Favre goes into harsh territory

Brett Favre tries to break new ground, Carolina hopes to protect its home turf (for once), and -- of all people -- a Kansas City fan reveals a closely guarded Chiefs secret.

A look at 10 things to watch in Week 13 of the NFL:

Texas tundra

1. The game of the week pits Green Bay and Dallas, each 10-1 and vying for dominance in the NFC. Packers quarterback Brett Favre has an 0-8 record at Dallas with 12 touchdown passes and eight interceptions in those games. Texas Stadium is one of nine current NFL venues in which Favre has played but never won. The way Favre is playing, this could be his year. The Packers have the NFL’s third-ranked offense and lead the NFC with 298.5 yards passing per game.

Devin from heaven

2. Are the New York Giants going to get bold the way Denver did and kick to Chicago’s Devin Hester? Not likely. Their kickoff coverage team is ranked 22nd in the league. Hester scored the ninth and 10th regular-season return touchdowns of his career Sunday, running back a punt and a kickoff. He might be the best returner in NFL history. If the Giants know what’s good for them, they’ll play keep-away.

Getting wild

3. Green Bay and Dallas are in firm control of the NFC North and East, while Seattle and Tampa Bay each have two-game leads in the West and South. But the NFC wild-card logjam is starting to take shape, with only two games separating eight teams: Arizona, Detroit, Chicago, Minnesota, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Washington and the Giants. The race is on for those two spots.

Oh, brother!

4. With big brother Peyton watching from a luxury suite, Eli Manning had a horrendous game against Minnesota. Three of his four interceptions were returned for touchdowns. Up next, Chicago. When Manning faced the Bears in Week 10 last season, his numbers were ugly: 14 for 32 for 121 yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions and a 28.3 passer rating. The visiting Bears won, 38-20, making Eli’s day, well, less than suite.

Red, white and blue print

5. You can bet that each of New England’s five remaining opponents are taking a hard look at Sunday night’s oh-so-close call against Philadelphia. The Eagles pressured Tom Brady into making mistakes, and the Patriots’ secondary at times looked very vulnerable. Is that the formula for spoiling their quest for perfection? We’ll see, as the final-five countdown starts Monday night at Baltimore.

Aw, forget it

6. Detroit plays at Minnesota in a key NFC North game between wild-card hopefuls. In a September game that included a combined nine turnovers, the Lions beat the Vikings with a field goal in overtime. Jon Kitna played well in crunch time. He’ll have to take our word for that, though, because he’s drawing a blank. After all, he suffered the worst concussion of his career in that game.

Home cooked

7. Could the Carolina Panthers really be that bad at home? They’ve lost seven in a row there and, but for their 4-2 road record, would belong among the NFL bottom dwellers. Their best chance to give the Charlotte crowd something -- anything -- to cheer comes Sunday against San Francisco, which is 2-4 on the road. The Panthers’ other remaining home games are against Seattle and Dallas.

No picking on him

8. Jacksonville’s David Garrard is this season’s only starting quarterback who has yet to have a pass intercepted. Let’s see how he does Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts, whose 10 picks are second only to San Diego in the AFC. Indianapolis knocked Garrard out of the first meeting, sending him to the sideline with a twisted ankle, then twice picked off backup Quinn Gray in a 29-7 rout. This time, the Jaguars are playing for a share of the AFC South lead.

Cool your Jets

9. After Monday night’s sloppy 3-0 loss to Pittsburgh, Miami’s best chance to avoid an unprecedented 0-16 season comes Sunday against the visiting New York Jets (2-9), who will have had 10 days to forget their drubbing at Dallas. No team has fallen as far this season as the Jets, who were coming off a 10-6 year and were a promising up-and-comer. After New York, Miami has home games against Baltimore and Cincinnati, and road games against Buffalo and New England.

Chief concern

10. When Kansas City pulled off an upset in San Diego earlier this season, frustrated Chargers fans chanted, “Mar-ty! Mar-ty!” These days, Chiefs fans have to be pining for the days when Schottenheimer coached their team, too. Kansas City is coming off a bitter defeat to the hated Oakland Raiders, and fans there are fed up with the breakdowns on both sides of the ball. At Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday, one fan held a sign deriding Coach Herm Edwards. It read: “Herm’s top secret game plan. R2P2 -- run, run, pass, punt.”

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sam.farmer@latimes.com