Favre 40 Yard TD Pass to Sharpe in Playoffs
On a Saturday in January 1994, in the NFC Wild Card game at Detroit’s Pontiac Silverdome, a late, clutch throw by a young Brett Favre was a breakout moment for the Hall of Famer. After coming back from a 17-7 second-half deficit to take the lead, Green Bay then relinquished it back in the fourth quarter as the Lions went ahead 24-21. With about a minute left, the Packers had the ball on the Lions’ 40. Favre, who was 24 and in his third season, dropped back, scampered to his left, and then gunned a pass all the way to the right side of the end zone, to a streaking receiver, Sterling Sharpe, who caught the ball all alone for the difference-making touchdown in a 28-24 Packer victory. It was one of three TD passes on the day for Favre, all of them to Sharpe. And while the Packers lost the next week to the Cowboys, that Favre-to-Sharpe play could be interpreted as an early turning point in Favre’s career: he’d thrown more interceptions than touchdowns during the regular season. But the next year, everything changed: Favre tossed more TDs than interceptions by a margin of 33 to 14.