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Tuesday, October 12 Packers keep pressing their luck By Greg Beacham Associated Press |
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GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Even Brett Favre is wondering if the Green Bay Packers shouldn't be teasing their opponents quite so much.
"How many times can we get away with it?" Favre asked. "Good football teams will put the game away early. I just don't know if it's possible to keep doing it the way we've done it." A funny thing didn't happen in the Packers' locker room Sunday night. After Green Bay beat Tampa Bay 26-23 by rallying again in the final seconds, almost nobody was excited. "No one could say anything," Favre said. "I had three or four guys come up to me and say, 'I guess I'm supposed to be excited, but I don't know what to say.' " Even Favre, who has never in his life been called shy, said he was more numb than anything else. It seems the leader of the Cardiac Pack is just as amazed by his pressure performances. "This time I didn't hyperventilate, because I just couldn't believe it," Favre said. "This time I didn't cry, because I'm out of tears. Nobody knows what to say." The Packers (3-1) took over first place in the NFC Central by beating the Buccaneers, who thought they had the game sewn up when Mike Alstott ran 22 yards for a touchdown with 1:45 left. It took Favre 40 seconds to change their minds. "Favre is a great player. You just like to watch him play," Tampa Bay coach Tony Dungy said. "He was just tremendous."
After four games and a bye week, Green Bay is a difficult team to evaluate. Will all these last-minute gut checks translate into maturity and toughness later in the season, or will the Packers finally run out of last chances? Linebacker Brian Williams led the defense with 14 tackles. He wasn't pleased with his unit's performance, and he's also sick of biting his nails. "I'm tired of winning this way," Williams said. "It shouldn't have been this close. I guess it's good for television ratings, but we can't keep winning this way. We have to find a better way to win." Tampa Bay's vaunted defenders weren't much more than spectators late Sunday night as Favre, running back Dorsey Levens and wideouts Antonio Freeman and Bill Schroeder -- four players on pace for the best statistical seasons of their careers -- methodically moved the ball downfield in six plays. "We just have the feeling we're going to get it done," Freeman said. "We're not cocky, but we know Brett will give us the opportunities we need." Despite some impressive statistics and those three remarkable drives, Green Bay's offense has been fickle. The Packers have scored just four offensive touchdowns over the last three games and are showing a disturbing propensity for failing in the red zone. Green Bay got inside the 20 six times against the Buccaneers, but came away with just one touchdown and one field goal. Those numbers won't do during the playoffs, and the Packers know it. On Monday, coach Ray Rhodes wasn't at all impressed with his seventh win in eight preseason and regular-season games with the Packers. Instead, he condemned his team's lackluster special-teams play and the nine penalties the Packers took for 88 yards. "We had some bonehead penalties, that's all there is to it," Rhodes said. "Eventually, this stuff is going to catch up to us. No. 4 can't save us every time."
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