Favre (3 TDs), Davenport (178 yards) rule the night

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- Brett Favre's fired-up teammates helped make his latest milestone a memorable one.

Favre celebrated his 200th straight regular-season start with three touchdown passes and yet another record in the Green Bay Packers' 45-17 rout of the St. Louis Rams on Monday night.

ESPN Classic is Favre's stage (Saturday, noon-7 p.m. ET)
12-12:30	SportsCentury: Favre
12:30-1	1992 Packers Yearbook
1-1:30	1993 Packers Yearbook
1:30-2	1994 Packers Yearbook
2-2:30	1995 Packers Yearbook
2:30-3	1996 Packers Yearbook
3-3:30	Super Bowl XXXI
3:30-4	1997 Packers Yearbook
4-4:30	1998 Packers Yearbook
4:30-5	1999 Packers Yearbook
5-5:30	2000 Packers Yearbook
5:30-6	2001 Packers Yearbook
6-6:30	2002 Packers Yearbook
6:30-7	SportsCentury: Favre

"I'm humbled by it," Favre said. "It is an honor to put on an NFL uniform. Just to suit up once is a dream and everything I've done after that is a bonus. I'm living a dream every day."

Backup tailback Najeh Davenport rushed for 178 yards and rookie cornerback Ahmad Carroll, the Packers' top draft pick, had his first career fumble recovery, touchdown and interception as the Packers (7-4) won their sixth straight to keep pace with Minnesota atop the NFC North.

"When you get drafted by Green Bay, the first thing you think of is playing with Brett Favre," Carroll said. "When I go home, the first question people ask me is, 'How does it feel playing with Brett Favre? What did he say in practice? How is he?'

"He is not like other people in the NFL."

That's for sure.

Favre's record streak of starts moved to 219, counting playoffs, and is almost 100 more than Ron Jaworski's previous NFL quarterback mark of 123.

Favre took over for an injured Don Majkowski on Sept. 27, 1992. Since then, 11 of his backups have gone on to start for another team. Last week, Eli Manning became the 178th quarterback to have started a game in the NFL since Favre last came off the bench.

The Rams have had 13 quarterbacks in that span.

Favre didn't like the hoopla surrounding his 200th regular-season start.

"It was a lot of pressure to perform," he said. "I didn't need all the added attention. (But) I treated this no different than any other game."

Davenport said after the fifth-highest single-game rushing total in franchise history that he was just glad to be a part of Favre's memorable night.

"Brett Favre is unbelievable. It's a great honor to play with him," Davenport said. "Who knows how long he's going to be around ... He's like an old man, but he's young at heart."

Favre topped 20 touchdown passes for the 11th straight season, breaking a tie with Dan Marino on a 7-yard toss to tight end Bubba Franks in the second quarter that made it 14-3. He also threw touchdown passes to Javon Walker and Donald Driver.

Favre didn't have his co-star, Ahman Green, who was out with injured ribs. But Davenport came up with a strong imitation, gaining 178 yards on 19 carries in his first NFL start even though he had two sore hamstrings and injured his ribs, too, on his third carry.

"You wouldn't expect anybody to do that to you," Rams coach Mike Martz said.

Marc Bulger threw for more yards -- 448 -- against Green Bay than any quarterback ever had, completing 35 of 53 passes, but he was overshadowed by Favre and St. Louis (5-6) missed a chance to tie Seattle atop the NFC's woeful West.

"Any time you play against Brett Favre, you're not going to get the spotlight," Bulger said. "It was his night."

Isaac Bruce caught nine passes for 170 yards and a touchdown but his two fumbles were returned for touchdowns, one by Carroll to start the scoring and one by Michael Hawthorne to cap the rout in the final minute. Carroll also picked off a pass in the end zone that was intended for Bruce early in the third quarter.

Bruce's 4-yard TD catch just before halftime brought St. Louis to 21-10, and in the third quarter Martz made a questionable call -- a fake field goal when a 42-yarder by Jeff Wilkins would have made it a one-possession game. Wilkins was stuffed 12 yards shy of the first down on fourth-and-7.

"We didn't make it, so I wish we hadn't done it," Martz said. "I felt like we needed the points."

Not only did the Rams get nothing out of a nearly eight-minute drive, but the Packers went 71 yards in four plays, capped by Driver's leaping 16-yard touchdown catch that gave Green Bay a 28-10 lead.

Bulger's 8-yard TD toss to Marshall Faulk made it 28-17, but the Rams never got any closer.

Davenport capped his night with a 40-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-1 with 1:52 left to make it 38-17.

Rookie cornerback Joey Thomas forced a fumble on the Rams' first possession, and Carroll picked it up and ran 40 yards for his first career touchdown and gave Green Bay a 7-0 lead it would never relinquish.

It was the Packers' first recovery of an opponent's fumble since Sept. 19 against Chicago.

"We never looked back after that," Favre said.

Game notes
Thousands of fans donned blaze orange in a show of respect for six deer hunters gunned down in Rice Lake, Wis., last week. ... It was 28 degrees at kickoff and Favre improved to 37-1 at home in temperatures 34 degrees and lower. ... Rams S Aeneas Williams left in the second half with a pinched nerve in his neck. ... Bulger's 448 yards against the Packers topped Minnesota's Randall Cunningham's old mark of 442 yards set in 1998. ... Favre (6,839) surpassed Warren Moon (6,823) for third place on the all-time pass attempts list. ... Packers coach Mike Sherman said he expects Green to play next week at Philadelphia.