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Favre becomes NFL's all-time winningest quarterback

Sep 16, 2007 - 10:25 PM EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- With a vintage performance, Brett Favre became the winningest quarterback in NFL history on Sunday.

Favre picked apart the New York Giants' pourous secondary, completing his first 14 passes of the second half to lead the Green Bay Packers to a 35-13 victory.

Favre recorded his 149th career win, breaking the record he shared with Hall of Famer John Elway.

"Maybe one day down the road it will mean a lot," Favre said. "But the most important game is the next game. I'm proud to have played in a lot of games."

The Giants (0-2) received an inspirational effort from Eli Manning, who started despite a bruised throwing shoulder, and led, 10-7, at haltime.

"Physically, I feel fine," Manning said. "Mentally, I am upset about the loss. I thought we had some opportunities, but physically, I feel fine.

But Favre took over in the second half, throwing three touchdown passes and finishing 29-of-38 for 286 yards. It was his 58th game with three or more touchdown passes.

Favre rebounded from a sub-par effort in last week's 16-13 victory over Philadelphia in which he completed 23-of-42 passes for 206 yards.

The three touchdowns give Favre 417 for his career, leaving him just three shy of Dan Marino's NFL mark.

"We gave him the game ball," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "The all-time anything in this league is such a monumental achievement. One hundred forty nine wins speak for itself."

Favre, however, tried to deflect talk away from his individual accomplishment.

"I think it's unfair the quarterbacks get labeled with wins and losses," he said. "Last week was a perfect example. I didn't do anything, and they gave me the win."

The 17-year veteran was 5-of-5 on Green Bay's first possession of the second half, giving the Packers (2-0) a 14-10 lead with a 2-yard TD pass to Bubba Franks.

After the Giants settled for Lawrence Tynes' 32-yard field goal, Favre continued his precision passing. He was 9-for-9 on Green Bay's next possession, which he capped with a 3-yard TD pass to Donald Lee early in the fourth quarter.

Things fell apart for the Giants as Ahmad Bradshaw fumbled the ensuing kickoff. Five players later, Favre tossed a 10-yard TD strike to Donald Driver to put away the contest.

The Packers continued to pour it on, grabbing a 35-13 lead on DeShawn Wynn's 38-yard TD run with 4:22 remaining.

Green Bay has reeled off six straight victories, dating to the end of last season, when the Packers won their last four games to finish 8-8. However, Green Bay may get a tougher test next week when it hosts San Diego.

"I am pleased to start 2-0 with as many questions as we have had," Favre said. "How well we handle success is as important as how you handle adversity."

Last season, New York repeatedly was hurt by undisciplined penalties and the trend continued Sunday as the Giants twice had to settle for field goals following costly penalties inside the red zone.

"Penalties will kill you, especially down there," Manning added. "You can't afford them and we have to be smarter than that. We can't afford to make mistakes that are going to put us in a bad situation."

The first went against Jeremy Shockey for spiking the ball after he picked up a first down and the second was a taunting call against Amani Toomer.

With the game tied 7-7, a 16-yard completion to Shockey appeared to give the Giants a first down at Green Bay's 14. But Shockey's penalty negated the gain and the Giants had to settle for Tynes' 48-yard field goal.

After the Packers took a 14-10 lead, the Giants reached the Green Bay 8, only to have that drive stall after Toomer's taunting penalty.

"We made some stupid penalties today," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. "We have no excuses. We gave ourselves some opportunities, and then took them away, so we became our own worst enemy."

Manning completed 16-of-29 passes for 211 yards, though he was not effective in the second half.

"We obviously left too many points on the field," Toomer said. "We are where we are supposed to be."