Jaguars find chink in Favre’s armour

BRETT FAVRE and Green Bay are headed to the National Football League play-offs again, but the three-time Most Valuable Player lost his mantle of invincibility in the cold at Lambeau Field on Sunday night.

Sporting a 31-0 record in Green Bay in regular season games with the temperature at 1 C (34 F) or below, Packers quarterback Favre was intercepted three times and fumbled once as the Packers backed into the post-season with a 28-25 loss to Jacksonville in an inter-conference meeting.

The loss dropped the Packers into a first-place tie in the NFC North with Minnesota.

The Vikings, trying to avoid another embarrassing late-season collapse, escaped with a 28-27 victory over Detroit. The Vikings benefited when Detroit’s Don Muhlbach launched an errant snap on an extra point attempt with eight seconds left.

Detroit’s Joey Harrington had directed a nine-play, 80-yard scoring drive without a timeout to keep the Lions alive.

Despite the frigid weather, the Jaguars scored a season-high 28 points as Fred Taylor rushed for 165 yards, including a 37-yard score, and Byron Leftwich connected with Jimmy Smith on touchdown passes of 31 and 16 yards.

Even though the division title will be up for grabs when Green Bay play Minnesota next week, the Packers were assured of their fourth straight play-off berth before they took the field, thanks to defeats for Carolina and the New York Giants on Saturday and Chicago and Dallas earlier in the day.

The Indianapolis Colts already had the AFC South title wrapped up heading into Sunday’s clash with Baltimore. They came away with a 20-10 win, but the Ravens made sure Colts quarterback Peyton Manning will have to wait a week for another crack at one of the league’s elite records.

Manning threw his 47th touchdown pass, moving within one of tying Dan Marino’s single-season record of 48.

Manning, who came into the game with an NFL record of 13 straight contests with at least two touchdown passes, was held in check by the talented Baltimore secondary that had allowed a league low 10 scoring passes.

Against the likes of cornerback Chris McAlister and Pro Bowl safety Ed Reed, Manning was able to reach the end zone just once.

Manning’s touchdown came on a 3rd-and-1 play in the third quarter when he used one of his patented play fakes to connect with a wide-open Marvin Harrison over the middle for a 29-yard score to give the Colts a 13-3 lead. On two occasions, Manning did have 1st-and-goals but was unable to find the end zone. The second time was after linebacker Cato June returned an interception to the Baltimore 4 with 59 seconds left, but Manning and the Colts decided to run out the clock.

Manning went 20-of-33 for 249 yards as he guided the Colts to their seventh straight win. The Colts also had big games from Edgerrin James and defensive end Dwight Freeney, while the Ravens slipped into a tie for the AFC’s second wild card with Buffalo, Denver and Jacksonville.

Buffalo continued their late-season surge, defeating Cincinnati 33-17 for their fifth win in a row.

In Kansas City, cornerback Dexter McCleon intercepted Jake Plummer twice and Larry Johnson rushed for career-high 151 yards and two touchdowns as the Chiefs beat Denver 45-17, their most lopsided victory over the Broncos since 1983.

The Chiefs’ win let the San Diego Chargers clinch their first AFC West title since 1994 with a 21-0 victory in snowy Cleveland.

LaDainian Tomlinson rushed for 111 yards and two touchdowns and Antonio Gates caught a 72-yard scoring pass to lead the Chargers to their eighth straight victory.

Elsewhere, Chad Pennington passed for 253 yards and three touchdowns and Curtis Martin rushed for 134 yards and two scores to lead the Jets to a 37-14 rout of Seattle in a pivotal interconference game.

The loss was the third in four games for the Seahawks, but St Louis, trying to tie Seattle atop the NFC West, couldn’t make use of their chance, suffering an embarrassing 31-7 loss to an Arizona team that had lost its last four games.

The Rams are now tied for the final NFC wildcard spot with Carolina and New Orleans, who rallied from a 10-point deficit to beat Tampa Bay 21-17.

Houston defeated Chicago 24-5, Oakland beat Tennessee 40-35, and Philadelphia defeated Dallas 12-7 to clinch home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

But the Eagles suffered a blow when wide receiver Terrell Owens hurt his ankle in the third quarter. Owens, who has helped transform the Eagles into an explosive offence, leads the NFL with 14 receiving touchdowns.