; 1YY E: 1835  L: 94708 - 94779  OPR: 1  TYP: 1  C
Provided by copyright (c)1997 Associated Press
TUESDAY 10/28/97  3:31:43
^With PM-FBN--Packers-Patriots,<
^Game turns on two third-quarter series<
^By HOWARD ULMAN=
^AP Sports Writer=
   FOXBORO, Mass. (AP) _ There was a strange similarity to last
season's Super Bowl.
   The New England Patriots regain the momentum. The Green Bay
Packers take it back by going 99 yards for a touchdown. And the
Packers win again.
   It happened back in January when Desmond Howard returned a
kickoff 99 yards just 17 seconds after Curtis Martin's touchdown
cut Green Bay's lead to 27-21 late in the third quarter. The
Packers won 35-21.
   And it happened nine months and one day later in Monday night's
rematch, won by the Packers 28-10.
   The Patriots moved from their 26-yard line to a first down at
the Packers 1 on the first series of the third quarter. They
couldn't score, and Brett Favre then led Green Bay on a 17-play,
99-yard drive that ended with a 20-yard scoring pass to Robert
Brooks for a 21-10 lead.
   ``Any time anyone gets a 99-yard drive, obviously it's a
backbreaker,'' Favre said. ``We're here at their place. It was
loud. We just made plays.''
   The Patriots didn't. With the ball at the 1, a touchdown would
have erased Green Bay's 14-10 lead.
   But Martin ran for no gain, then Drew Bledsoe threw three
incompletions rather than try to accomplish a seemingly simple
task: open enough of a hole on three plays to run the ball in.
   ``It didn't matter,'' Patriots right guard Todd Rucci said. ``We
still should have scored.''
   The big play of the drive was Bledsoe's 49-yard completion to
Terry Glenn, who caught seven passes for a career-high 163 yards. A
9-yard connection between them gave the Patriots a first down at
the 1.
   Martin was stopped by Santana Dotson and LeRoy Butler on first
down. Then Bledsoe threw incompletions to Keith Byars, Ben Coates
and Byars again.
   ``They are plays that have worked for us extremely well,''
Bledsoe said. ``That's why we went with them.''
   Cornerback Tyrone Williams, who got the job when an injury
sidelined Craig Newsome for the season in the opener, broke up the
last two plays after allowing the long pass to Glenn.
   ``Tyrone made two incredible plays,'' Packers free safety Eugene
Robinson said. ``We'll be talking about those for a long, long
time.''
   ``That could be the turning point for our season,'' Favre said.
``That's huge. You don't come to New England and stop them on the
1-yard line.''
   New England couldn't stop the Packers on the 1-yard line, even
though they were headed toward the opposite end zone with 99 yards
to go.
   Favre started the drive with 9:46 left in the third quarter by
completing a 9-yard pass to William Henderson. There were four
third downs along the way, and each time the Packers got a first
down _ on runs of 2 and 16 yards by Favre and completions of 5 and
16 yards to Brooks.
   The biggest play was a third-and-12 at the Patriots 36. With his
receivers covered, Favre scrambled into a huge vacancy in the
defense for a 16-yard gain. The Packers scored on the next play.
   ``We don't have anybody covering the quarterback on that,''
Patriots coach Pete Carroll said. ``We went on a four-man rush and
he got out.''
   The touchdown pass to Brooks finally gave the defenders a chance
to rest, even if it meant the game was getting out of hand.
   ``They just held the ball. We couldn't get off the field on
third down, and that was the key,'' Patriots cornerback Ty Law
said. ``They went 99 yards, and that's ridiculous on our part.''
   New England linebacker Chris Slade was just as blunt. His
general analysis applied perfectly to the two third-quarter series
that changed the game.
   ``Favre's the MVP. He made plays,'' Slade said. ``Our big-play
players didn't.''