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“They haven’t said anything about a parade yet,” Favre said.
Favre threw three touchdown passes in the Green Bay Packers’ victory over the San Diego Chargers on Sunday to tie Marino’s career mark of 420, and will break the record with his next touchdown toss.
The mark could fall in front of a hostile crowd at Minnesota on Sunday, and Favre’s receivers are jumping at the chance to be the one who puts him over the top.
“We haven’t made any bets about who’s going to get it,” Donald Driver said. “But when that ball’s thrown up, believe me, if a guy catches a route for five yards, he’s going to try to break it after the catch.”
Vikings coach Brad Childress, meanwhile, would much rather help Favre reach a different milestone on Sunday.
“I think maybe it would be more of a source for pride if we could help him tie the record for most career interceptions with George Blanda,” Childress said.
Favre needs two more interceptions to tie Blanda’s career total of 277.
Despite all the talk about records over the past three weeks — Favre won his 149th game as a starting quarterback in Week 2, surpassing John Elway’s record — Favre said he’s far more concerned about winning on Sunday.
“I would love to throw a touchdown in this game, but I’d much rather win it,” Favre said.
While the 3-0 Packers appear to be a much better team than the 1-2 Vikings, that’s still not going to be easy. Three weeks into the season, the Packers are the league’s worst rushing team and will face one of the league’s best run defenses on Sunday.
“We’re not going to
completely abandon the run game, but we’re not stupid, either,” Favre said. “We’re not going to just go out there and pound it. It’d be three-and-out every drive.”
The Packers are averaging only 57 yards rushing per game, and Favre has thrown 38 or more passes in each of their first three games.
However, he’s making more careful decisions than he has in the past, and the Packers are winning.
“We’ve struggled running the ball, and I know in my mind, what does it mean? Pass,” Favre said. “But I’m also looking at the scoreboard for the most part saying ’OK, we’re in this game, and bad as I hate to say it, it’s OK to punt. It’s OK to take a checkdown.“’
While much has been made of Packers coach Mike McCarthy’s efforts to restrain the high-risk, high-reward gambling tendencies Favre has shown in the past, Favre isn’t willing to concede he’s taking a dramatically different approach.
“I don’t think I’m going into the game with every drop-back going, ’Don’t turn it over. Don’t turn it over. Don’t throw it down the field,“’ Favre said. “I’m just playing the game.”
McCarthy said the statistics — six touchdowns to only two interceptions and a 64 percent completion rate — tell a different story.
“We’ve only played three games but statistically he’s playing better than he did last year,” McCarthy said. “I think that’s clearly evident. I base things more on his decision-making and ball accuracy. With ball accuracy, with the level of quarterback he is, it’s the rhythm and timing with the guy on the other side of it. That’s improving.”
Favre said he’s willing to play conservatively when the Packers are close on the scoreboard — which, so far, they have been. But if they fall behind by a large margin, there’s every indication the “gunslinger” will return.
“You can keep dinking and dunking, taking what they give you but you’re not going to win the football game,” Favre said. “At some point, you have to take a chance.”
Favre was limited in practice on Monday because of a cut on his right hand, but McCarthy said it shouldn’t affect him in Sunday’s game.
“He’s going to be fine,” McCarthy said. “He’s played with a lot worse.”
