Favre Hits Milestone as Packers Win, 31-24

Brett Favre sprinted toward the end zone, signaled touchdown and then pumped his right fist. The 36-year-old quarterback had just become the second player in NFL history to throw 400 touchdown passes in his career.

He added two more scores to lead the Green Bay Packers to their first victory of the season, a 31-24 decision Sunday over the Lions at Detroit.

Favre said he felt like a kid while celebrating, but his body and Packer Coach Mike McCarthy quickly reminded him that he was not.

“I’ve got to stop doing that because I get so tired,” said Favre, who turns 37 next month. “I have to be smarter. Mike said, ‘Great job, but you have to quit running around like that,’ because I couldn’t talk to him, I couldn’t breathe.”

With his first touchdown pass of the game -- a 75-yarder to Greg Jennings -- Favre joined Hall of Famer Dan Marino as the only quarterbacks to reach 400 scoring passes. Marino has 420.

“We needed a win a lot more than I needed 400 touchdown passes,” said Favre, whose team is 1-2.

The Lions (0-3) remained winless under new Coach Rod Marinelli, but they had their chances in the fourth quarter, just as they did in the season-opening loss to Seattle.

St. Louis 16, at Arizona 14 -- Marc Bulger and Kurt Warner took turns trying to fumble the game away. Warner succeeded.

The Arizona quarterback, who had three interceptions, fumbled a snap at the Rams’ 18-yard line with 1:46 left, and Will Witherspoon recovered to allow St. Louis to hang on.

Arizona’s drive had begun after Antonio Smith recovered Bulger’s fumble at the St. Louis 30 with 1:58 left. Edgerrin James carried three times to the 18. Bulger said he was thinking of how he was going to face his teammates when Warner dropped the snap and Witherspoon got the ball for St. Louis (2-1). Arizona dropped to 1-2.

“I feel like I hit the lottery,” Bulger said.

The Cardinals were stunned.

“I couldn’t believe it,” defensive tackle Darnell Dockett said. “I was tapping myself in the head like, ‘Wake up! That’s not reality.’ ”

The game ended strangely with Arizona taking a fair catch on a punt as time ran out. Under an obscure rule, that would have given the Cardinals a free kick, and Neil Rackers was ready to take a shot at a 77-yard field goal.

But Arizona was offsides on the punt. After considerable confusion, the Rams decided to take the penalty and Bulger took a knee to end it.

Philadelphia 38, at San Francisco 24 -- Mike Patterson wheezed and winced, but the 292-pound Eagles defensive lineman got all the way to the end zone with a 98-yard fumble return in the third quarter.

Brian Westbrook rushed for 117 yards and two touchdowns, also catching a scoring pass from Donovan McNabb, who passed for 296 yards -- but Patterson’s fumble return for a score was the most memorable moment for Philadelphia (2-1).

The Eagles (2-1) had plenty of highlights to go around. Reggie Brown caught five passes for 106 yards as Philadelphia shook off last week’s embarrassing collapse against the Giants, protecting a huge lead this time with 416 yards of sharp offense.