RENTON — The weekly conference call was over, having already gone seven minutes past the 10 minutes allotted by the New York Jets public-relations staff, and yet Brett Favre was not finished.
As Seattle reporters thanked him for his time and started to scurry away, Favre brought up one subject on his own. As it turns out, it’s one of Favre’s favorites.
“Hey,” the NFL’s all-time passing leader’s voice said through a speaker phone at the Seahawks’ practice complex on Wednesday. “Did I hear it was going to snow there this weekend?”
When the 39-year-old, former Green Bay Packers quarterback was told that his weather information was correct, he sounded like a 16-year-old kid.
“That’s awesome,” Favre said.
According to weather reports, the snow that blanketed Seattle and Snohomish County earlier this week is expected to return on Sunday.
Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said that he hopes the Seahawks deal with the snow better than they did in January’s 42-20 playoff loss at Green Bay.
“It all depends on how we come out and choose to handle it,” Holmgren said of the snow expected Sunday. “Last year in Green Bay, we didn’t handle it very well. We’ve played games in inclement weather out here, and we’ve played well.
“… It really boils down to trying to eliminate the elements, do the right thing (and) play hard.”
The last time Qwest Field saw snow on a game day was in Nov. 2006, when Favre and the Packers were in town for an appearance on Monday Night Football. The Seahawks won that game 34-24, so Seattle has shown it can deal with the elements.
The Jets have more experience with snow, having played in a part of the country where Christmases are typically white.
In the Seahawks’ last snow game, Seattle jumped out to a 14-0 lead but fell apart when the snowflakes began to fall.
“There was absolutely no snow in the weather report that day,” Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said. “And then it snowed. So I think some (strange) things were happening there.”
Holmgren said earlier this week that he kept a remnant from that game.
“The hat that I wore in the playoff game in Green Bay, I still have it,” he said. “There’s a foot of snow on it still. I’ve kept it in a freezer. I could whip that baby out and put it on.”
According to the team media guide, the Seahawks have never hosted a game in temperatures below 34 degrees, which is what the temperature was in the 2006 Green Bay game. The coldest game ever played came at Denver, where it was 16 degrees at kickoff of a 2006 game.
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