said Favre, who has 35 fourth-quarter comebacks, but only
one since 2004. ``That's very disappointing, because I know what
we're capable of.''
Favre led the Packers to four comebacks in the 2004 season on the
way to another playoff berth. But since then, the Packers have a new
general manager, a new coach and more than two dozen players with
two years of experience or less.
Green Bay is 3-10 in its last 13 games decided by seven points or
less.
After watching Pro Bowlers Marco Rivera, Mike Wahle, Mike
Flanagan, Javon Walker and Darren Sharper walk out the door in the
past few seasons, Favre said he will be watching to see how the
Packers' young players respond to the team's third straight 1-4
start.
``You can call the best plays in the league from an offensive
standpoint, and the best coverages to give you the best opportunity
to win, but if you're not playing together, completely, it's going
to be much more difficult,'' Favre said. ``I think that's where we
are right now.''
Favre still believes he can score every time he touches the ball,
and he showed some of his old self in the fourth quarter, rallying
the Packers with a 46-yard touchdown pass to Greg Jennings to make
the score 23-20 with 6:42 to play.
Green Bay's defence then joined in, forcing the Rams to three
plays and a punt.
But Favre gave the ball right back with a three-and-out on the
Packers' next series _ with one especially poor throw on an open
slant to Jennings.
``I may have missed a lot of throws in my career, but I don't
miss slants,'' he said. ``I feel like one of my assets is my
accuracy. It doesn't really coincide with the footwork, but I feel
like I'm accurate from a lot of different ways I throw the ball. I
missed some today I felt were easy throws.''
But the Packers' defence again lifted up Favre with its second
straight three-and-out, giving Green Bay the ball at its 21 with
2:46 left.
Favre managed two third-down conversions and three first downs on
the drive _ the last off a short pass to Jennings, who finished with
five catches for 105 yards, to move to the Rams 11.
All Green Bay needed was a field goal, but as Favre dropped back
looking for the winning TD, Little beat tackle Mark Tauscher and
came around unseen by the quarterback.
``He had a pocket to step up into. We were going for the win,''
Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. ``We had a play designed that we
were attacking the end zone with an underneath completion built in.
Guns-a-blazin', whatever you want to call it, but I was just trying
to win the football game.''
Instead, it was another loss for Favre and another loss for a
suddenly snakebitten franchise.
``I think it was the only sack of the game,'' Favre said of
Little's play. ``Of course, it came at the wrong time.''
