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PACKERS CLAIM TIE FOR NFC CENTRAL LEAD WITH 28-10 TRIUMPH OVER PATRIOTS
THE WEEK PAST: Narrowly out front 14-10 at halftime, the Packers quite possibly validated their 1997 season in the third quarter of their 'Monday Night Football' showdown against the Patriots.
As the second half began, it looked for all the world as though the Pats were bent on taking charge. On a roll following the third quarter kickoff, they moved to the Green Bay one-yard line in 7 plays, chief among them a 49-yard pass-run collaboration between Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe and wide receiver Terry Glenn.
There, however, the competitive complexion began to change. On first down, Santana Dotson and LeRoy Butler combined to stop the Pats' redoubtable running back, Curtis Martin, for no gain. Then followed three consecutive incomplete passes, the latter two broken up by left cornerback Tyrone Williams.
Brett Favre and the Packers offense then applied the coup de grace with a 99-yard scoring drive, the longest in the NFL this season. A 17-play marathon, it required 9 minutes and 31 seconds to complete.
The longest previous drive of the season was a 98-yard effort put together by the Arizona Cardinals.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the Packers' performance was the length of all four scoring drives. In addition to the 17-play, 99-yard effort, they marched 81 yards in 13 plays for their first score of the evening, capped by a 6-yard Favre flare pass to Levens on a drive which timed out at 4 minutes, 43 seconds; a 9-play, 75-yard production for their second score, capped by a 32-yard Favre bullseye to tight end Mark Chmura in the heart of the end zone, which took 1minute, 50 seconds; and a 15-play, 85-yard drive for their final touchdown, finished off by Levens' 3-yard run. A most impressive project, it took half of the final quarter (7 minutes, 24 seconds) to complete.
Levens closed out a highly productive evening with 100 rushing yards in 26 attempts, a 3.8-yard average, and caught 7 passes for 40 more, with one touchdown -- to close out the evening with 140 yards of total offense.
Favre, spreading the football among six receivers, completed 23 of 34 passes for 239 yards and 3 touchdowns -- with no interceptions -- and also rushed 9 times for 32 yards.
Veteran free safety Eugene Robinson, posting the 49th interception of his career, set the pace defensively with 11 tackles, seven of them solos.
COACH HOLMGREN'S POSTGAME COMMENTS:
On the performance and the result: "It was a great win for us. We knew coming in it would be a tough ball game...'Monday Night Football'...away...You know, this is a tough place to play. Their fans really get into it. And I couldn't be prouder of the team -- they really played well and I hope it is a springboard for the second half of our season."
On Brett Favre and his performance: "I thought he played a real solid football game. Unfortunately, he dropped that one ball. You know, we were in position, I think, to get another score or something on the board. But, all in all, he played a real fine football game. You know, it's tough playing on the road. And the quarterback position on the road -- with the noise and all those things...That's not something we've done very well the first part of the season, I liked tonight."
On the value of the week off: "Well, I enjoyed it. I think it was important for us to get away from the players...the coaches...and really evaluate. We wanted the players to keep their end of the bargain...they held it up...they stayed in pretty good shape. I wanted them to get away from football for a while because we were really grinding through the first part of the season. And I thought they had a little more jump tonight -- a little more enthusiasm. And I hope we can build on what happened."
On the goal line stand: "Any time you can make a goal line stand, it's enormous. You know, we had one against the Bears that really helped us in that ball game. We play good goal line defense. And Drew Bledsoe and the weapons that New England has -- that's tough duty. And our defense should be commended. They did a nice job."
On having drive 99 yards to a touchdown after stopping the Patriots at the 1-yard line: "Well, those are the types of situations that you can really build on...That's the toughest thing in football -- to keep 'em out of the end zone and then go 99 -- particularly when you're on the road, because you have the noise factor to deal with. And, you know, you need some guys making plays, and they did tonight. We played a pretty solid football game."
On having unveiled the 'no-huddle' offense: "I read all this stuff that they're on Pete (Carroll) pretty good for not blitzing and not bringing (Chris) Slade and those guys, so I didn't want to see those guys blitzing too much, so we just went no-huddle and hoped we could get them out of blitzing situations. And, you know, it worked for us well a couple of times, and we scored off of it. It was just a little wrinkle we threw in for this game."
On Dorsey Levens' performance, coming off a painful clavicle injury: "He's a tough guy. I didn't know, honestly, if we'd have him. But, as the week went along, he healed up a little bit. It was still pretty painful but, like I said, he's a tough guy and he had a great game."
On whether it was the Packers' best game this season: "I think so...I think this was our most consistent game and against what I feel is a real good football team. So, you put those two things together and I'm a little happier than I have been in games so far this year."
Any new injures: "No injuries...thank goodness."
THE PLAYER PERSPECTIVE:
Brett Favre (On his performance):"I feel that it was productive. We won the ball game. I felt like it was my best performance of the year. I did some things that I still wish I could have done better. You know, I had the ball slip out of my hand and gave them points out of that. But, overall, I thought I played pretty well.
On the long drive: "Any time anyone can get a 99-yard drive, obviously it's a back-breaker. It was long...we just made plays. We had guys on third down make some big plays for us. We'll have to go back and look at that, but that's something we'll talk about for a long time."
On whether the victory over the Patriots could be a springboard: "Definitely. That could be the turning point to our season, and we hope it is. You don't come to New England and stop their offense -- especially on the one-yard line. I'm talking about the whole game. Our defense played a heck of a game. We stopped, in my opinion, one of the best offenses in the league -- if not the best. So we have a lot of things to be thankful for tonight."
On his rushing efforts: "It's best if I don't use it very often...It's functional. They were big enough plays to keep the drive going.
On why he thought 'this was his best performance:' "I think I made some really good decisions -- and good throws in tough situations...third-and-15....and so on. I ran the ball when I had to...We ran a 'no-huddle' today and I thought I executed that well. I just did the things in a hostile environment that are tough to do."
More on 'the no-huddle:' "I enjoyed it...I think it's always been productive for us. I say when we go 2-minutes and that was a different situation, obviously. And I felt like we handled it real well. We were tired but it was a lot of fun."
On whether the team has 'the swagger back', the confidence it had a year ago: "Who knows? It's definitely a game that you can sit back this week and look at and pull a lot of good things out of it -- and feel good about yourselves and about your teammates. So we're very pleased with the way that we played tonight."
Still more on the 'no huddle:' "I like it. I think any quarterback would. But it allows you to look at the defense -- and what they're doing, without them regrouping. In other words, they pretty much stayed the same way, and that enabled us to do some things, so I liked it."
On having had increased success on third-down conversions: "Third-down conversions have been a problem for us. But, you're right. We had shorts ones, we had big ones, long ones. Which is reassuring...that we can go into this week knowing we can do that. I think we knew it before, but until you do it, I think therešs some doubt there...But I was amazed sometimes how well we did that."
LeRoy Butler: "We got our swagger back...Monday Night Football and we played well...and won...We got our swagger back. That's important to me and to everybody."
NOTE-WORTHY:
The victory over the Patriots lifted the Packers record on 'Monday Night Football' above the .500 mark. They now have won 13, lost 12 and tied one on the prime time showcase series.
For Head Coach Mike Holmgren, it was the sixth victory in eight appearances on 'MNF.'
With the win, Holmgren finds himself with the second best mid-season record (6-2) he has had in his six seasons as a Green Bay's head coach. He is only one game off his best midpoint pace, 7-and-1, established en route to winning Super Bowl XXXI in 1996.
The success in Foxboro also evened the Packers' regular-season series record against the Patriots to 3-3.
The Packers won the pre-game coin toss for the third straight time after losing it each week for the first five weeks of the regular season.
Dorsey Levens' 100 yards on 26 carries marked his third 100-yard performance this season, tying Edgar Bennett's 1994 total for the most such performances in a season during the Mike Holmgren era.
Reggie White's first quarter fumble recovery was the 20th of his distinguished NFL career. It was forced by fellow defender Eugene Robinson.
Tight end Mark Chmura's second quarter touchdown reception was his fourth of the season, a major upgrade on his '96 season, which saw him go without a receiving touchdown.
The Packers didn't waste any time "introducing" their "no-huddle" offense to the Patriots, utilizing it for the first time in the opening quarter.
LeRoy Butler, waylaying a "Hail Mary" launch by Bledsoe at the Green Bay goal line on the final play of the first half, thus advanced among the Packers' all-time elite. It was the 29th interception of his career and he thus takes over seventh place on the Packers' lifetime list, breaking a tie with Hank Gremminger. Immediately ahead: Legendary Packer Don Hutson, sixth with 30 career thefts.
Butler, who registered a career-high 6.5 sacks in 1996, posted his first of the '97 season late in the first quarter, felling Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe for a 6-yard loss.
Teammates Gabe Wilkins and Gilbert Brown subsequently shared a sack of Bledsoe in the second quarter, dropping him for a 5-yard loss.
Cornerback Tyrone Williams was credited with three passes defensed against the Patriots -- two of them critical end zone "coverages' in the end zone as the Packers shut down the Pats at the one-yard line in the third quarter.
Jeff Dellenbach completed the "cycle" as an offensive lineman when he started at left guard against New England, stepping in for the injured Aaron Taylor (knee). It was his first at the position in a 13-year career which previously has seen him start at every other position in the offensive line, including 55 games at center, 25 at left tackle, 8 at right tackle and 7 at right guard. It was the fourth start of the season for Dellenbach, who earlier made three consecutive starts at center (vs. Miami September 14, vs. Minnesota September 21 and vs. Detroit September 28) while filling in for Frank Winters, sidelined with a foot problem.
Robert Brooks (offense), Seth Joyner (defense) and Lamont Hollinquest (special teams) were Packers captains for Monday night's games.
Right offensive tackle Earl Dotson and nose tackle Gilbert Brown both returned to the starting lineup "Monday night" after sitting out the last two games with back and knee injuries, respectively.
Rookie Ross Verba made his third straight start at left offensive tackle.
Brett Favre was named the "Miller Lite" Player of the Game.
Favre made his 85th consecutive start Monday night, longest such streak among current NFL quarterbacks. Cincinnati's Jeff Blake is next up with 49.
Packer inactives for the Patriots contest included offensive guards Aaron Taylor and Joe Andruzzi, defensive linemen Darius Holland and Jermaine Smith, defensive backs Bucky Brooks and Randy Kinder designated third quarterback Doug Pederson.
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