Un4gettable Favre: Top passes, interceptions
Brett Favre is being inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame this weekend and having his jersey retired later this year.
To honor one of Green Bay's most beloved players -- and one of football's most polarizing -- we present some of Favre's top moments in a six-part series. Appropriately, there are 4 listed in each category.
Part 2: Top passes and interceptions
TOP 4 PASSES
4. Sept. 11, 1995: During his first of three straight MVP seasons, Favre introduced the Chicago Bears to what would become a familiar scene for their defense over the next decade: a Packers receiver catching a long touchdown pass. This one was as long as any in league history, as Favre completed a 99-yarder to speedy Robert Brooks, tying the NFL record.
3. Sept. 27, 2009: Early in his first season with the Vikings, Favre showed off some of his old magic, firing a 32-yard bullet to Greg Lewis for the game-winning touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers with just two seconds remaining. Favre, who'd escaped the pocket, extended the play and evaded the rush just long enough to zip the pass to Lewis between two defenders in the back of the end zone, watched the score from his stomach after being flattened. It was a classic Favre finish.
2. Oct. 29, 2007: Under the lights of Monday Night Football, in what would be his final season in Green Bay, on the first play of overtime against the Denver Broncos, Favre, off play-action, spiraled a long pass down the left sideline to Greg Jennings, who caught it in stride and ran into the end zone for the 82-yard touchdown that won the game.
1. Jan. 8, 1994: Still early in the Favre-Mike Holmgren era, the quarterback etched his name into Packers lore with one of the most memorable plays in franchise history. Trailing the Detroit Lions by three late in their wild-card matchup, Favre rolled out and threw a stunning 40-yard bomb to Sterling Sharpe, who caught the touchdown pass with 55 seconds left and gave Green Bay its first playoff victory in 11 years. Afterward, Holmgren called it "the play of the year."
TOP 4 INTERCEPTIONS
4. Nov. 10, 1991: In his rookie season with the Atlanta Falcons, Favre entered a blowout against the Washington Redskins for some garbage-time snaps. On his very first pass in an NFL regular-season game, he was picked off by linebacker Andre Collins, who returned the interception for the final touchdown of a 56-point day for the Redskins. An ominous, but in some ways foretelling, start to Favre's career.
3. Jan. 11, 2004: Favre wasn't the only reason the Packers lost the infamous "fourth-and-26" game against the Philadelphia Eagles in the divisional round of the playoffs -- that would be the defense faulted for the above-named play -- but he sealed his team's fate. After Green Bay had allowed Philadelphia to improbably tie the game and force overtime, Favre lofted a ball up for grabs. It was intercepted by Philadelphia's Brian Dawkins and the Eagles would kick the game-winning field goal on the ensuing drive.
2. Jan. 24, 2010: His last pass of the game, and thus his last pass of the season, Favre was intercepted late in the NFC Championship Game by the Saints' Tracy Porter. Hampered by a leg injury, Favre had tried to throw across the field -- one of his oft-mentioned bad habits -- and it cost the Vikings a Super Bowl trip.
1. Jan. 20, 2008: Who could have guessed then that Favre's NFC Championship Game interception against the Giants would be his last pass in the Green and Gold? Corey Webster picked off Favre in overtime and New York kicker Lawrence Tynes' field goal ended not only the Packers' season, but also the Brett Favre era in Green Bay.
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