White Sacks Broncos’ Victory Hopes : Interconference: The Green Bay defensive end stops Elway twice in the final 1:50 to preserve a 30-27 victory.
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GREEN BAY, Wis. — Reggie White put a stop to John Elway’s latest comeback bid.
White broke through for back-to-back sacks of John Elway in the final 1:50 Sunday to stop a final Denver drive, and the Green Bay Packers, who led 30-7 at the half, held on for a 30-27 victory.
“Great players have to come up with great plays,” said White, who finished with three sacks, doubling his total from his first four games with Green Bay. “We just did a good job on those last two plays. That would have been a devastating loss for us.”
Indeed, the Packers had blown fourth-quarter leads in two of their three losses, and another would have left them tied with Tampa Bay for last place in the NFC Central.
Le-Lo Lang’s interception, the Broncos’ third of the second half, at the Green Bay 43 gave Denver one last chance with 2:05 remaining. But White brought down Elway for losses of eight and 14 yards, the final sack with 1:27 to play.
Green Bay, breaking a three-game losing streak, is 2-3. Denver fell to 3-2.
Elway set career highs in pass completions with 33 and pass attempts with 59 and finished with 367 yards. Vance Johnson caught a career-high 10 passes for 148 yards against the porous Packers defense.
The Packers, behind Brett Favre’s passing to Sterling Sharpe and Jackie Harris, scored on all six of their first-half possessions--three touchdowns and three field goals--for a 30-7 lead.
But the Broncos defense stopped the Packers time after time in the second half, and Green Bay couldn’t contain Elway until the end.
Mike Croel picked off a screen pass and returned it 22 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter, pulling the Broncos within 30-14.
Elway connected with four different receivers in a 68-yard drive capped by Rod Bernstine’s two-yard run, to cut the lead to 30-21.
Elway later completed a 49-yard pass to Johnson. A penalty knocked Denver back, but Jason Elam kicked a 47-yard field goal with 14:13 remaining.
Favre had a 39-yard run called back by penalty and, on the next play, Shane Dronett intercepted him at the Packers’ 44. Denver moved to the 11 with a first down, but after three passes netted two yards, Elam kicked a 37-yarder with 8:31 to play. That made it 30-27.
The Broncos had to punt after a penalty wiped out another Elway-to-Johnson pass with just over three minutes to play. But Lang got the ball back for Denver. And White took over.
Favre connected with Harris on a 66-yard touchdown pass play to put the Packers up 24-7 in the second quarter, the score coming just 24 seconds after Elway connected with Johnson for the Broncos’ only points of the half.
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