Favre’s Fabulous Five

Quarterback Brett Favre has been involved in a league-leading 35 touchdowns for the Green Bay Packers this season. Here are his five best, in ascending order.

5. THE BATTLER

On Nov. 12 against the Chicago Bears in Green Bay, Favre stuns teammates by playing despite a severely sprained left ankle that was supposed to sideline him. Late in the first quarter with the score tied, 7-all, and the Bears zeroing in on that ankle, he stands firm in the face of a blitz by safety Marty Carter and finds Robert Brooks on a perfectly timed slant pattern that results in a 29-yard touchdown pass.

Epilogue: It is one of his five touchdown passes that day. Thrown off an ankle the size of a softball.

4. THE BOMB

On Sept. 11 in Chicago, Favre drops several yards into his end zone and sends Brooks deep down the right side.

With the Bears blitzing, Favre pump-fakes, freezing the defensive backs. The Bears keep coming and hands are suddenly atop Favre’s helmet. Just in time, he lofts the ball. It falls perfectly into Brooks’ hands near midfield, and Brooks runs the rest of the way on a 99-yard touchdown play.

Epilogue: The play ties an NFL record for longest touchdown pass.

3. THE BLUFF

On Oct. 8 in Dallas, late in the fourth quarter with his team trailing by two touchdowns, Favre calls a pass play from the Cowboy 21-yard line. He looks. Nothing there. He scrambles, looks some more. There are still no holes in the Cowboy zone, so he begins to run down the left side. When he has reached the 14-yard line, he is caught by Dallas safety Brock Marion. Inexplicably, Favre pump fakes, even though he is six yards beyond the line of scrimmage. Stranger still, Marion falls for the fake, momentarily hesitating. Favre sprints into the end zone.

Epilogue: It is one of Favre’s three touchdowns rushing this season. And some say Marion has never been the same.

2. THE BULLET

On Dec. 3 in Green Bay against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Packers are trailing, 10-3, with six seconds left in the first half when Favre gets desperate at the Bengal 13-yard line. No receivers are open. A field goal will allow the Bengals to maintain momentum. Favre needs a touchdown. But how to get it? Then he sees Mark Ingram standing in the end zone, sandwiched by Bengal safeties Bracey Walker and Darryl Williams. None of them are expecting the ball because no right-minded quarterback would ever try to thread that sort of . . . The ball flies into the crowd, so quick and hard and accurate that the safeties’ outstretched hands can’t get it and the surprised Ingram can’t miss it. It hits him in the belly. The Packers tie the game and never trail again.

Epilogue: “A miracle,” Packer Coach Mike Holmgren says.

1. THE BELIEVE-IT-OR-NOT

On Nov. 26 in Green Bay against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, midway through the fourth quarter with the Packers holding a 15-point lead, Favre runs a play in which he is supposed to roll right before throwing. He rolls, but there is nobody open on the right side. So he stops and runs left. Still nobody open. By then, the defensive backs figure he will run and begin pressing. Huge mistake. Out of the corner of his eye, Favre sees Brooks standing in the middle of the end zone, far from his assigned route, just hanging around until he hears a whistle or witnesses an incredible feat, as all of Favre’s receivers learn to do. And he gets one. Favre stops running left, spins, and throws the ball blindly over his left shoulder. Right to Brooks for the touchdown. On the sideline, Holmgren chants the familiar litany of, “No, no, no, no . . . Yes!”

Epilogue: Favre’s best touchdown pass this season covered all of three yards.