NFL
Lions pick apart Favre, Packers

By Larry Lage
The Associated Press

	PAUL SANCYA / AP Dre' Bly of Detroit celebrates his interception of a Brett Favre pass in the fourth quarter. Bly had two interceptions and forced a fumble.
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DETROIT — Brett Favre's gambling style has helped him win three NFL MVP awards and plenty of games for Green Bay. It also cost the Packers a win yesterday.

Favre threw three interceptions and lost a fumble, and the Detroit Lions relied on former Washington State kicker Jason Hanson's five field goals for a 22-14 victory, dealing the Packers' playoff hopes a blow.

"I guessed wrong a couple times and I was just off a couple times," Favre said. "That's going to happen in this league. They just made the plays."

Dre' Bly made the most of them, intercepting two passes to negate scoring opportunities for Green Bay. Bly also forced a Javon Walker fumble, setting up Hanson's 49-yard field goal for a 16-14 lead in the fourth quarter.

The Lions (4-8) surpassed their victory totals from each of the past two seasons and extended their home winning streak to three games.

"I'm glad we had an opportunity to showcase our abilities in front of the world," Bly said

The Packers (6-6) dropped 1-1/2 games behind the Minnesota Vikings, who play at St. Louis on Sunday. Green Bay had won three of its previous four games to get back in the division race.

Green Bay guard Mike Wahle said the Packers "absolutely" have run out of chances to make the playoffs.

"At 6-6, with four games left? You think 8-8 is going to get us in the playoffs?" he asked.

Green Bay coach Mike Sherman — and many of his players — said the Lions played their traditional Thanksgiving Day game with more passion than the Packers.

"This is their football game," Sherman said. "We knew that we were going to have to come out and play 60 emotionally charged minutes of football and we didn't do it. That's disappointing."

In addition to harassing Favre throughout, the Lions stifled running back Ahman Green, holding him to 57 yards. Green came in averaging an NFC-best 120.5 yards and had run for at least 100 in a franchise-record four straight games.

Green Bay is 21-2 when Green runs for 100 yards, but he didn't get close to that mark against Detroit's suddenly stingy defense.

"That was the key to the game," Detroit safety Corey Harris said. "I don't care if you're Brett Favre, Dan Marino or John Elway, if your team can't run, you're in trouble."

Favre broke his right thumb Oct. 19 against St. Louis, but yesterday he tied Forrest Gregg's team record by playing in his 187th consecutive game. It was also Favre's 185th consecutive start, extending his NFL record for a quarterback.

It was not Favre's finest effort, however.

He was 23 of 37 for 296 yards with two touchdowns. But in the second half, he threw the three interceptions and had the fumble. Favre's first two interceptions were hard-thrown balls directly at Bly, and the third was an up-for-grabs lob that Doug Evans snatched with about a minute left.

"We were never able to get Detroit on their heels, and that's how you win football games," Favre said.

Detroit's Joey Harrington was 21 of 32 for 183 yards and an interception and helped the Lions score on their first three drives. He completed 15 of his first 17 passes one game after throwing four interceptions in a loss at Minnesota.

"He was very efficient," Detroit coach Steve Mariucci said.

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company