Favre's OT Bomb Finishes Broncos

Oct 30, 05:00 AM

Current Headlines: By Gary Mihoces

DENVER -- Brett Favre's 82-yard touchdown pass to Greg Jennings on the first play of overtime lifted the Green Bay Packers to a 19-13 victory against the Denver Broncos on Monday night, further cementing Favre's legend and delivering no relief to a city suffering post-World Series blues.

Denver quarterback Jay Cutler engineered an 89-yard drive to the Green Bay 4-yard line in the last two minutes of regulation, but the Broncos had to settle for a hurried 21-yard field goal by Jason Elam as time expired to send the game to overtime.

Green Bay moved to 6-1 atop the NFC North with its first-ever victory in Denver (it had been 0-5 in regular-season games and 0-5 in preseason). Denver fell to 3-4 in the AFC West a day after the Colorado Rockies were swept from the Series by the Boston Red Sox.

"To be honest with you, when I let the ball go, I thought it was underthrown," the 38-year-old Favre said of his bomb that ended the second-shortest overtime (16 seconds) in NFL history. "The ball stayed up in the air a long time. ... Fortunately for me, it fell in the right place. We keep finding ways to do it, and we do it together. It don't get any better than it was at the end of this game."

Broncos coach Mike Shanahan saluted Favre's throw. "It's one of those plays that has to be perfect," he said. "They were right on the money."

Favre finished 21-for-27 for 331 yards and two TDs and had a 142.4 passer rating. He also had an earlier 79-yard TD pass to rookie James Jones.

Rookie backup running back Ryan Grant, pressed into duty when starter DeShawn Wynn injured his shoulder in the first quarter, sparked the Packers with 104 yards on 22 carries. It was the first time a Packer has rushed for more than 100 yards this season. They came in ranked last in rushing (65.7 yards a game).

Favre's first TD pass was his first ever in Denver. The only two cities where he hasn't thrown a TD pass are Baltimore and Pittsburgh.

"To come in here and win this game, especially with the momentum swing at the end, it's a credit to our football team," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said.

Denver played without leading rusher Travis Henry (ribs), but backup Selvin Young ran for 71 yards. (c) Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.