420 in 240

Packers 31 - Chargers 24

Dan Marino played 240 regular season games in the NFL, and he threw 420 TD passes in his career. On Sunday, Brett Favre played in his 240th consecutive regular season game and tied Marino's TD pass record. (Yeah, yeah, it took him two games longer to get there... whatever -- he's still playing next week, suckas.)

The NFL Network replayed the game Tuesday night, and I watched it all over again -- this time on satellite, with no static.

Personally, I'm thrilled that Greg Jennings caught #420 (on a slant!). Back in his opening game of the season after nursing a hamstring injury, he certainly showed no twinges of pain as he ran it 57 yards down the field with about two minutes left in the game. That was the first of two scores we'd have late in the game, thanks to Nick Barnett's heads-up play to intercept Philip Rivers. That would lead to a Brandon Jackson TD run. Yes, it would have been nice if Brett could've gotten #421 at home, but it'll be just that much sweeter in the Metrodome, where I'm hoping Donald Driver can quiet that lame-ass crowd of norse idiots (maybe on another slant!).

So the game also reintroduced us to three Packers staples:

1. The slant!
2. The screen
3. Bubba Franks dropping the ball in the end zone

Hey, two out of three ain't bad. Actually, replace #3 above with "The KGB sack." He had two on Sunday, bringing him to within two of Reggie White's record of 68.5 for the Pack. Double D has the receptions-at-Lambeau record outright now. And the most impressive record of the week? The Packers are the first team in NFL history to start 3-0 winning against teams that all reached the playoffs in the previous year.

Did you notice? This season is different somehow. I mean, yeah, we're undefeated, so that certainly feels a lot better than 1-2, but Brett seems to be doing the same kind of amazing things as he was doing in the late '90s... and his teammates know how to help him! It's especially amazing considering we have the youngest team in the NFL. Where did all of these young bucks learn how to let Brett Favre make them look so good? My theory is that they learned it by growing up watching Brett Favre play.

Anyway, I have this different attitude as I watch the games, too. I don't know if it's just that I'm appreciating every play a little bit more or what. I know that when one announcer said in the post-game analysis on Sunday that, "Without Brett Favre, the Packers would not have won either of their last two games" by exclaiming at the TV, "But we DO HAVE Brett Favre!" Isn't that the point?

BTW, I noticed that, in the Texans game, Samkon Gado got a touchdown and Ahman Green left the game in the second quarter with a recurring knee injury.

But, all in all, despite Oblio's strange play calling from the sideline, the Packers came out victorious against Dave Barry's Chargers.