Favre

The Packers were running a sprint right option -- a play in which the quarterback rolls right and throws a squareout to the slot receiver or a pass in the flat to the halfback.

In this case, Favre completed a pass to Bill Schroeder during the Packers' Aug. 23 exhibition game against Denver in Madison. But he also banged his right thumb on the helmet of blitzing linebacker John Mobley on the follow through.

"That was the play that ruined my season," Favre said in an interview reported in Sunday's Green Bay Press-Gazette. "I hate to even say that, because it sounds like you're making excuses, but had I had a normal hand, had I not got hurt, we're probably 10-4, 9-5, and we're in the playoffs."

Instead, the Packers slipped to 7-8 with Sunday's 29-10 loss to Tampa Bay and have only a longshot chance at postseason play going into the regular-season finale against Arizona at Lambeau Field next Sunday. Favre threw for 248 yards and a touchdown, but also was intercepted twice by the Buccaneers.

Favre, in the interview, said he had a flashback of the August injury when running the same play in practice last week.

"I knew it was bad right away," he said. "I was scared (the thumb) was broken. I'd been hurt before, but it felt like someone slashed my hand with a knife."

Favre said in hindsight he probably should have given more thought to sitting out and letting the thumb heal.

He rattled off at least a half-dozen game-turning plays in which he missed open receivers or was intercepted because he couldn't make throws he was accustomed to making.

"Once I got hurt, I should've changed the way I approached the game," he said. "My reads were fine, but I couldn't make throws I normally make. When I needed to alter the way I play, I didn't.

"As a veteran, I should've been smarter, but that's part of my makeup. I'm not going to let anything dictate to me. Maybe I should've pulled back."

Favre said he hopes the injury won't require offseason surgery.

"There is so much trauma and scar tissue it may heal this way," he said, pointing to a large knot at the base of his thumb.

By the time Favre decided to play within his limitations, the thumb had healed so much that Favre could start firing passes like he had in past seasons.

"I kept shooting (passes) when I was hurt, and then when I got more conservative my hand started feeling better, so I went back to shooting it again. That's been my year."

Favre went into Sunday's game as the NFC's 12th-ranked passer with a 74.9 rating, with 295 completions (57.5 percent) for 3,546 yards, 19 touchdowns and 20 interceptions.

"It's amazing it's not worse," he said.

Asked whether his former coach, Mike Holmgren, could have reined him in and forced him to play within himself, Favre said, "Maybe so." Holmgren left after last season to become coach and general manager at Seattle.

Favre said offensive coordinator Sherman Lewis and quarterbacks coach Mike McCarthy both talked to him about taking fewer chances because of the injury. He also said Lewis broached the issue of sitting down against the Lions before a Week 2 loss.

"We were watching film and Sherm said, `Let's see it.' So I unwrapped it and it was yellow and blue and I'd torn the muscles in my palm and there's a chip on my thumb. Sherm says, 'Oh, my God. What do you think?'

"I said, `I'm going to play.' What's he going to say? I trust him the same way he trusts me. If we play Matt (Hasselbeck), maybe he plays great. I hope he would. But if we lose, then everyone will say, 'Maybe Brett would've given us an edge.' It's all hindsight."