ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, January 1, 1996 TAG: 9601020108
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: HOLIDAY
DATELINE: GREEN BAY, WIS.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
GREEN BAY extends its home playoff record to 9-0 behind Brett Favre's three touchdown passes.
Perfect, quarterback Brett Favre thought as he awoke to fresh-fallen snow Sunday.
The Green Bay Packers had their impeccable setting. Not only had they never lost a home playoff game at Lambeau Field, Favre had never lost in bad weather.
Favre kept both marks unblemished Sunday and his fabulous season continued with three touchdown passes as the Packers knocked the Atlanta Falcons from the playoffs 37-20.
``You don't have to throw for 400 yards to be successful,'' said Favre, who threw for 199 yards after amassing 4,413 during the season. ``I threw three touchdowns today and we were precise when we had to be.''
Favre, who threw an NFC-best 38 touchdown passes this season, picked apart the Falcons' beleaguered secondary, which yielded an NFL-record 4,751 yards passing in 1995.
He will lead the Packers (12-5) to San Francisco for a divisional playoff Saturday.
``If they were watching today,'' Favre said, ``they know not to take us lightly.''
Favre's pinpoint passing against the NFL's all-time worst pass defense helped the Packers build a 27-10 halftime lead after Jeff George shocked Green Bay with a 65-yard touchdown pass to Eric Metcalf three minutes into the game.
Favre, the league's Offensive Player of the Year, had plenty of help.
Edgar Bennett, the first 1,000-yard rusher in Green Bay since 1978, carried 24 times for a team playoff record 108 yards. Rookie Antonio Freeman, a former Virginia Tech standout, returned a punt 76 yards for a score as the Packers improved to 9-0 in playoff games at Lambeau Field.
Amidst fog and flurries in the first half, Favre found nine receivers in completing 16 of 22 passes for 115 of his 199 yards. Two of the incompletions were drops. He finished 24-for-35 with no interceptions.
After the Falcons, who reached the playoffs with a victory over the 49ers last week, cut the lead to 27-17, Favre tossed an 18-yard touchdown to Dorsey Levens with 7:45 left to ice it.
George finished 30-of-54 for 366 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. All of Atlanta's last 29 plays were passes, including the final one, which was picked off by Doug Evans.
Safety George Teague intercepted George's second pass of the game.
``Coming out and making the big play early gave a boost to the defense and we said, `Hey, we can deal with these guys,''' Teague said.
The Packers had set an NFL record for fewest takeaways with just 16 during the season.
The Falcons (9-8), the only team ever to have four 1,000-yard players, never got the run portion of their run-and-shoot offense untracked. Craig Heyward, who ran for 1,083 yards this year, gained just 21 yards on nine carries.
``The footing was bad,'' Atlanta coach June Jones said. ``Then we got behind and we kind of gave up on it.''
After a scoreless third period, J.J. Birden caught a 27-yard scoring pass that trimmed Green Bay's lead to 27-17 with 14:07 remaining.
Favre responded by driving his team 70 yards, capping the drive with an 18-yard toss to Levens.
The Packers' 17-point halftime lead would have been even bigger were it not for two dropped interceptions by strong safety LeRoy Butler, a missed field goal by Chris Jacke and a bad snap by Frank Winters on a point-after kick.
Favre threw for two touchdowns and Bennett ran 8 yards for another score in the first half, when Green Bay lost guard Aaron Taylor to a torn patellar tendon in his left knee.
After Bennett's 8-yard scoring burst and Robert Brooks' 14-yard touchdown catch put Green Bay up 14-7, George got outside and hit Terance Mathis for 55 yards, setting up Morten Andersen's 31-yard field goal.
``This team has to hold their heads up,'' George said. ``We have to go into the off-season and know what it feels like to get into the playoffs and come back.''
see microfilm for box score
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Green Bay's Antonio Freeman, a former Virginia Techby CNBfootball player, celebrates his 76-yard punt return for a touchdown
in the second quarter Sunday at Lambeau Field. KEYWORDS: FOOTBALL