The Green Bay Packers are awaiting X-ray results today on the right hand and wrist of quarterback Brett Favre. The most durable quarterback in NFL history hurt the hand during a 41-20 triumph Sunday over the Dallas Cowboys at Lambeau Field in which Favre completed 23 of 29 passes for 258 yards and two touchdowns.
The Packers face the Washington Redskins on Sunday at FedEx Field, and Favre's league-record streak of 196 straight starts (215 in a row, counting the postseason) is on the line. It has been a difficult season for Favre, one in which he has suffered a badly bruised left leg and a concussion. He has played with a sore left shoulder that has made even holding his arms above his head in a touchdown celebration painful. He has endured the death of his brother-in-law, Casey Tynes, after Tynes crashed an all-terrain vehicle on Favre's property in Mississippi.
But Favre has persevered, at least so far, and the Packers have won two straight games to improve their record to 3-4 after suffering through their first four-game losing streak under fifth-year coach Mike Sherman. They were 0-3 at Lambeau this season until beating the Cowboys.
Sherman has become the club's main offensive play-caller in recent weeks after offensive coordinator Tom Rossley underwent an angioplasty, and that arrangement is to continue against the Redskins. The Packers have totaled 79 points and 914 yards in their consecutive wins over the Detroit Lions and the Cowboys. Green Bay rolled up 480 yards against the Cowboys and scored on each of its first seven possessions. Rossley made suggestions from the press box, and Sherman credited Rossley for the call on a halfback option pass by Tony Fisher that resulted in a touchdown.
Tailback Ahman Green ran for 163 yards, 90 of them on a third-quarter touchdown dash that allowed him to join Bo Jackson as the only two players in NFL history with two career touchdown runs of 90 yards or longer. Green had a 98-yarder last December. He recently shed his trademark forearm pads in an attempt to cure his fumbling problems, and played Sunday despite a sore Achilles tendon.
The Packers also were 3-4 after seven games last season, when Favre led them on a late charge into the playoffs despite playing with a broken right thumb and enduing the death of his father, Irvin, in December.
Favre hurt himself early in Sunday's game when he hit his hand on another player's helmet. His wrist and hand became sore and swollen but he stayed in the game, and told reporters afterward that he had more trouble taking snaps than throwing the ball.
The Green Bay defense benefited Sunday from the return of nose tackle Grady Jackson, who'd been sidelined by a dislocated kneecap since a season-opening triumph at Carolina on "Monday Night Football.''
Veteran safety Darren Sharper is scheduled to undergo an MRI exam today for a knee injury suffered Sunday. The Packers added by subtraction with the recent trade of cornerback Mike McKenzie to New Orleans. McKenzie had been a major distraction after ending a lengthy contract holdout, and the Packers have moved first-round draft choice Ahmad Carroll into the starting lineup at the cornerback spot opposite Al Harris.
New defensive coordinator Bob Slowik got carried away early in the season with his blitzing tactics but has toned down his approach since, trying to keep offenses guessing and limiting the big plays the Packers surrender. Green Bay's defensive coaching staff includes linebackers coach Mark Duffner, the former University of Maryland head coach, and defensive backs coach Kurt Schottenheimer, formerly the Redskins' defensive coordinator.
The Packers view this game as a must if they're going to get back into the playoffs.
After they play the Redskins, the Packers have a bye and then face a difficult stretch of their schedule in which they play Minnesota twice, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Detroit and Jacksonville within a seven-week span.
--Mark Maske
