Title showdown simply another game for Favre

NEW YORK: A trip to the Super Bowl may be at stake but Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre will treat Sunday's clash with the New York Giants as simply another game.

The 38-year-old will look to clinch his third Super Bowl appearance in an NFC Championship showdown expected to be played at Lambeau Field in temperatures of around eight degrees F(-13 C).

The winner takes on the New England Patriots or the San Diego Chargers in the NFL's showpiece finale in Arizona on Feb 3.

"You win this game you go to the Super Bowl. You lose, you go home," Favre told a conference call on Wednesday.

"You have to approach it like any other game. That's the way I do it. I can't prepare any more for this game than I did for the Giants the first time we played them."

Green Bay held a 14-13 lead before a fourth-quarter outburst carried the team to a 35-13 victory at Giants Stadium in the second game of the season.

"That game, to me, was equally as important as this one," Favre said. "I know some people may think that's crazy but I think in order to get to this game you have to play those games as if that's the last game you play."

Passing records

Favre, a 17-year veteran who holds a flock of passing records, has flirted with retirement in recent years but decided to play on because of the promise of the newcomers at Green Bay, the league's youngest team this season.

"You guys thought I was crazy when I said this was the most talented team I felt I had played on," he said. "I knew it could happen.

"With that in mind, you gotta have fun and I'll be the first to tell you I love to have fun."

Favre, who grew up in Mississippi, has had to learn to handle the cold.

Last week the Packers roared back from a 14-0 deficit against Seattle in a heavy Green Bay snowfall.

"Everything you do has to be thought about ... you just can't come back and hand off, you can't just toss the ball without thinking about it," he said.

"You just can't drop back and make a throw. You can't make a little lob. It's so windy and cold. For those three hours you have to be better than the next guy.

"Balls will move, things will happen that ordinarily would not happen. It's the team and the players who make the least amount of mistakes, handle it the best."

Agencies

(China Daily 01/18/2008 page22)