They Just Needed the Right Playmates

Brett Favre began the day 36 going on 37 going on Johnny-Unitas-hung-on-too-long status, with blasphemers in the sporting media down to counting his interceptions (32 in his previous 18 games) and his losses (15 in his previous 19 starts) and a pigskin journal as auspicious as Playboy magazine proclaiming him to be the “Worst Player in Football.”

(Obviously, this was a blatant ploy by Playboy and author Allen Barra to garner a few cheap headlines and mentions in pro football commentaries. Unless Playboy and Barra are unfamiliar with the collected works of the 2003-2006 Oakland Raiders.)

Mark Brunell began the day 36 going on drop lists of fantasy leaguers across the land, with Washington Redskins fans clamoring to see second stringer Jason Campbell (career NFL snaps taken thus far: none) and/or the return of Danny Wuerffel.

(It got so bad for Brunell, who had driven his team to only one touchdown in his first two games this season, that Fox’s Terry Bradshaw on Sunday said he “is just not the guy I want” running the Washington offense. Jimmy Johnson simply said that Brunell was too old to handle the complexities of the Washington offense.)

Favre and Brunell began the third Sunday of this football season a combined 72, or nearly as old as newly recycled Atlanta Falcons kicker Morten Andersen, who’s old enough to remember the days when every Favre pass was the unquestioned masterwork of the Picasso of Packerland and when Brunell was a 4,300-yard passer for Jacksonville and a two-time starter of AFC championship games.

But that was long before Favre and Brunell combined for four losses in four 2006 starts, including home losses to the New Orleans Saints and the Minnesota Vikings, with two-game passer ratings of 70 or lower.

That, however, was also before Favre saddled up against the Detroit Lions and Brunell settled in against the Houston Texans.

Breaking news from Ford Field: Favre throws for 340 yards in a 31-24 victory over Detroit and becomes the second man in league history with 400 touchdown passes -- for a career, not one game against Detroit. It does warrant clarification.

Breaking news from Reliant Stadium: Brunell completes his first 22 passes in a 31-15 triumph over Houston, setting the league record for consecutive passes completed in a game.

Of note: Mario Williams, the player the Texans drafted instead of Reggie Bush, had two tackles and no sacks (again). Since electing to draft Williams instead of Bush, the Texans have been outscored 98-49.

(Evidently, Playboy and Barra are also unfamiliar with the collected works of the Detroit Lions and the Houston Texans.)

For Favre and Brunell, it was Return to Greatness (Thanks to Fortuitous Scheduling) Day. Favre passed for three touchdowns, moving closer to Dan Marino’s NFL-record 420. Brunell did not log one misfired pass until the third quarter, his streak of 22 completions breaking the record of 21 set by Oakland’s Rich Gannon against Denver on Nov. 11, 2002.

A much younger quarterback, Cincinnati’s Carson Palmer, also made a notable return -- against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The last time he played the Steelers, Palmer did not play long, tearing up a knee on the Bengals’ second offensive play in a 31-17 playoff loss in January.

Sunday, Palmer faced down the Steelers once again, a matchup worthy of scrutiny for football fans and psychologists alike. Palmer was shaky at times -- he had three fumbles, two of his passes were intercepted and he was sacked six times -- but he withstood the pressure, real and imagined, to pass for four touchdowns in a 28-20, measure-of-revenge victory that lifted the Bengals to 3-0, two games ahead of the reigning Super Bowl champions in the AFC North standings.

Meanwhile, the Mannings went their separate ways in two games touted as carrying “playoff implications,” even though they were played in September.

Peyton Manning might be one Super Bowl ring behind Ben Roethlisberger, but Sunday he did a couple of things against Jacksonville that Roethlisberger could not:

1. Score points.

2. Win.

Six days after Jacksonville shut out Pittsburgh, 9-0, on prime-time television, Manning oversaw an efficient and tough-minded 21-14 Indianapolis victory by passing for a touchdown and running for another.

The Colts improved to 3-0 and the Jaguars are asking for an investigation into how the league could schedule them with games against the Steelers and the Colts in a six-day span.

Eli Manning, a little cocky after rallying the New York Giants from a 17-point deficit against Philadelphia in Week 2, decided to see what he could do with a 35-point deficit against Seattle.

Answer: Throw together a 27-point fourth quarter and still lose by a dozen, 42-30.

Philadelphia overcame the shock and humiliation of blowing a 17-point lead to the Giants by routing San Francisco, 38-24, after building a 28-point lead on a 98-yard fumble return by defensive tackle Mike Patterson.

How long does it take a 292-pound defensive tackle to run the almost-100-yard dash?

About 20 seconds, give or take, according to the time elapsed on the Monster Park scoreboard clock.

And in Arizona, former St. Louis teammates Marc Bulger and Kurt Warner played you-take-it, no-you-I-insist with the football in the last two minutes of their desert reunion. Bulger fumbled on the St. Louis 30 with 1:58 to play, Warner fumbled it back on the St. Louis 18 with 1:46 to play and the Rams held on for a 16-14 victory.

“I feel like I hit the lottery,” a stunned Bulger told reporters afterward.

No, he just hit that date on the schedule that reads, in ever-comforting language: “at Arizona.”

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mike.penner@latimes.com