Long bombs add another chapter to Favre's legend
Denver - In a career overflowing with fantastic finishes, Brett Favre's thunderbolt through the clear Colorado sky Monday night will rank among his finest.

Challenged in the past week over his ability to throw the deep ball, Favre delivered an 82-yard touchdown strike to Greg Jennings on the first play of overtime to send the Green Bay Packers past the Denver Broncos in electrifying fashion, 19-13, before a crowd of 77,160 at Invesco Field.

Jennings beat bump-and-run coverage by cornerback Dre' Bly up the left sideline near the Denver 40 and blazed unimpeded to the end zone, his arms outstretched in jubilation.

"It seemed like he threw it 90 yards," Bly said. "I looked up and couldn't find the ball."

Bly, a nine-year veteran, has faced Favre many times during his eight seasons for St. Louis and Detroit.

"Not many guys can throw a ball that long, that accurately," Bly said. "He's thrown some balls this year that have been short and have been intercepted, but on that one play, just like a good quarterback, he made a great throw. And it happened to be for the winning touchdown.

"Brett is a Hall of Famer. I'm not surprised he made a play like that."

Fortunately for the Packers, they won the coin flip to start overtime. Otherwise, their defense might have been too exhausted to hold up after yielding an 11-play, 72-yard drive leading to Jason Elam's tying 21-yard field goal as the fourth quarter expired.

The Packers now own a 6-1 record, tied for the best in the NFC with the Dallas Cowboys and tied for the third-best in the league behind unbeaten AFC powerhouses New England and Indianapolis.

"I feel like I was on some better teams previous," Favre said. "But, boy, it's hard to doubt this team. Who knows what's going to happen the rest of the year? I keep saying that. But, boy, that was fun."

Coach Mike McCarthy pushed his remarkable record on the road to 8-3, including 3-0 this season. In their first 11 road games, Vince Lombardi was 6-5 and both Mike Holmgren and Mike Sherman were 4-7.

Green Bay maintained its lead in the NFC North Division by one game over Detroit (5-2).

"This is a tough place to play," McCarthy said. "To come in here and win, especially with the momentum swing at the end, is a credit to our team."

The Packers moved the ball steadily throughout with perhaps its most balanced offense of the season. Hard-hitting Ryan Grant, taking over for DeShawn Wynn early in the second quarter after the rookie from Florida had to leave for the umpteenth time with an injury, carried 22 times for 104 yards.

"I gave those guys the opportunity to run the football tonight," McCarthy said. "We didn't do anything scheme-wise that we haven't done from Day 1. Ryan put his foot down and was one cut north and south, the way you're supposed to."

Denver (3-4) played without six starters, including running back Travis Henry (ribs). Despite being outgained, 430 yards to 332, the Broncos got off the mat late with a clutch drive to tie the score.

Early on, Cutler completed a 7-yard pass to Brandon Stokley with Al Harris in coverage on fourth and 2. One play later, Brandon Marshall came across the middle against Harris, broke a tackle by the veteran cornerback and turned an 8-yard gain into 35.

Denver eventually reached the 4, but on second and 1 Cutler missed an open Marshall in the corner against Charles Woodson and then Cutler failed to gain on a scramble.

Despite the absence of Henry, the Broncos came out running the ball anyway behind rookie Selvin Young. Coach Mike Shanahan called bootlegs on his first two snaps of the game, then started running Young behind his zone-blocking line.

"That team is bound and determined to run the ball," Packers general manager Ted Thompson said. "Historically, Shanahan has found ways to run the ball. He started the game out with two bootlegs. That slows down the back side."

The Broncos gained three first downs and punted on their first possession, held the Packers without a first down, forced them to punt and then covered 60 yards in 10 plays for a touchdown.

Green Bay, which was penalized eight times for 61 yards in the first half and 13 for 103 in all, gave Denver first downs on Atari Bigby's out-of-bounds hit against wide receiver Brandon Stokley and another on Bigby's end-zone pass interference against Daniel Graham on third and goal.

The touchdown came on a bootleg left by Cutler. With nobody immediately open, Cutler pulled up and hit tight end Tony Scheffler, who came free against Bigby.

Starting from the Packers' 21, Favre saw the Broncos with eight defenders in the box and rookie James Jones alone on the right side against Champ Bailey, regarded by many scouts as the game's pre-eminent cornerback.

Favre took a five-step drop, had ample time and launched a pass that carried 50 yards in the air. Jones surprisingly gained a step or two on Bailey and made the catch at the Denver 35. Bailey dived and missed as the catch was made, and Jones ran for a 79-yard touchdown.

"Looked like Champ was peeking a little bit," Thompson said. "He (Jones) caught him throttling down a little bit. It's good to go against a guy like that and get a deep ball."

It also was a good sign for Favre, who underthrew open receivers four times against Washington 15 days ago.

"It was a really good throw," Thompson said. "You see him in practice every day. There's nothing wrong with his arm. He's a good deep-ball thrower."

The Broncos came right back with an eight-play, 53-yard drive all the way to the Green Bay 1. But on second and goal Cutler couldn't control the snap from Chris Myers, a fatal mistake, and Green Bay's Nick Barnett recovered.

Limited to four plays (no runs) in the first quarter, the Packers rushed 18 times for 89 yards in the second quarter. When Wynn departed, it was all Grant.

Grant rushed seven times for 53 yards on a 14-play, 98-yard drive culminated by Mason Crosby's 19-yard field goal.

When the Packers got the ball back, McCarthy opened with five straight carries by Grant for 23 yards.

"Mike said when we first put this together he wanted to run the ball," Thompson said. "But sometimes it's like beating your head against a wall. We got a pretty good quarterback and good receivers.

"We were running all the same plays. Grant just runs them a little differently. He's a good downhill runner. He ran hard and made some big plays."

The Packers had second down from the Denver 1 when Tony Moll, in as a third tight end, jumped offside. One play later, Chad Clifton drew another false start. Favre then had Donald Driver open at the goal line on third and 8 but threw wildly, bringing in Crosby for a 26-yard field goal.

"It looked like Brett had a little space there," Thompson said. "I don't know if he missed him or not. I don't know what the route was supposed to be."

The Packers had a chance for additional points in the final minute of the first half but Jason Spitz, who started at center for ailing Scott Wells, drew holding penalties on successive plays.

A 13-play, 53-yard drive by Denver early in the third quarter resulted in Jason Elam's 45-yard field goal. The Broncos reached the 16 before tackle Erik Pears and wide receiver Glenn Martinez were penalized for holding.