The Dallas Cowboys have 52 Super Bowl rings among them. The Green Bay Packers have just two, but that doesn't bother Brett Favre.
That's understandable. Coming off a regular season in which he threw an NFC-record 38 touchdown passes, it seems like all he has to do is walk on the field and good things happen to the Packers, who play the Cowboys for the NFC championship Sunday."I just feel I've finally learned all the things I've had to learn," said Favre, the league's most valuable player. "I've been in big games in college and big games in the NFL. This is bigger, but I want to take the next step after this. What can be bigger than the Super Bowl?"
So the Cowboys' rings - four belong to Charles Haley alone - don't faze the Packers, although only five of them have ever been to a championship game.
Only two of them - backup quarterback Jim McMahon, who led the Bears to victory in 1986, and wide receiver Mark Ingram of the victorious Giants in 1991 - have been to the Super Bowl.
But both performed well under pressure. McMahon was the sideshow and media star of his Super Bowl, and Ingram broke a half-dozen tackles for a critical first down that set up a touchdown in the Giants' 20-19 victory over Buffalo.
Championship experience?
Only linebacker Fred Strickland, tight end Keith Jackson and guard Harry Galbreath also have been in conference title games. Strickland was with the 1989 Rams, Jackson and Galbreath the 1992 Dolphins.
Favre, Reggie White and most of the Green Bay stars have stalled at the divisional playoff level. Now they want more.
"This is what I've been trying for my entire career," White said.
To succeed, he and his teammates will have to break a five-game losing streak spread over three seasons at Texas Stadium.
Their history against the Packers doesn't buoy the Cowboys, however. And they also believe big-game experience gives them virtually no advantage once the game starts.
"Once you get out there, you're just playing football," said Barry Switzer, the Dallas coach who led Oklahoma to three national championships. "Big game jitters last for one play, the opening kickoff."
Other Cowboys agree, noting that Favre hardly seemed nervous last week in San Francisco, when he led the Packers to a 27-17 upset of the 49ers. He was 21 for 28 for 299 yards and two touchdowns.
"Brett's the hottest quarterback in football right now," said Troy Aikman, his Dallas counterpart. "I don't envision him coming out nervous. That's not his style."
The Cowboys consider Favre a great equalizer.
"Don't tell me we can just walk out and win because we've beaten them before and they haven't been this far," said Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin. "We can't expect a guarantee of anything."
The Packers are loose. In San Francisco, they won as nine-point underdogs. That's also the spread against the Cowboys, so why should they worry.
"The thing about this team is that we don't dwell on bad things, we think about the positives," said strong safety LeRoy Butler. "How we can shock the whole world like we did Saturday?
"Why do we think we can win? That man right over there, No. 4. Brett Favre, that's the only answer I have for that."
Is that too much pressure for Favre?
"No," he said. "That's why I'm the quarterback. The way I see it, we have as good a chance to win Sunday as to lose. And if we don't win, we'll be back next year."