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| Sunday, November 10, 2002 - 12 noon at Lambeau Field |
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1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
Final |
| Lions |
7 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
14 |
| Packers |
3 |
27 |
10 |
0 |
40 |
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Packers Player Of The Game
If there was any doubt whether Brett Favre could be effective despite his injured left knee, he erased it against the Lions. Hitting 26 of 39 passes, Favre had the ninth-most productive game of his career in terms of passing yards with 351. He also threw for two touchdowns, which would have been three, had officials not ruled Terry Glenn down at the 1-yard-line at the end of a 46-yard reception. While Donald Driver was his favorite target with an incredible 11 receptions on the night, he was just one of the seven receivers Favre hooked up with in the game. Also worth noting was kicker Ryan Longwell, who came through with four field goals on four attempts
Lions Player Of The Game
Although almost half of his yardage came on the Lions' opening play from scrimmage, wide receiver Az-Zahir Hakim was the favorite target of Joey Harrington, making seven receptions for 143 yards. His 64-yard touchdown reception was one of only two scores tallied by Detroit.
Stat Of The Game
The Packers' defensive unit held Detroit to just 1 of 13 on third-down conversion attempts.
Play Of The Game
With the Packers having just settled for a field goal to move out to a 16-7 lead, the Lions hoped to work their '2-minute' offense with 1:47 left in the first half. But on first down, Joey Harrington's pass went through the arms of Bill Schroeder and into the arms of Marques Anderson, who returned the pick 14 yards for a Packers touchdown. Green Bay would actually add yet another touchdown before the end of the second quarter and never look back.
THEY SAID IT
GM/Head Coach Mike Sherman --
On how complete this victory was: "From watching the tapes of the Lions, they are a significantly improved football team from when we played them the last time - we have too. Their offense has improved; so we were very concerned with the Lions coming into this game ... Good teams don't panic, and we didn't panic at that point."
On negatives in the game: " We put the ball on the ground trying to seal the game in the fourth quarter and that put our defense in some pretty precarious situations. We can't do that to be a championship team. That certainly was damaging."
On status of Ahman Green and Najeh Davenport: "Green had a mild concussion at the half. I wasn't going to use him unless I had to. It shouldn't be a problem....Davenport sprained his ankle, he is walking with a limp, but we are fairly encouraged that he is walking around on it.
On wanting to play your best in December: "I can't tell them not to play well. The guys have made a commitment and we talk about raising our level of commitment to what we want to accomplish this season. We still have a lot of football to go. It certainly was nice today because there was talk that the Packers might have a let down, and we didn't do that. A good team plays up to there level regardless of the situation.
On Donald Driver: "Driver comes to practice everyday and gives you everything he has. I can't say enough about impact his has made, not just as a receiver, but he came and made an impression upon me as a special team player. He was our best special teams player a year ago and he still does special teams duties for us. To say that he would he would at this point - I can't say that, but he has always made big plays for us. He has shown the ability to make big plays. In the starting role, he has shown that he is a starter in the National Football League, and a pretty damn good one."
On Driver and Glenn making Favre better: " I can't say that they make him a better quarterback, but they do make his successful. Bret is pretty good on his own, but these guys compliment him extremely well. If we didn't have these guys, we wouldn't be able to put up the passing yards that are."
On Favre's knee injury: "Anytime he is wearing a brace it is always an issue. He certainly wasn't hampered by that today and I don't think there was any play that we could say caused him to do this or not to do that. He was pretty efficient in this football game."
Defensive Coordinator Ed Donatell --
On team's response after early Detroit touchdown: "The first thing we all talked about is we looked at it as a fluke situation. Nobody makes plays like that on us. It was an individual breakdown, we got it corrected, we move forward. I kind of like working through things like that. There's a silver lining to it, so you're poised if it ever would happen again. It's an unfortunate situation and you know how to handle it. And we got right back on track."
On Mike McKenzie's blown coverage on the Lions touchdown: "They had a double breakup and he bit on it. It's a technique error and he corrected it and moved forward. It was a positive thing that our guys were very poised on the bench. All their energy was directed toward the next series. So everybody stayed really focused and moved forward."
Marques Anderson --
On interception: "I saw from the release of Joey (Harrington) that he kind of threw it behind (Bill Schroeder). Being in the right place at the right time, having to secure the ball first and then after that I saw a straight line to the end zone."
On not being in dime coverage unit: "I really think I'm ahead of schedule as far as what they really wanted to do with me. I'm not upset at all. As long as we're winning, as long as we're making plays, as long as our defense is playing at a high level, shoot, I'll come out on third down.
Najeh Davenport --
On injury: "I got rolled up in the pile. I got the handoff and made my cut and I don't know if I stopped in the hole, somebody came underneath me from the back, and I rolled over top of him. They were laying on my legs and somebody grabbed on top of me or something, I don't know if they were trying to take the ball. My foot was on the ground and I was laying on the ground on somebody . . . I've got to see it, I don't even really know what happened."
On how long injury will keep him out: "I shouldn't be out at all. We'll come back tomorrow and see how it looks. And if it's good tomorrow I'll be able to practice Wednesday."
Donald Driver --
On ranking his individual performance: "No drops - I'll take that. It was probably the best game that I have had all season. I showed my physical-ness by breaking tackles and making every catch count."
On taking pride with your physical play: "People have been dogging me all season, and that's what makes me hungry. I am having a great year, and I just hopes this continues."
On playing with Favre: " I told him the day that he retires I will tackle him and take the jersey off his back. That guy is a leader, a legend - he will go down as one the greatest quarterbacks to ever play this game, and I can go down saying that I caught balls from him. That's one thing that I'll be able to tell my grandkids and kids."
On catching 9 passes in the first half: "I don't know. It was a big surprise to me because I didn't even know I had that many catches. I knew the ball was coming my way, but I don't count catches or anything like that. I was just trying to stay focused and keep making every play count. That is one thing that Brett does. Brett goes through his progression and a couple of routes were supposed to come to me; regardless of the situation the ball was supposed to come my way. He made some great throws and I just have to make every catch count."
Brett Favre --
On playing with a 40-7 lead: "It doesn't come around very often, but every week Coach Sherman stresses more and more not to believe all the good things that are said. It is difficult to come back and play your best football week in and week out after playing a great game the previous week. To play the way we did today, and the way Ahman did - it is just non-stop; guys being injured, guys having to step up. Forty points against anyone in this league is hard to do, and today was no exception."
On how much better this team is compared to six weeks ago: "I think we are a lot better. It is easy to say that. You win a game like we did today and to play like we have played so far... The only difference is the confidence that we are carrying with us right now. Guys believe that they can't get it done and that is so crucial for a team's success and our team has it right now."
On what was talked about at halftime: "We didn't say much. I had a banana and a glass of Gatorade. You can overanalyze a lot of things. You can't rest on that - we have games where we have kind of packed it in. We knew we had to continue to do what we were doing and be somewhat safe about it. I didn't think we were conservative in the second half. I thought we made plays."
On how his knee is doing: " It feels fine. It is a little tight, the only time I really felt it today was when I went down and tackled Terry in the end zone. Not only that, I was upset that they took that touchdown away. But it feels fine."
Mike Flanagan --
On getting ready for Minnesota: "We tend to not play really well at Minnesota so it's going to be a big challenge for us. You need to challenge yourself every week, and if you can't do it going up to Minnesota then you need to find a new job."
Bubba Franks --
On second half performance: "Now we're starting to finish teams. Early on, we'd come out in the second half and struggle a little bit, they'd fight back in it and then we'd have a dogfight at the end of the game. Now I think we're starting to finish teams and the defense is playing great."
On finishing teams: "We've yet to really finish a ballgame. We didn't finish one today. Even thought the score was what it was, we didn't finish. We should have converted on a couple opportunities we were short of and we had to punt. The defense, they played a great game once again. They made it a lot easier on us with short fields."
Terry Glenn --
On first 'Lambeau Leap' (apparent touchdown was reviewed and ruled down at 1-yard-line): "It was nice, I've been looking forward to it for so long, it's an amazing thing to be here. It was called back. I was hoping that TD would stand, but that's how things go sometimes."
On the performance from all the receivers today: "The whole unit did well today. Not just the receivers, but we definitely did our part to contribute. You can't say enough about how important this game was today. Detroit probably came in thinking they could play with us like they did when we were there, but when we came out there and put that many points up there on the board, you can't say enough positive things about this team right now. We're all smiling right now. It feels great."
Ahman Green --
On leaving game with 'neck stinger:' "If I needed to, I would have come back, but we had Najeh and Fish (Tony Fisher), so we were set up pretty well. We had a comfortable lead and the defense was playing strong, so we never had that need for me to come back in."
Hardy Nickerson --
On fourth-down stop of Joey Harrington rush: "They were starting to really move the ball well, and we had a sense from the sideline that they were going to run a quarterback sneak. The linemen did a great job of plugging up everything in the middle, and when they bounced outside I was there waiting for him. We all did a great job on that play."
On the defensive mindset this week: "Since that first game that we played against (the Lions) we've been really concentrating on performing up to our standards and preparation. It's been paying off. We just keep getting better and better and we're continuing to improve. Our preparation really showed out there today."
Darren Sharper --
On Packers' recent woes at Minnesota and Tampa Bay: "All those records in the past have nothing to do with this year, because it's a totally different team. We have went into Minnesota and beat those guys on their home field. We've went to Tampa and won in the past. So that's what we need to focus in on."
On being flagged for hit in end zone (the flag was later picked up): "I know they were hearing me in their ear saying let us play, let us play. Please, let us play. I could have seen, he could have made on of those miraculous catches with one hand. I saw he got a hand on it and I didn't know what happened after that, so I was just trying to get a shot so maybe he wasn't able to hold on to it. If they would have kept the flag on the ground, that's ridiculous. You have to let us play. And I used all shoulder, too. I didn't lead with a helmet or nothing like that."
Javon Walker --
On balanced receiving corps: "You never know, each and every week it's hard to know who they're going to try and stop on our team. The thing about is, it leaves open me. They try to stop (Donald) Driver, it leaves open Terry (Glenn), Robert Ferguson. That's the thing about our receivers, not too many people can try to bait one of us, because it leaves somebody open. Today was a great example of that."
On feeling of being a member of balanced receiving attack: "It's a good feeling. It opens up everybody, that's the thing. It opens up everybody. If you're on a team where you're the main target, a team can pretty much double-team you and prevent you from doing whatever you need to do to be successful, but that's not here."
GAME NOTES:
Marques Anderson's 14-yard interception return for a touchdown was the second such scoring return of the season for the rookie from UCLA, bringing him to within one of the team record for most defensive touchdowns in a season, 3, shared by Darren Sharper (1997- 2 interception returns, 1 fumble return) and Herb Adderley (1965 - 3 interception returns). Sharper also was a rookie that season.
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Brett Favre moved past Ed West today by playing in his 168th game and into sole possession of fifth place in team history for most games played. Forrest Gregg holds the club record at 187 games. Favre also extended his NFL record for consecutive regular season starts by a quarterback to 166, the longest active streak among NFL players at any position.
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Favre's 351 passing yards marked his third 300-yard game of the season and the 35th of his career, the most among active NFL quarterbacks. In the process he moved pass Joe Montana (40,551) into sixth place on pro football's all-time list. He now has 40,871 career passing yards.
Favre passed for 295 yards in the first half, his highest first-half total ever. Favre's previous high was 287 yards, recorded earlier this season against Chicago.
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The Packers' 503 yards of total offense today (150 rushing, 353 passing) is the most since Dec. 11, 1994, when the club tallied 516 yards vs. Chicago (257 rushing, 259 passing).
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Wide receiver Donald Driver notched a career-high 11 receptions in today's contest (for 130 yards).
Driver's 11 catches today were the most by a Packers receiver since Don Beebe posted 11 receptions vs. San Francisco, Oct. 14, 1996, and rank as the fourth-most all-time in team history.
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The Packers notched two takeaways in today's victory over the Lions, marking the eighth straight game with two or more takeaways. One was registered in the season-opening win over the Atlanta Falcons.
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Today's attendance at Lambeau Field was 63,313.
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End of 4th quarter. Game over.
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Tony Fisher fumbled at the end of his 8-yard reception from Doug Pederson. The fumble was recovered by Detroit's Shaun Rogers at the Packers 29-yard-line (10:05, 4th quarter).
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Joey Harrington hit Mikhael Ricks on a fourth-and-goal pass from the 1-yard-line to give the Lions their second touchdown of the game (10:46, 4th quarter). James Stewart made a 56-yard run down the left sideline to bring the Lions to the 9-yard-line. The Lions scoring drive was 5 plays, 65 yards. Time of the drive was 1:36.
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With the Lions facing third-and-1, Nate Wayne got into the backfield untouched before tipping and intercepting a Joey Harrington pass attempt (14:55, 4th quarter). The Packers took over at their own 21-yard-line.
Doug Pederson replaced Brett Favre at quarterback. Favre on the day completed 26 of 39 passes for 351 yards and two touchdowns. That's the ninth-most passing yards of Favre's career.
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End of 3rd quarter.
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Detroit's Shaun Rogers recovered Najeh Davenport's fumble at the Packers 28-yard-line (1:24, 3rd quarter). Davenport injured his right foot on the play. His return is questionable.
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William Henderson took Brett Favre's pass into the right corner of the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown catch-and-run (4:55, 3rd quarter). Terry Glenn's 26-yard reception brought the Packers into the red zone. Najeh Davenport had a tackle-breaking 12-yard run. The Packers scoring drive was 9 plays, 69 yards. Time of the drive was 4:21.
Henderson's touchdown reception was his second of the season, marking this first time in his career he has a multi-touchdown season.
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Ryan Longwell made it four field goals on the day, hitting from 33-yards out to push the Packers lead to 26 points (10:31, 3rd quarter). That's the fourth time in his career Longwell has made four field goals in a single game. The field goal was set up by Najeh Davenport's run. Davenport used Terry Glenn's downfield blocks to rumble 43 yards deep into Lions territory. The Packers scoring drive was 6 plays, 51 yards. Time of the drive was 2:35.
By virtue of a 9-yard pass to Donald Driver, Brett Favre finished the drive with 304 yards passing on the day. That makes for his third 300-yard game of the season. It's also the 35th of his career, which is the most among active NFL quarterbacks.
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End of 2nd quarter. Halftime.
Brett Favre passed for 295 yards in the first half, his highest first-half total ever. Favre's previous high was 287 yards, recorded earlier this season against Chicago.
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Najeh Davenport busted into the end zone from 1-yard out for his first NFL touchdown to help push the Green Bay advantage to 23 points (0:17, 2nd quarter). It appeared Terry Glenn had scored on the prior play, but the officials reviewed the play and ruled that Glenn's elbow touched down at the 1-yard-line before Glenn crossed into the end zone on his dive toward the left pylon. The catch-and-run by Glenn went for 46 yards, on a crossing route starting from the right. The Packers scoring drive was 6 plays, 68 yards. Time of the drive was 1:02.
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On first down at the 12-yard-line, Joey Harrington's pass went through the hands of Bill Schroeder and into the arms of Marques Anderson, who returned the interception 14 yards for a touchdown (1:47, 2nd quarter). That's the second time this season Anderson made an interception return for a touchdown against the Lions. He also did so in their first meeting in Detroit.
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Ryan Longwell made his third field goal of the afternoon, this time from 36-yards out, to give the Packers a 9-point lead (5:51, 2nd quarter). The Packers started with favorable field position after Joey Harrington was stopped for no gain on fourth-and-inches at the Lions 35-yard-line. A 20-yard pass from Brett Favre to Javon Walker accounted for most of the Packers' yardage. The Packers scoring drive was 7 plays, 17 yards. Time of the drive was 1:47.
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Ryan Longwell nailed a 40-yard field goal to increase the Packers' lead (8:57, 2nd quarter). Donald Driver made two big receptions on the drive. The first, a tackle-breaking 38-yard catch-and-run, brought the Packers to the Lions 31-yard-line. The second saw Driver leave his feet and withstand a hit to bring down an 8-yard catch. The Packers scoring drive was 9 plays, 65 yards. Time of the drive was 4:03.
On the drive, Ahman Green had 11 yards rushing, which put him over the 1,000-yard mark this season for combined yards rushing and receiving.
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Brett Favre found Bubba Franks wide open in the middle of the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown pass (14:35, 2nd quarter). Favre hooked up with four different receivers on the drive for 50 yards. Ahman Green had two carries for 17 yards and a pair of catches worth 18 yards. The Packers scoring drive was 9 plays, 64 yards. Time of the drive was 4:52.
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End of 1st quarter.
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The Lions scored on their first play from scrimmage. Joey Harrington pumped and found Az-Zahir Hakim all alone down the right sideline for a 64-yard touchdown (7:32, 1st quarter). The Lions scoring drive was 1 play, 64 yards. Time of the drive was 0:15.
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Ryan Longwell's 30-yard field goal enabled the Packers to cash in on their opening drive (7:47, 1st quarter). The Packers converted on two third downs earlier in the drive, but a Lions sack kept the Packers out of the end zone on third-and-goal from the 5-yard line. Ahman Green had 23 yards rushing on the drive, while Brett Favre completed 4 of 5 passes for 63 yards. The Packers scoring drive was 13 plays, 74 yards. Time of the drive was 7:13.
By virtue of his 63 yards passing on the drive, Favre passed Joe Montana (40,551) for sixth all-time on the NFL's career passing yards list. At the end of the drive, Favre had 40,583 yards passing in his career.
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Playing in his 168th consecutive regular season game today, Brett Favre extends the second-longest such streak in team history. Only Forrest Gregg played in more consecutive regular season games for the Packers, holding the record at 187. Also today, Favre extends his NFL record for consecutive regular season starts by a quarterback to 166. That's the longest active streak among NFL players at any position.
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Temperature at kickoff is 50 degrees.
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The following Packers players are inactive for today's contest: Karsten Bailey, Barrett Brooks, Tyrone Davis, Vonnie Holliday, Cletidus Hunt, Craig Nall (third quarterback), Bryant Westbrook, Marcus Wilkins.
Billy Lyon will start in place of Cletidus Hunt. |
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