INSIDE THE NFL
Signature Game
In a vintage performance Brett Favre led the Packers over the
Panthers
By Peter King
Posted: Wed September 30, 1998
With 11 minutes to play and his team clinging to a 30-23 lead
over the Panthers at Ericsson Stadium on Sunday, 28-year-old
Packers quarterback Brett Favre stepped under center, feeling as
if he were 58. It was third-and-one at the Carolina 33. It was
his 73rd snap on a day when the field thermometer hit
104°. What hurt most? "My feet," Favre said later. "Felt
like they were burning off." Both shoulders ached, and his ribs
were feeling the cumulative effect of a trio of hits the
Panthers had laid on him.
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Green Bay took the lead when Mayes beat Davis for one
of his three TD catches.
(Jim Gund)
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The play called for Favre to roll right and throw to one of the
three receivers who had flooded that side of the field. At
practice earlier in the week, Green Bay coach Mike Holmgren had
reminded Favre not to pull up, because when he had stopped while
running the same play two weeks earlier, he had been leveled by
the Bucs defense.
What did Favre do this time? He stopped, of course. None of his
three options were open, but out of the corner of his eye he saw
wideout Derrick Mayes, whose responsibility was to occupy a cover
guy on the left side of the field. Mayes was creeping toward the
middle. "Brett knows he's not supposed to throw back across the
field," center Frank Winters says, "but he's looking over, and I
think, Oh, s—-, here we go again. All of a sudden the ball's
whizzing by my face."
The ball went right to Mayes, who juked linebacker Mike Barrow
and was gone, 33 yards for what proved to be the winning
touchdown in Green Bay's 37-30 victory. "If you're a receiver
for Brett Favre," Mayes said afterward, "you better be ready on
every play."
The Carolina game, Favre's 101st as a pro, was a signature game.
Though he had thrown as many touchdown passes on two other
occasions and only twice had thrown for more yards in a game,
the numbers—27 completions in 45 attempts, 388 yards, five
touchdowns, three interceptions, two sacks, eight
knockdowns—tell only part of the story. Twice he acted
impetuously and threw interceptions that resulted in touchdowns
for the Panthers, but both times he wasted little time in
driving his team for a go-ahead score.
"Just another day at the office," Favre said in a near whisper,
taking a long time to put on his socks and tennis shoes 30
minutes after the game. "God, I'm still sweating bullets."
Slowly, he sipped from a bottle of Gatorade and sampled a slice
of pepperoni pizza. "I'll never forget this day," he said. "How
fun was this? I loved it. I mean, where else would you rather be
than playing this game on a day like today, with great players
like [Carolina linebacker] Kevin Greene chasing you and fighting
back like that? Just awesome."
Favre couldn't stop talking about one play. Trailing 10-6 early
in the second quarter, partly because of an interception Favre
threw on his first play from scrimmage, the Packers faced a
third-and-five from the Carolina 21. In the huddle Favre told his
teammates, "Don't jump. I'm going to try to draw them offside.
And wideouts, finish your routes." Sure enough, Barrow took the
bait, Winters snapped the ball, flags flew, free play. Favre
dropped five steps, avoided a Greene rush from the outside and
threw awkwardly off his back foot. The ball spiraled 32 yards,
just beyond the fingertips of cornerback Eric Davis and into
Mayes's hands in the back right corner of the end zone.
"Three or four years ago, I make a dumb play and maybe I go in
the tank," Favre said. "Or I come out and go for the gusto right
away to make up for it. Now I think I'm playing much better at
the start of a year than I ever have. Like today, I threw an
interception, then came back and made a nice throw to [fullback]
William Henderson. I hear [quarterback coach] Andy Reid say to me
into my helmet, 'I guess that's why they pay you the big bucks.'"
Issue date: October 5, 1998
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