DENVER (AP) -- The comparisons are flattering, especially since Brett Favre grew up idolizing John Elway.

If Favre had his way, however, he'd leave the heart-stopping, late-game comeback heroics to his boyhood hero.

Favre -- whose Green Bay Packers visit Mile High Stadium for a game against Elway's old team, the Denver Broncos, on Sunday -- has engineered three thrilling comeback victories this season, accounting for all of the Packers' wins.

Last Sunday against Tampa Bay, the Buccaneers took a 23-19 lead with 1:45 left. Forty seconds later, Favre threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Freeman for a 26-23 triumph.

Two weeks earlier, Favre hit Corey Bradford for a 23-yard touchdown with 12 seconds left to secure a 23-20 win over Minnesota. And, in the season opener against Oakland, he threw a 1-yard TD pass to tight end Jeff Thomason with 11 seconds to go for a 28-24 verdict.

Favre now has been the architect of 16 comeback wins in his career, still far short of Elway's 47 game-saving drives _ but gaining. If he never has to lead another, however, he insists he won't complain.

"The stress of doing that is extremely great," Favre said. "It takes too much out of you.

"You can't make a living doing it. At some point, it's got to stop. We hope it stops. We hope we are ahead. Good football teams will put the game away early."

It's been extremely stressful for his coach, too.

Asked if Favre's comebacks are coming close to giving him a heart attack, Ray Rhodes said, "On the verge. I mean, you're talking about taking it down to the last seconds and pulling things out, and he's done that to get three wins for our team. It's nerve-wracking."

Rhodes said Elway "is a guy that everybody looked at for those last-second heroics because he's done so many of them. John set a standard for those last-second wins. Brett, he's working toward that area where John's been."

When people call him the next Elway, Favre scoffs. He has, of course, an impressive portfolio of his own, having won three straight league MVP awards (1995-97).

"John Elway is a great quarterback. To be compared to him, how could you not like that?" he said. "But I want to make a name for myself. My team relies on me in that situation. I don't want to let them or our fans down.

"Elway has done a lot more than I've done, so I have a ways to go. But I'm just going to keep shooting and see what happens."

Favre sets his sights on the Broncos (1-4) this week. The two-time defending Super Bowl champions snapped a four-game losing streak with a 16-13 win over Oakland last week.

They did it without Elway, who has retired; running back Terrell Davis and linebacker John Mobley, who are out for the season with knee injuries; tight end Shannon Sharpe, who exited in the third quarter with a broken collarbone; Davis' successor, running back Derek Loville, who was sidelined by a pulled hamstring, and Bubby Brister, elevated to the starting quarterback job but in street clothes because of a strained oblique muscle on his left side.

Brian Griese, who started the first four games at quarterback, helped orchestrate the badly needed win, along with rookie running back Olandis Gary and an aroused defense that sacked Rich Gannon six times and intercepted him twice. With the Raiders driving for at least a tying field goal, Tory James intercepted a pass in the final minute.

Favre, who has been nursing a sore thumb on his throwing hand since an Aug. 23 preseason game against Denver, insisted the Packers (3-1) aren't overlooking the Broncos, just as he insisted his heavily favored team didn't overlook Denver in the Super Bowl in January 1998 -- the last time the teams met in a meaningful game.

"If you look at film of the Raiders game last week," he said, "you see a team playing like it was the Super Bowl. They played hard, and they really just physically beat the hell out of the Raiders. I didn't see an 0-4 football team out there.

"And I can guarantee you, not one person on this football team is going into this game thinking, `We're playing a 1-4 Denver team. This will be a cake walk.' This is going to be a battle."

GREEN BAY Season schedule and results

DENVER Season schedule and results

September 12 Oakland W 28-24 September 19 @Detroit L 15-23 September 26 Minnesota W 23-20 October 10 Tampa Bay W 26-23 October 17 @Denver 4:15pm ET October 24 @San Diego 4:05pm ET November 1 Seattle 9:00pm ET November 7 Chicago 1:00pm ET November 14 @Dallas 4:15pm ET November 21 Detroit 1:00pm ET November 29 @San Francisco 9:00pm ET December 5 @Chicago 1:00pm ET December 12 Carolina 1:00pm ET December 20 @Minnesota 9:00pm ET December 26 @Tampa Bay 4:15pm ET January 2 Arizona 1:00pm ET

September 13 Miami L 21-38 September 19 @Kansas City L 10-26 September 26 @Tampa Bay L 10-13 October 3 NY Jets L 13-21 October 10 @Oakland W 16-13 October 17 Green Bay 4:15pm ET October 24 @New England 1:00pm ET October 31 Minnesota 4:15pm ET November 7 @San Diego 4:15pm ET November 14 @Seattle 8:20pm ET November 22 Oakland 9:00pm ET December 5 Kansas City 4:15pm ET December 13 @Jacksonville 9:00pm ET December 19 Seattle 4:15pm ET December 25 @Detroit 4:15pm ET January 2 San Diego 4:15pm ET

Records source: STATS, Inc.

Copyright 1999 STATS, Inc. Commercial distribution without the express written consent of STATS is prohibited.