It was a matter of when, not if, for Ahman Green, Ryan Longwell and Brett Favre. All three players broke long-standing Packers records during Green Bay’s
38-21 victory over the San Diego Chargers on Sunday.
Green broke the oldest team single-season rushing record in the NFL when
he eclipsed Hall of Famer Jim Taylor's mark of 1,474 yards set in 1962.
Green needed 12 yards entering Green Bay’s game against the Chargers, and
he got 21 on the opening drive. Green broke Taylor's record on a 9-yard run
to the Chargers 4. That gave him 1,480 for the season, and he scored on a
4-yard run on the next play.
Green finished with 75 yards on 19 carries and one touchdown to raise his
season total to 1,538. He also caught a touchdown pass in the victory.
“I’m not going to look at it now because I’m focused on what we’ve got
to do,” said Green. “In the off-season I’ll think about it and celebrate what
we did.”
Green is in his fourth season with the Packers and his sixth in the NFL.
His previous season-high was 1,387 in 2001 with the Packers.
“It lasted for a long time,” Green said. “I take my hat off to my
O-linemen and all the guys blocking for me. They know who they are. I couldn’t have
gotten here by myself.”
Longwell had eight points to break Don Hutson’s career scoring record.
Longwell got his 824th career point on a PAT following Robert Ferguson 's
40-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter to pass Hutson and give Green Bay a
24-21 lead. Hutson had 823 points in his Hall of Fame career.
Longwell finished with five PATs and a 32-yard field goal to push his
career total to 826 points.
“It was neat to do it in a win and do it where I’ve spent a lot of my
life on the West Coast,” said Longwell.
Hutson, who finished his 11-year career in 1945, scored his 823 points on
105 touchdowns, 172 PATs and seven field goals. Longwell's points have all
come on kicks.
Favre threw at least one touchdown pass in his 23rd straight game to set
the team record. He had been tied with Cecil Isbell, who had at least one TD
pass in 22 straight games during the 1941-42 seasons.
Favre, who finished with four touchdown passes, hit Donald Driver on a
7-yard pass to give the Packers a 17-3 lead with 33 seconds left before
halftime. It took Favre just 44 seconds to move the Packers 70 yards in seven plays.