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Packers finally post a win at Lambeau

Oct 29, 2006 - 9:26 PM GREEN BAY, Wisconsin (Ticker) -- The Arizona Cardinals are what a lot of people thought they were. A bad football team.

With Dennis Green's third season as coach of the Cardinals following a familiar pattern, the Green Bay Packers were the latest team to look good at Arizona's expense in a 31-14 victory.

Ahman Green and Vernand Morency each rushed for over 100 yards and Brett Favre threw for a touchdown and ran for another score as the Packers (3-4) won at Lambeau Field for the first time this season.

"You have to win at home," Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy said. "We have a great home-field advantage. We talked about it as a team last night in our final meeting and we need to take advantage of it."

In Green's first two seasons, the Cardinals lost 10 and 11 games. In matching a seven-game slide in 2003, Arizona (1-7) looks well on its way to its fifth straight season with double-digit losses.

Extending his own NFL record with his 228th consecutive start, Favre opened the scoring with a one-yard TD pass to tight end David Martin in the first quarter. Green added a pair of TD runs in the second quarter - the 50th and 51st of his career - to give Green Bay a 21-0 lead.

With the two TD runs, Green surpassed Hall of Famer Paul Hornung for second in team history and he teamed with Morency to give the Packers two 100-yard rushers in a game for the first time since December 1, 1985 against Tampa Bay.

"It was great, because it reminds me of the days I was at Nebraska," Ahman Green said. "We'd get three or four running backs over 100 (yards), but in the NFL to do that, it's great."

Green finished with 106 yards on 21 carries while Morency added 101 yards on 11 rushes.

"They have a good rushing attack, but clearly we thought that we could play better run defense than we did," Green said. "You have to be able to stop the run and we weren't able to do that."

First-round pick Matt Leinart fell to 0-4 since replacing Kurt Warner as the starter and had another rough day in his Lambeau Field debut.

After completing just 13-of-32 passes for 203 yards with two interceptions in a loss last week against Oakland, Leinart figured to have an easier time this week against a Green Bay defense that entered the game ranked last in the NFL against the pass, allowing 293.3 yards.

But Leinart was sacked four times - twice by Aaron Kampman - and was 14-of-35 for 157 yards with a TD and an interception.

"It was tough because we couldn't get in a rhythm all day," Leinart said. "It's hard. To be in your first year and to go through this, it's not easy. It is my job to keep this team up and keep going and fighting. We just need to keep playing. We can't get down, and that starts with me."

Favre was 17-of-25 for 180 yards. He added a one-yard TD run midway through the third quarter to give the Packers a 28-7 lead.

"It's fun throwing touchdown passes and it's fun throwing for a lot of yards but there's no substitute for winning," Favre said. "You don't have to throw for 300 yards to win but if you throw for 180, you better be able to run for something. I think that was the case today."