The Packer Pundit

Packers 31, Lions 24
Favre gets No. 400;
McCarthy gets No. 1
By LARRY LAGE
AP Sports Writer
Brett Favre sprinted toward the end zone, signaled touchdown and then pumped his right fist. The 36-year-old quarterback had just become the second player in NFL history to throw 400 career touchdown passes. He added two more scores to lead the Green Bay Packers to a 31-24 win over Detroit on Sunday for their first victory of the season. Favre said he felt like a kid while celebrating after each TD, bouncing on his toes and leaping into teammates' arms, but his body quickly reminded him that he's not. "I've got to stop doing that because I get so tired," said Favre, who turns 37 next month. "I have to be smarter. Mike (McCarthy) said, `Great job, but you have to quit running around like that,' because I couldn't talk to him, I couldn't breathe. I was able to recover a lot easier back in the old days, but there's nothing like throwing touchdown passes." -- More




31-24 victory over Detroit
an ‘excellent win’ for Packers
By Pete Dougherty
greenbaypressgazette.com

“That’s the way you’re supposed to spend Sunday afternoon. That’s an excellent win for us, just really happy the way they scrapped and fought for 60 minutes. It’s great to get the first one and looking forward to many more.” -- Mike McCarthy

An old-school, ball-control West Coast offense. A veteran quarterback managing a game about as well as he ever has. A leaky defense that nevertheless scored a touchdown and got two stops when it counted. The Green Bay Packers needed it all to give rookie coach Mike McCarthy his first NFL victory Sunday, 31-24 over the Detroit Lions at Ford Field that wasn’t sealed until Lions quarterback Jon Kitna’s final 50-yard Hail Mary pass fell incomplete. It no doubt was a great joy and a huge relief for the 42-year-old McCarthy to accept the game ball from his players Sunday after getting blown out by Chicago in his opener and blowing an early lead last week against the New Orleans Saints. -- More





Perfect protection
By Jason Wilde / madison.com

"Anytime you can keep (Favre) clean and let him do his job, he's going to do something positive for you. We know that it's our goal to just make sure he stays off the ground. If he stays off the ground, we have a chance to win." -- Darren Colledge

As impressive as Brett Favre's statistical line was Sunday afternoon - the Green Bay Packers' quarterback was 25 of 36 passing for 340 yards and three touchdowns - a closer inspection of the passing game revealed an equally impressive line: The Packers' offensive line. Center Scott Wells, guards Daryn Colledge and Tony Moll and tackles Chad Clifton and Mark Tauscher shut out the Detroit Lions' pass rush, yielding no sacks and no recorded quarterback hits in Green Bay's 31-24 victory at Ford Field. -- More




Motor running
By Jason Wilde
madison.com
High above Ford Field, Ted Thompson raised his arms and smiled. The Detroit Lions' final desperation pass had just fallen harmlessly to the FieldTurf, the clock read 0:00 and the Green Bay Packers had their first victory of the season. It was the quietest the second-year general manager had been all day. Throughout the ups and downs of the Packers' 31-24 triumph over the Lions, the usually calm Thompson was particularly demonstrative at his road-game perch in the press box, and it got so bad that at one point, Thompson said he and several others in the Green Bay contingent were politely asked to pipe down. "It's good to see the team have fun, and you have the most fun when you win," said Thompson, who has presided over just five victories in 19 games since taking over as GM in January 2005. "It was like pulling teeth, but we won a game, and it was good to see that." -- More




Manuel's labor prevails
By Jason Wilde / madison.com
Marquand Manuel is what his coaches call the "quarterback" of the Green Bay Packers' defense. Turns out, he's also its mascot. Signed to a five-year, $10 million free-agent deal in March, his first three weeks of this season - and particularly his performance in Sunday's 31-24 victory over the Detroit Lions at Ford Field - have personified what the defense as a whole has experienced: He struggled in the team's first two games - both losses. And Sunday afternoon, he was in the wrong place a number of times and in the right place a few others. He did some good things, and some not-so-good things. -- More




Fumbles plague Green
By Jason Wilde / madison.com
For the second consecutive week, Ahman Green lost a late fumble. Only this time, the Green Bay Packers managed to survive their star halfback's miscue and emerge with their first win of the season. With 54 seconds left in what would turn out to be a 31-24 Green Bay victory over the Detroit Lions Sunday at Ford Field, Green coughed up the ball when he was hit by linebacker LeVar Woods. Cornerback Jamar Fletcher - a former University of Wisconsin athlete - recovered at the Detroit 34-yard line, giving the Lions one last-gasp chance to tie. -- More




Packers Hang Tough,
Hold On For First Win
by Mike Spofford
Packers.com
The first win can be the toughest, and this one was difficult all the way through the game's last play. Green Bay got a banner day from Brett Favre but had to withstand a fourth-quarter comeback by Detroit that ended with a Hail Mary pass falling incomplete in the end zone, preserving the Packers' 31-24 victory over the Lions at Ford Field on Sunday. "Nothing's going to come easy," receiver Donald Driver said. "That's how it is." But it's certainly much easier on the psyche to be 1-2 rather than 0-3, and in a game the Packers never trailed, they used an efficient offense and just enough defense to give Head Coach Mike McCarthy his first regular-season win. Favre was superb, completing 25 of 36 passes for 340 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Meanwhile the defense gave up two big touchdown plays early but scored one of its own and got two stops in the final 2 minutes to hang on. -- More




Vintage Favre On Display Against Lions
by Mike Spofford / Packers.com
Quarterback Brett Favre's big day at Ford Field on Sunday included not only a major career milestone but also a touchdown drive on which he showed Packers fans some vintage Favre. Favre's 400th career TD pass came on just his fifth pass of the game, a 75-yard catch-and-run by rookie Greg Jennings to give the Packers an early 7-0 lead. But it was on a third-quarter scoring drive when Favre showed some of his best stuff. On the Packers' first possession of the second half, Favre drove the offense 80 yards in 10 plays to give Green Bay a 24-14 lead. Three times on that drive, Favre scrambled to his right to buy some time when no one was open initially, and each time he was able to complete a difficult pass to keep the offense moving. -- More




Favre looks like his old self again
By MITCH ALBOM
Detroit Free-Press
He'll be 37 in a few weeks, and his army haircut and grizzled whiskers now look as if they're dusted with snow. But if Sunday was the last glimpse Detroit will get of Brett Lorenzo Favre, it was not the portrait of a creaky old man. Favre was every magical thing he ever has been over the years against the Lions, throwing three touchdowns, scrambling out of trouble, leaving the field with a sack full of yards, embarrassed defensive backs, and, oh, yes, a victory. So here's a salute to the quarterback's quarterback. Long after Sunday is forgotten as another blown Detroit opportunity, Favre's performance will be remembered. This was his first victory of what is surely his last season, the 20th time in 29 tries that he has beaten the Lions. Afterward, in the cramped visitors' locker room, he grinned like a proud papa. He pulled on a striped, short-sleeved polo shirt that looked as if he might have worn it to his college English class, then joked with a younger, more stylish teammate, "If you've got a shirt like this, you're in trouble." -- More






Packers improving,
but they still have a long way to go
By Chris Havel
Brett Favre received the ultimate compliment Sunday. The Detroit Lions’ fans booed him lustily. If the old codger wasn’t going to show mercy toward their cowardly Lions, they weren’t going to treat him with anything but the disdain he has earned through the years. One day Lions fans may learn to despise Packers coach Mike McCarthy with a similar respectful irreverence, which is preferable to disrespectful irrelevance every time. That could happen if McCarthy’s teams frequently roll into Detroit and rock the Lions like they did in a 31-24 victory Sunday at Ford Field. That won’t happen if the Packers don’t establish a NFL-caliber running game or a NFL-quality pass defense. -- More