HEART BROKEN

**Blazey** · January 5th, 2003, 12:25 PM

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- It looked so perfect for Green Bay. Snow falling. Packers in green and gold. Lambeau Field in January.

Only it wasn't Brett Favre making all the plays.

Brett Favre suffered his first-ever loss at home in the playoffs Saturday at snowy Lambeau.

It was Michael Vick who looked right at home.

Undaunted by the storied stadium where his own coach lost in the "Ice Bowl'' 35 years ago, Vick made history of his own Saturday night.

The 22-year-old improvisational genius led the Atlanta Falcons to a shocking 27-7 upset of the Packers in a wild-card playoff before a record crowd of 65,358 stunned souls.

"We were underdogs. We wanted to show 'em we had the potential to come out and make history,'' Vick said after his first NFL playoff game.

The Packers (12-5) were the only team to go unbeaten at home during the regular season. And they had never lost a home playoff game since the NFL instituted a postseason in 1933 in going 13-0 -- 11 of the wins coming at Lambeau and two more in Milwaukee.

"That's what we were talking about all week, the winning streak in the playoffs. It had to come to an end,'' Vick said.

The closest the Packers had come to losing in the land of Lombardi was on New Year's Eve 1967, when Bart Starr knifed into the end zone with 13 seconds left to give Green Bay a 21-17 victory over Dallas in the coldest game in NFL history.

Falcons coach Dan Reeves threw a 50-yard touchdown pass on a halfback option that gave the Cowboys a 17-14 fourth-quarter lead in that game.

"Thirty-five years ago and they're still showing that. And all I did was complete one little old pass,'' Reeves said. "To be the first team to win a game up here, they'll be showing this for a long time.''

Favre had built a reputation as the game's greatest cold-weather quarterback, winning all 35 of his starts at home in which the temperature was 34 or below.

And what did Favre think of his second straight thumping in the playoffs?

Who knows. [img]graemlins/cry.gif[/img]

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<font color="#A600A6" size="1">[ January 05, 2003 08:26 AM: Message edited by: Blazey ]</font>

**Blazey** · January 5th, 2003, 12:28 PM

You know you have to feel bad for the guy..no one can ever be perfect all the time can they..imagine how he feels now..being the one to break the tradition..and him being one of the greatest QB's to hit Green Bay..maybe they pressure them to hard to be so good..*wonders*..poor guy.. [img]frown.gif[/img]

**imzredhead** · January 5th, 2003, 12:40 PM

...I dunno Blazey, I just don't think the Pack came out to play ball yesterday....not sure where their hearts were, but it clearly wasn't in that game, and it wasn't at Lambeau field in my opinion...never have I ever seen a team so lethargic in my life for it being a playoff game? *shrugs* Just my opinion...I feel for Brett and the Pack, I really do, but anyone that has seen him play before...knows that fire and excitement he usually has in a game, just was not there yesterday..... [img]eek.gif[/img]

**Blazey** · January 5th, 2003, 01:01 PM

You know i'm so glad you pointed that out..its the very best thing about watching him play..he truly loves the game..that lil boyish grin he gets..all the excitement in his every move..yep..it sure was missing.. [img]frown.gif[/img] ..the whole team seemed to be out of it..

**heidi!** · January 5th, 2003, 05:08 PM

Umm.......well.......football.......I dont get it....
Anyone see the Leafs beat Jersey last night?.. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

**imzredhead** · January 5th, 2003, 07:13 PM

The Ohio State game beat the hell out of the two NFL games that were on yesterday *L*...sit on the edge of your seat excitement wasn't it *G*...heidi, just nod and go with it, trust me on this one [img]wink.gif[/img]

**§????TT** · January 5th, 2003, 11:42 PM

Go Leafs [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

friend of the empire · January 6th, 2003, 02:51 AM

Favre is a good QB but one man does not make an entire team great. Green Bay has been overrated for years, much like San Francisco, and much like Dallas use to be when Aikman played. lets face it things have changed in the last few years. the old gun slinger mentality is gone. the Steve Young's the Joe Montana's the Troy Aikman's the Jim Kelly's and now the Brett Favre's of the NFL are out of place in the modern systems. the days of the dynasties have ended. free agency has lead to better balance between teams making it possible for anyone to beat anyone on any given Sunday.