GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Brett Favre said he won't play against Miami on Monday night just to keep alive his decade-long streak of starts.

	Favre

"I want to play and help this team win. If I can't go out there and do that, I'm not going to,'' Favre said Wednesday.

That doesn't mean Favre anticipates seeing his NFL-record 164-game starting streak come to an end because of a sprained left knee.

Although he's listed as questionable on the injury report, Favre said he has every intention of playing Monday night, just as he has in all of Green Bay's games since Sept. 13, 1992.

"I want to play, expect to play, expect if I do play to not play any differently,'' the three-time MVP said.

Favre tested his new knee brace in limited practice work Wednesday, when he threw passes for the first time since he was sacked by Washington linebacker LaVar Arrington on Oct. 20.

Reporters and cameras were barred from the Packers' practice for a third straight week. When Favre took the podium after practice, everybody wanted to know how -- and what -- he did.

"Just tested it to see kind of how the brace felt. Just dropping back, throwing a little bit,'' Favre said. "It felt OK.''

Because he didn't push it very much, Favre said it was hard for him to put a percentage on how his knee was holding up.

"Today was just kind of a small step. Maybe I could have done more, but I don't know that for sure. And, believe it or not, I'm taking the doctors' advice and taking things slowly,'' Favre said.

"From my standpoint, it feels like I can go full-steam and I know that's pushing it. As I said last week, I'm not real familiar with this type of injury or knees in general.''

Favre said he plans to push it a little more every day.

Coach Mike Sherman said he won't hesitate to start backup Doug Pederson against the Dolphins (5-2) if Favre isn't ready.

"Brett will be the first to tell you winning football games is the most important thing in regard to this weekend. And he obviously gives us our best chance to win,'' Sherman said. "But there are other games to win, as well, throughout the course of the season. So, we're not going to put him at risk.

"Brett Favre doesn't have to be 100 percent to be effective, obviously. But I certainly don't want to jeopardize his future and our future in one football game.''

Only twice in his career has Favre missed practice all week and still started the next game to keep his streak alive.

In 1995 he sprained an ankle at Minnesota but returned to throw five touchdown passes against Chicago, and in 2000, he injured a foot at Tampa Bay and came back the following week to lead the Packers past Indianapolis

Both of those were gametime decisions.

This time, it's different.

Favre isn't in pain like he was with the ankle and arch injuries.

And therein lies the danger.

''(Assistant trainer) Kurt Fielding and I talked about it today. It's is a little deceiving because with this injury, I felt like I could go back into the game when I caught my breath on the sideline,'' Favre said.

Favre said he has to be careful not to correlate a lack of pain with a healed medial collateral ligament because he would risk further, more serious injury to the other ligaments.

With his previous injuries, "it's just a matter of if you can bear the pain,'' Favre said. "This one's not so much the pain as it is weakness of the knee.''

Favre's injury has been front-page news in Wisconsin. Even Sherman's news conference to discuss the results of Favre's MRI merited live coverage across the state last week.

Favre said he wasn't amazed by the attention in an area obsessed with the Packers.

"Aside from deer hunting this time of year, what else is there?'' Favre asked.