GREEN BAY, Wis. – It comes as no surprise that Brett Favre’s most memorable touchdown pass was based on a hunch, a split-second improvisation on the biggest stage imaginable.

On the Green Bay Packers’ second snap of the 1997 Super Bowl, Favre stepped to the line and saw that New England’s defense didn’t have either safety deep in coverage.

Favre quickly checked to “razor,” calling an audible that hadn’t really worked all season and wasn’t designed to be used with the group of players they had on the field. Favre just had to assume his receivers would figure out which routes to run.

“So all that was going through my mind at that particular point, on top of, ‘I sure hope they’re in the defense I think they are,'” Favre said. “And it just worked out perfectly.”

Favre found Andre Rison for a 54-yard touchdown pass, a perfect moment in a career filled with soaring highs and forehead-slapping lows.

Statistics can’t tell the whole story of what Favre has meant to the Green Bay Packers and the NFL. But it would be difficult to come up with a more telling illustration of Favre’s go-for-broke style than this: On any one of the next few Sundays, Favre could break Dan Marino’s career touchdown pass record AND become the NFL’s most-intercepted quarterback.

Favre, who broke John Elway’s record for most victories by a starting quarterback with his 149th career win at New York last Sunday, now needs four touchdown passes to break Marino’s record of 420. And with three more interceptions, he’ll pass George Blanda’s more dubious career mark of 277.

Marino isn’t surprised that Favre ended up in a position to break his record. “When I first quit, I thought the only one out there who might have a chance would be Brett Favre,” said Marino. “He throws a lot of touchdowns – and he stays healthy.”

As he’s done in the past, Favre downplayed the significance of records this week and made no apologies for taking chances. He’s also closing in on Marino’s career records for attempts and yards passing, so Favre says it’s only logical he would have a lot of touchdowns and interceptions.

“There have been some bad plays, some bonehead plays, whatever you want to call it,” Favre said. “But a lot of those good ones would not be there if it wasn’t for taking a chance. For me, it has been well worth the risk.”