Before Thursday night, kicker Dave Rayner had only two cracks at a game-winning field goal in his career.
One came at Oxford High School in Michigan, and he made it. The other came in college as a senior at Michigan State, and his 53-yarder into the wind against arch-rival Michigan fell short.
Try No. 3, and his first in the NFL, came from 44 yards with less than 2 minutes left of a one-point game against the NFC North rival Vikings on a cold, wet night at Lambeau Field.
No pressure, Dave.
"It was probably the most nervous I've ever been in my entire life, but it worked out well," said Rayner, who was true to give the Packers a 9-7 victory. "The hold was good, the snap was good, protection was great. We got into field position and it worked out."
Up until then, it had been a rough night for the second-year kicker. He made his first try from 38 yards in the first quarter, but on his next field goal, also from 38, he slipped badly on the wet turf and his low kick was easily blocked.
At that point, Rayner switched from three-quarter inch cleats to one-inch cleats, "the longest cleats that were legal I think," he said. His footing wasn't a problem the rest of the night, but his next field goal try in the second quarter hit the left upright from 34 yards out.
"I didn't miss it by much, but I was kind of thinking about the footing and was worried about that and then didn't hit the ball real well," he said. "But I'm glad I got another opportunity."
Two more, actually. Rayner was good from 44 yards on the final play of the first half to give the Packers a 6-0 lead. Then, with Green Bay down 7-6, he was needed at the end of the game to cap the Packers' 41-yard drive to the Minnesota 26.
"It won't be his last one like that," receiver Donald Driver said. "He'll continue being nervous, but he showed that he can go out there and kick in these types of conditions. Even though he missed a couple early on, he bounced back, and that's what he had to do."
It was only fitting Rayner's first game-winner as a Packer came this year against the Vikings. Ryan Longwell, Green Bay's all-time leading scorer who kicked his share of game-winners at Lambeau, is now Minnesota's kicker, and he came up to Rayner after the game.
"He said, 'This is one of many,' and I said, 'Hey, if I could hit as many game winners as you've hit and have half the career (you've) had, I'd be happy,'" Rayner said. "He's a class guy and has been nothing but nice to me."
And his teammates were paying him the ultimate compliment afterwards.
"We used to always call Ryan clutch," Driver said. "Dave, he was clutch tonight."
Special game ball
In the locker room immediately after the game, Head Coach Mike McCarthy presented Packers Chairman Bob Harlan with the game ball. Harlan was attending his last regular-season home game as CEO of the franchise. He is retiring in May after 18 years as team president and 36 in the front office.
"A total surprise, and I'm thrilled and honored both," Harlan said. "When Mike called me up, it was a tremendous thrill for me. Very touching."
Harlan then said a few words to the players amidst strong applause.
"I just said I've been here 36 years and I'm just so proud to be a part of this organization and so proud of this team the way it's battled back this year, and what a great future they've got," he said.
Pro Bowlers shine bright
Pro Bowl selections Donald Driver and Aaron Kampman continued to shine with standout performances on Thursday.
Driver set a new career high for receiving yards and receptions in a season. His 12-yard catch in the opening moments of the second quarter gave him 1,223 yards on the season, surpassing the 1,221 he had last season. His 13-yard grab early in the third quarter was his 87th catch, besting the 86 he had a year ago.
With nine catches for 99 yards in the game, Driver now has 89 catches for 1,272 yards in 2006 with one game to play.
Driver also went over 1,200 yards for a third straight season and became only the third receiver in team history to go over that mark three times in his career. Sterling Sharpe also did it three times while James Lofton did it four.
Meanwhile Kampman recorded three sacks for his fourth multi-sack game of 2006, pushing his season total and career high to 15 1/2. That also moved him past Ezra Johnson for the third-most sacks in one season in team history. Johnson had 14 1/2 in 1983.
The two biggest sack seasons by Packers were recorded by Tim Harris, who had 19 1/2 in 1989, and Reggie White, who had 16 in 1998.
Before sacks became an official statistic in 1982, Johnson unofficially recorded 20 1/2 in 1978.
{sportsad300}Favre hits 5,000 completions
Brett Favre's 17-yard completion to Ahman Green on a screen pass on the game-winning drive in the fourth quarter was the 5,000th of his career, making him the first NFL quarterback to hit that mark.
Favre surpassed Dan Marino in last week's game as the all-time completions leader.
With 33 pass attempts in the first half on Thursday, Favre set a new first-half career-high, besting this 31 first-half attempts against Detroit on Nov. 10, 2002.
Favre finished the game 26-of-50 for 285 yards, with two interceptions.
Commissioner in attendance
New NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was in attendance on Thursday night, and he noted it was the first time he'd visited Lambeau Field since the renovation was completed in 2003.
Goodell addressed a small group of reporters before the game regarding the ongoing dispute between the NFL Network and cable companies Time Warner and Charter Communications.
A large portion of western Wisconsin was unable to see Thursday night's game against the Vikings because the NFL Network is not on the cable systems in those areas. Fans in the Green Bay and Milwaukee markets got the game via a local feed, as per NFL procedure on cable-only games, but in the rest of the state, absent a satellite dish or trip to a sports bar with one, fans were blacked out.
"We're upset about it not being on a broader basis," Goodell said. "One of the things the NFL is most proud of is the fact that we go to the broadest possible audience."
At issue in the dispute is Time Warner's and Charter's insistence on putting the NFL Network on a digital sports tier, making it a service cable customers could pay extra for if they wanted to receive it. The NFL Network's position is it wants to be on the basic tier of those cable systems, as it is with the other major cable providers in the country.
"We want to be on the broadest possible tier," Goodell said. "We want everyone to see our product. We are the only sports league to put all our games on free television into the home markets and the visiting markets, and we're proud of that, and I think it's a great part of our success. So we want to make sure we continue to build our audience to make sure the games are available to the broadest possible audience.
"We believe it should be on a broader service because our fans are looking for football 365 days a year."
