Seahawks betting ‘questionable’ Favre will play

The Seahawks needed a good laugh following a debacle last week in San Francisco.

They got one on the Green Bay Packers’ injury report.

It listed Brett Favre as “questionable” for Monday night’s game in Seattle, meaning the NFL record holder for consecutive starts by a quarterback has a 50-50 chance of playing.

The Seahawks almost rolled across the dark blue carpets of their team headquarters, as if Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock had just adjourned a team meeting.

“I don’t really know if Brett is human. No one really checks his blood, you ever notice that?” Shaun Alexander said, laughing.

The league MVP will play his second game Monday since returning from seven weeks out with a broken foot. Those were the first seven games Alexander missed in his seven NFL seasons.

He thinks Favre, the indestructible, three-time MVP, may be a machine. Really.

“I think if we checked Brett’s blood, we would realize that he is not human and that is why he keeps on playing,” Alexander said.

Seahawks Coach Mike Holmgren was the Green Bay coach who began Favre’s incredible streak of 231 consecutive regular-season starts -- plus another 20 in the postseason -- in 1992 when both were first-year Packers.

“I would bet the ranch he’s going to play,” Holmgren said after New England’s Tedy Bruschi hit Favre on the throwing elbow with a cast last Sunday, causing Favre to leave a 35-0 Packers loss.

There are other aspects to Monday night’s game: Ahman Green trying to get back his running form for the Packers (4-6) against a defense that allowed San Francisco 262 yards rushing last week. The NFC West-leading Seahawks (6-4) hoping Alexander will find his MVP skills despite running behind an unsettled offensive line.

Pro Bowl center Robbie Tobeck was in the hospital at week’s end with an abscess in his hip. Right tackle Sean Locklear will likely be out, too, with a high ankle sprain.

Then there’s potent Seahawks receivers Darrell Jackson and Deion Branch testing cornerbacks Al Harris and Charles Woodson, who have been good enough for Holmgren to notice Green Bay is playing more man coverage than in previous seasons.

But the nation’s eyes will be on Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck returning after four weeks of recuperation from a sprained knee. And on Favre being there -- again.

Packers Coach Mike McCarthy wasted some breath saying this weekend’s practices would be the “key” to whether Favre can play. And Favre said midweek that he still didn’t have feeling in two his fingers on his right hand.

Whatever.

“Brett’s the toughest dude in the NFL,” Packers safety Marquand Manuel said.

Holmgren inserted Favre to replace starter Don Majkowski, who got injured, on Sept. 27, 1992. Favre rallied Green Bay to a win over Cincinnati on a touchdown pass with 13 seconds left.

He’s been in there ever since. Through a broken thumb on his passing hand, tendinitis in his throwing elbow, coughing up blood on the sideline. Through a severely sprained ankle in 1995 that eventually required surgery -- he still completed 70 percent of his passes with 21 touchdowns and two interceptions in seven subsequent games. That won him his first MVP award.

In 2004, Favre reentered a game against the Giants with a concussion and without medical clearance. He threw a touchdown pass -- then, of course, played the next week.

Hasselbeck, a former Favre protege, will play while wearing a brace in his first game back from a sprained collateral knee ligament. Favre also had one of those, in 2002, and played the next game following a bye week.

Hasselbeck remembers everyone inside Packers headquarters coming up to him before a game against Indianapolis in 2000.

“This is finally your chance. Be ready. Good luck,” everyone told Favre’s second-year backup.

Favre had severely sprained his foot in the previous game when Tampa Bay’s Warren Sapp sacked him.

“He was on crutches. He was in a boot. He had a size 13 shoe on the left foot by gametime and a size 15 on the right foot,” Hasselbeck said. “And he got out there and played and was unbelievable (23 for 36, 301 yards, two TDs in a win).

“It was just typical Brett Favre stuff.”

It’s mind-boggling -- unless you are Cal Ripken Jr., baseball’s record holder with 2,632 consecutive starts from 1982-98. But Ripken didn’t have 300-plus pound men trying to decapitate him every game.

“It is amazing, it blows your mind,” Hasselbeck said. “You think about Cal Ripken Jr., and what he did. And this is like beyond that.

“I think it says a lot that his backup [Aaron Rodgers] gets in for a little bit [last week] and now he’s out for the year.”

So does the fact the Seahawks have started 12 quarterbacks since Favre began his streak. The Chicago Bears have started 20 in that span.

“It’s unbelievable,” Holmgren said. “It’s one of the more remarkable things in sports history.”

Favre has 13 touchdown passes and only seven interceptions this season after leading the league with 29 picks last season. He seems humbled by what even he called his “unbelievable” resilience.

“I think more than the fact that I’ve played in every one of them physically, you have to play at a high enough level for them not to replace you,” Favre said. “I’ve had games where I’ve struggled and stretches where I didn’t play up to par. But here we are 15 years later, and I’ve played every game.”

Monday night being any different? Yeah, right.