Favre, Packers Feel at Home on Road

L.A. Times Archives

Sept. 30, 1996 12 AM PT

From Associated Press

SEATTLE — When the Green Bay Packer defense does what it did to Rick Mirer on Sunday, Brett Favre is nearly impossible to beat.

Favre was at his best, throwing four touchdown passes, and Mirer was at his worst with a career-high four interceptions and a lost fumble as the Packers routed the Seattle Seahawks, 31-10.

“That was awesome, that was huge,” Green Bay Coach Mike Holmgren said of the five takeaways that gave the NFL’s most opportunistic defense 22 for the season.

“We’ve been creating turnovers all year,” said free safety Eugene Robinson, who had the Packers’ first interception in his return to Seattle, where he played for 11 seasons.

A pro-Green Bay crowd of 59,973, with hundreds of Packer fans wearing cheeseheads, provided the Kingdome’s first sellout of the season and those fans saw what they wanted.

“It was incredible,” said a smiling Reggie White. “I knew we had some fans out there, but this was incredible.”

The Packers, an NFC favorite, improved to 4-1. The Seahawks dropped to 1-4, including 0-3 at home.

Green Bay has 16 interceptions and six recovered fumbles to give it six more takeaways than it had in 1995, when the Packers were last in the NFL.

“That’s what we’ve been concentrating on this season,” cornerback Doug Evans, who had Green Bay’s fourth interception. “We worked hard on it in training camp.”

Favre, the league’s top-rated quarterback, converted Mirer’s mistakes into 24 of Green Bay’s points.

He had touchdown passes of 13 and four yards to Antonio Freeman, four yards to Dorsey Levens and 10 yards to Keith Jackson. He completed 20 of 34 passes for 209 yards with no interceptions. In the second half, he was 11 for 14 for 141 yards and two touchdowns.

“It wasn’t our best offensive game, but when you win a game like this when you’re not playing that well offensively, then that’s a good omen,” Holmgren said.

Mirer, who was replaced by John Friesz in the fourth quarter, completed 10 of 30 passes for 156 yards with no touchdowns. Seattle’s Chris Warren had his first 100-yard rushing game and accounted for the Seahawks’ only touchdown on a 37-yard run. Warren, who had 129 yards yards in Seattle’s first four games, had 103 yards in 18 carries.

Favre has 16 touchdown passes and two interceptions. Mirer has one touchdown pass, nine interceptions and three lost fumbles.

Seattle Coach Dennis Erickson was asked if he will look at his quarterback position for Miami next Sunday.

“We’re going to look at a lot of things and a lot of positions,” Erickson said.