ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, November 5, 1996 TAG: 9611050124
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: GREEN BAY, WIS.
SOURCE: Associated Press
Brett Favre didn't miss Antonio Freeman or Robert Brooks on Sunday.
Without his two best receivers, Favre still threw for four touchdowns as the Green Bay Packers beat the ailing Detroit Lions 28-18 for their 12th straight victory at Lambeau Field.
``I'm not surprised,'' Favre said. ``I'm actually a little disappointed we didn't do more.''
Favre, who had just one touchdown pass in his previous two games, completed 24 of 35 passes for 281 yards and one interception as the Packers (8-1) won their fifth straight. (Summary in NFL Scoreboard).
Terry Mickens caught two touchdown passes and Don Beebe had four catches for 106 yards, including a 65-yard score that made it 28-10 in the third period.
Making his first start at flanker, where Brooks (knee) and former Virginia Tech standout Freeman (broken arm) were casualties in the Packers' last two games, Beebe put a scare into the Packers and their fans when he took vicious hits in the first half.
``I was concerned. He took two big-time hits,'' Packers coach Mike Holmgren said. ``The way our luck's been going with our wide receivers ''
``I tell people playing a football game feels like being in three or four car wrecks,'' Beebe said. ``And I ought to know because I was in one last month.''
Mickens, who hadn't played all season because of a severe ankle sprain, started at split end and made two diving grabs in the end zone - the first touchdowns of his three-year career - and made seven catches for 52 yards.
``I didn't care if I started or just got out there on special teams, I just wanted to play again,'' Mickens said.
Barry Sanders broke out of his six-week slump, rushing for 152 yards on 20 carries. But former Packers quarterback Don Majkowski, filling in for injured Detroit starter Scott Mitchell, was just 15-of-32 for 153 yards and a touchdown as the Lions fell to 4-5.
``We were surprised how well we ran the ball,'' said Majkowski, a former standout at Virginia. ``But we weren't consistent with our passing.''
Sanders ended the longest drought of his eight-year NFL career - six games without 100 yards rushing - against the league's stingiest run defense, and he had 105 yards by halftime.
``I expect better things from our defense,'' Holmgren said. ``Of course, Barry Sanders can make any defense look average. And in the first half, boy, was he good.''
But he was bottled up in the second half.
Former Virginia star Herman Moore, the league's top receiver, missed much of the second and third periods after aggravating his bad back when he was slammed by safety Eugene Robinson.
When Moore returned, Majkowski, who played for Green Bay from 1987-92, hit Brett Perriman with an 8-yard touchdown with 4:27 left, then connected with Moore on the conversion that made it 28-18.
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Detroit defender Jocelyn Borgella (27) breaks up aby CNBpass intended for Green Bay receiver Desmond Howard.