BALTIMORE (Dec. 19, 2005) -- Brett Favre shuffled off the field, a yellow parka pulled over his bowed head. He ignored the shouts of the people around him, many imploring the dejected quarterback to return next season.
At the other end of the field, a smiling Kyle Boller cheerfully gave an interview following his most effective game as a professional.
Boller put on a dazzling performance on a national stage, throwing three touchdown passes in leading the Baltimore Ravens to a 48-3 rout of the Green Bay Packers.
Years from now, Boller won't care that the game meant nothing. He will remember that he outplayed Favre.
"It's really good just to be on the field with him," Boller said. "I grew up watching him."
Boller was 19-of-27 for 253 yards before leaving with 8 minutes to go. There's still no guarantee he will return as the starter next year, but for one night he looked like a No. 1 draft pick.
"It was a really good win," Boller said. "My teammates, my guys, they allowed me to do that."
It was the low point of an awful season for the Packers (3-11), who absorbed their most lopsided loss since a 61-7 defeat at Chicago in 1980.
"It was tough to watch any part of that game," Green Bay coach Mike Sherman said. "We didn't execute in any phase."
Certainly not on defense. The Ravens, who topped the 20-point mark only once earlier this season, had 24 by halftime.
Boller showed poise in the pocket, was accurate with his throws and didn't commit a turnover. Unfortunately for the Ravens (5-9), his solid performance, which produced a franchise record for points, came far too late to salvage a season that long ago turned sour.
"I'm going to keep working. I'm going to keep trying to get better," Boller said. "My teammates have been behind me through everything. That's what really has kept me going."
Favre, meanwhile, struggled from the outset in his final appearance on ABC's Monday Night Football. The 15-year veteran has enjoyed many memorable moments on Monday night, but this was one he would prefer to forget.
Favre was 14-of-29 for 144 yards and two interceptions before being replaced by Aaron Rodgers late in the third quarter.
"I thought it was time to take him out of the game," Sherman said. "It was getting out of hand."
Favre's two interceptions gave him a career-high 24 for the season, and it marked the first time in his illustrious career that he has gone three straight starts without a touchdown pass. One of the interceptions was by Deion Sanders, the 53rd of his career.
Favre refused to talk to the media after the game.
Green Bay played the final three quarters without running back Samkon Gado, who left with a knee injury after gaining 45 yards on six carries.
Todd Heap caught nine passes for 110 yards and two touchdowns. The fifth-year tight end has 2,841 career yards receiving, breaking the team mark held by Qadry Ismail.
"That was the most fun I've had this season," Heap said. "Kyle and I said before the game, 'Let's just go out and have fun tonight.' And we did. It shows what we're capable of doing."
Jamal Lewis ran for 105 yards and a touchdown for the Ravens, who are 5-2 at home and winless on the road.
Boller was 14-of-18 in the first half to stake Baltimore to a 24-3 lead. He added a 27-yard touchdown pass to Heap on the Ravens' first possession of the third quarter, leaving Favre with no chance of pulling off one of his patented comebacks.
Instead, Favre lasted only two more series before calling it a night.
Not long after that, many in the crowd of 70,604 -- the largest to watch an NFL game in Baltimore -- began filing out.
After the Packers went three-and-out on the game's opening series, B.J. Sams returned a punt 49 yards to the Green Bay 18. That set up a 2-yard scoring pass from Boller to Heap, the first time this season Baltimore scored a touchdown on its first drive.
The Ravens made it 14-0 on their next possession. A 17-yard run by Lewis and a 22-yard pass to Derrick Mason set up an 11-yard touchdown run by rookie wide receiver Mark Clayton, who took the snap in shotgun formation and sprinted around right end.
It was the most points the Ravens scored in the opening quarter this season, and more points than they scored in seven of their previous 13 games.
Ahmad Carroll took the ensuring kickoff 57 yards, setting up a 27-yard field goal by Ryan Longwell.
Baltimore made it 21-3 with the kind of drive that has eluded the offensively challenged team for much of the season. The 16-play, 96-yard march followed an interception by Samari Rolle and was extended by a third-down holding call against Green Bay safety Mark Roman.
On the fifth third-one-handed grab in the end zone in front of Carroll.
Notes:
Green Bay hasn't been 3-11 since 1991.
It was Rolle's first INT with the Ravens.
