Howard, Favre Have Happy Returns in Packers’ 35-21 Win

NEW ORLEANS —  The Green Bay Packers finally have a present to go with their past.

The 35-21 Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots on Sunday hardly brought back memories of Vince Lombardi’s grind-it-out champions of the ‘60s.

Instead, it was a high-powered Pack--doing it with big plays, especially by MVP Desmond Howard--that returned Green Bay to NFL prominence and put the title back in “Titletown, USA.”

“I think it’s time that the Lombardi Trophy goes home to Lambeau Field, where it belongs,” Packer President Robert Harlan said.

It was Brett Favre finding the duckwalking Andre Rison for a 54-yard touchdown on the Packers’ second offensive play, then throwing an 81-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Freeman in the first minute of the second quarter to put Green Bay ahead for good.

It was Howard scoring on a 99-yard kickoff return then striking an abbreviated Heisman pose in the end zone, a dagger in the heart of the Patriots, who had closed to 27-21.

Howard, the first special teams player ever to win MVP, finished with a record 244 return yards.

The win was the 13th in a row for an NFC team and kept Bill Parcells, who had two of those 13 with the Giants in 1986 and 1990, from becoming the first coach to win a Super Bowl with two different franchises.

Instead, the Packers won the trophy named for their storied coach. It was Lombardi’s teams that won the first two Super Bowls.

“Vince Lombardi had a wonderful legacy for the rest of us. Now we’re just trying to do our part, and we hope we can do it for a long time to come,” Packer Coach Mike Holmgren said.

There was, of course, time for sentiment.

The team that wanted to win one for Reggie White did it and he contributed--getting two sacks of Drew Bledsoe after Howard’s return, and a third late in the game.

That ensured that the Patriots wouldn’t strike back at the Packers the way Howard had struck back at them.

It started like a blowout by the Packers, who fulfilled the high expectations with which they entered the season--only Holmgren, who referred to the Super Bowl as “that game” rather than by its name, tried to hold down the exuberance.

First there was the TD pass to Rison from Favre, who finished 14 of 27 for 246 yards. It was 10-0 just 6:25 into the game after Doug Evans’ interception set up Chris Jacke’s 31-yard field goal.

But by the end of the highest-scoring first quarter in Super Bowl history, New England led 14-10 on TD passes by Bledsoe of 1 yard to Keith Byars and 4 yards to Ben Coates.

And even after a 17-point second quarter by the Packers that included the 81-yard bomb to Freeman and 2-yard touchdown run by Favre, New England was still in it at 27-14.

And when Ted Johnson stopped Dorsey Levens for a seven-yard loss on fourth and one at the Pats 37 on the first drive of the fourth quarter, New England gained momentum.

They cut it to 27-21 on Curtis Martin’s 18-yard burst up the middle with 3:27 left in the third quarter.

But Howard took the kickoff, burst up the middle and went nearly untouched to the end zone -- only Hason Graham got a hand on him. Then Favre hit Keith Jackson in the back of the end zone for a two-point conversion to give the Packers a 14-point lead.

Bledsoe tried to rally the Patriots in the fourth quarter, but could not. He finished with four interceptions, going 25 of 48 for 253 yards.

The first half was so explosive that the only time to come up for air was on Green Bay’s third touchdown drive, a nine-play 74-yard march that took up 5:59 and gave the Packers a 27-14 lead at halftime.

Favre capped it with a 2-yard bootleg into the end zone on which he extended the ball over the goal line with his right hand as he went out of bounds. Levens ran four times for 33 yards in the drive, the first time in the game either team was able to move on the ground.

Otherwise, it was punch and counterpunch.

The Packers got in the first blow, when Rison turned around Otis Smith and took Favre’s perfect pass over the middle for a 54-yard score. He duckwalked into the end zone, one reason why Holmgren first said when when he heard of Rison’s availability: “He may not be our type of player.”

It became 10-0 on the next series after Doug Evans’ interception of Bledsoe set up Jacke’s 37-yarder.

Just when it looked like the rout was on, New England came back.

On the next series, Byars broke two tackles and rumbled 32 yards with a screen pass, then Martin took a short pass for Bledsoe and went 20 more. After Green Bay’s Craig Newsome was called for pass interference in the end zone on Shawn Jefferson, Bledsoe found Byars for a 1-yard score that made it 10-7.

On New England’s next possession, Terry Glenn made an acrobatic catch over Eugene Robinson to complete a 44-yard play that put the ball on the Green Bay 4.

On the following play, Bledsoe found Coates at the rear of the end zone and it was 14-10 with 2:35 still left in the highest-scoring first quarter in Super Bowl history. The most notable thing on that drive may have been a 2-yard run by Martin that ended a run of 11 straight pass plays by the Patriots.

The New England defense continued to persevere, holding the Packers without a first down on four possessions after the Favre-Rison touchdown until early in the second period.

But that ended quickly in the first minute of the second quarter.

The Packers had a first down on their own 19 when Favre spotted safety Lawyer Milloy alone on Freeman in the slot. Sprung by loose by an audible, Freeman streaked past the defensive back, Favre found him perfectly and suddenly it was an 81-yard touchdown--the longest play from scrimmage in Super Bowl history--and a 17-14 lead for Green Bay.

Jacke’s 31-yard field goal made it 20-14. The kick was set up by Howard’s 34-yard punt return, which gave the Packers a first down past midfield.

Then came the long drive, set up by Mike Prior’s interception of Bledsoe.