Packers Can’t Thumb a Ride

Brett Favre couldn’t perform another last-minute miracle in Green Bay’s 27-13 loss to Dallas on Sunday, but there might be a very good reason for that.

An examination of his injured right thumb shows such obvious damage that it is surprising he can throw a football, according to a newspaper report.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Sunday that Favre, while “in a reflective mood in the Packer locker room,” allowed a reporter to examine his throwing hand and also revealed some of his frustrations this season.

“There’s so many things I’ve had to be conscious about, two hands on the ball, stuff I’ve never had to be conscious about,” Favre said. “Now I go to throw it and it might come out. I just don’t have the grip I had.”

Favre injured his thumb when he hit his hand on the helmet of Denver linebacker John Mobley in an exhibition game Aug. 23.

He has attempted to play despite the injury, setting an NFL record last weekend for the most consecutive starts by a quarterback. The Packers have a 4-5 record after Sunday’s loss.

In describing Favre’s throwing hand, the newspaper said the knuckle on his right thumb appeared dramatically larger than the knuckle on his left thumb, and the area near the joint, where the right thumb joins his hand, also was swollen.

When Favre extended both thumbs out with his fingers clenched, he showed that he can’t bend the right thumb back as far as the left one. On the top of the hand, Favre has several healing cuts and scrapes, the largest over the knuckle below the index finger.

Favre said he figures it would take a full month of rest to return the thumb to its normal state.

Packer quarterback coach Mike McCarthy said it was evident the injury affected the way Favre has been throwing the ball, “but we’re not going to make excuses.

“It’s our decision to play him. It’s his decision also, he has the responsibility to say, ‘Hey, I can’t go, I can’t go.’ That’s where we’re at. He has to learn to play with it, that’s our approach.”

Favre said his throwing hand gets hit nearly every game, which causes the swelling that has been reduced during the week to start over again.

“It’s like the Seattle game,” he said. “On the first play, I hit my hand right on a guy’s arm. What am I going to do, come over to the bench and say, ‘I hit my thumb again.’ I just have to deal with it.”

MAYBE THE DODGERS CAN GIVE HIM THE MONEY HE WANTS

Joey Galloway, who ended his season-long holdout this week, was in a Seattle Seahawk uniform for their game against the Denver Broncos on Sunday night.

Galloway, the team’s leading receiver last season, dropped $1.047 million in lost salary and fines during his 100-day holdout that ended when he reported Tuesday.

He was added to the roster 90 minutes before the Denver game and didn’t wait long to make his first catch.

Coach Mike Holmgren put Galloway in for Seattle’s seventh play in the opening quarter and the receiver caught a six-yard pass from Jon Kitna on his eighth play.

The catch helped the Seahawks get to the Denver 17 and Todd Peterson kicked a 35-yard field goal to give them a 3-0 lead. Seattle went on to win, 20-17, with Galloway making four catches for 88 yards.

Galloway, the team’s leading receiver last season, rejected a $35-million offer, including a $7-million signing bonus, for seven years from the Seahawks during his holdout.

He came back to play for what was left of his $1.585-million salary for the final season of his five-year contract signed as a rookie out of Ohio State.

IT’S STILL NOT TOO LATE TO FINISH 7-9

With Sunday’s 35-10 win over Carolina, the Rams (7-2) matched their top victory total in five seasons since moving to St. Louis. They were 7-9 in 1995, their first year after the move.

LITTLE’S RETURN DRAWS A PROTEST

The NFL’s reinstatement of St. Louis Ram linebacker Leonard Little led to a protest by the local chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving on Sunday at St. Louis.

About 200 people joined a rally sponsored by MADD, which began downtown and wound up at the entrance to the Trans World Dome prior to the Ram game against the Carolina Panthers.

The MADD group marched to the Dome and put 277 flowers at the main entrance--one for each person killed in drunk-driving accidents in Missouri in 1998.

The timing and place of the rally was no coincidence. Little, who police said was drunk when he was involved in a 1998 fatal accident, was reinstated Tuesday after serving an eight-game suspension.

“Clearly, we want to use that situation as a catalyst for this cause,” MADD spokesman Gary Pallardy said. “We wouldn’t have garnered this much attention if it wasn’t for that situation.”

Little pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter June 16. He was sentenced to 90 days in the city workhouse and four years’ probation, and ordered to perform 1,000 hours of community service.

ANOTHER CLASSIC GAME SHOW RETURNS: BEAT THE CLOCK

A rule designed to prevent teams from faking injuries to stop the clock penalized the wrong team in Sunday’s Cleveland-Pittsburgh game.

With the Browns driving for the winning field goal in their 16-15 upset victory, tackle Lomas Brown was injured on Tim Couch’s seven-yard swing pass to Terry Kirby.

Because the Browns were out of timeouts, they were assessed a 10-second penalty, cutting the time remaining from 1:23 to 1:13.

But because the Browns were trying to run down the clock before Phil Dawson kicked his game-winning 39-yard field goal on the final play, the 10-second penalty actually helped them.

The Browns weren’t too upset about how the game ended.

“This had to tear the living hearts out of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Too bad for them,” defensive tackle John Jurkovic said.

ONLY IN PHILADELPHIA

The Philadelphia Eagles defeated Washington, 35-28, even though Donovan McNabb, the No. 2 overall draft pick, completed only eight of 21 passes for 60 yards with no touchdowns.

It was the worst statistical debut for an Eagle quarterback since Brad Goebel was nine for 20 for 62 yards and two interceptions in 1991.

McNabb wasn’t the only one out of sync at Veterans Stadium. An official left his microphone on after Washington quarterback Brad Johnson fumbled in the first quarter, shouting a couple of expletives to more than 60,000 people.

THIS TRADE FAVORS THE BENGALS

A banner hung in the second half of Cincinnati’s 24-14 loss to Tennessee, dropping the Bengals to 1-9 this season:

“Hey Seattle, Final Offer: Bengals For Griffey. Go Reds.”

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Point of Contention

Since the NFL season was expanded to 16 games in 1978, no team has allowed fewer points after nine games than the Jacksonville Jaguars have this season.

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Team Points Final Record 1999 Jacksonville 79 1991 New Orleans 90 11-5 1988 Chicago 90 12-4 1978 L.A. Rams 105 12-4 1978 Denver 107 10-6 1990 Miami 107 12-4

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--Compiled by Houston Mitchell