The Washington Redskins fans who flocked to Ohio for the Hall of Fame game roared when rookie quarterback Colt Brennan walked onto the field in the second half. They cheered even more when the former Hawai'i record-setter completed 9 of 10 passes for 123 yards and two touchdowns in the victory over Indianapolis.

Colt was firing away at the Colts.

Quarterback controversy in the making? Hardly. Should Brennan have stayed in Canton an extra day to be measured for a Hall of Fame bust? Certainly not. But, just to be sure, coach Jim Zorn and his coaching staff have moved quickly to stomp out the Brennan hype.

"He has to become a more disciplined QB," Zorn said. "Not risk as much as he risked in the game. This week it turned out to be a great performance, but it could easily have been the other way."

And, just in case he wasn't getting the message, Brennan heard more from offensive assistant Chris Meidt.

"Coach Meidt told me 'You were pretty horrible when it came to technique' and stuff like that," Brennan said.

Thus has been the 48-hour ride for the quarterback who broke 31 NCAA records with an unusual throwing motion in Hawai'i's run-and-shoot offense.

Brennan fell to the sixth round before he was taken by the Redskins, then missed the team's offseason practices because of hip surgery.

Still, he's the fresh new face for the Redskins, who last year were taken to the playoffs by second-stringer Todd Collins after Jason Campbell went down with a knee injury.

"The coolest thing of the night is when I walked out there on the field for my first drive and I could hear an ovation, a roar from the crowd, a lot of them standing up clapping," Brennan said.

PACKERS

COACH: FAVRE DOESN'T HAVE RIGHT MIND-SET

The bond between Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers appears to be broken. Packers coach Mike McCarthy said yesterday evening that after approximately six hours of what he called "brutally honest" conversations with Favre over the past two days, the three-time MVP just isn't in the right mind-set to be part of the team.

Even with the chance to win his starting job back potentially on the table, McCarthy said Favre couldn't seem to get past emotional wounds that were opened in recent weeks.

"The football team's moving forward," McCarthy said. "The train has left the station, whatever analogy you want. He needs to jump on the train and let's go. Or, if we can't get past things that have happened, I have to keep the train moving."

McCarthy said he and Favre made plans to speak later yesterday evening, but McCarthy didn't seem expect anything significant would change.

ELSEWHERE

Broncos: Denver will start the season without wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who was suspended by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for three games for violating the league's personal conduct policy. Marshall was summoned to Goodell's New York offices July 18 to explain a series of off-the-field misdeeds over the past year, most notably his March 6 arrest on a domestic violence warrant filed by his former girlfriend in Atlanta.

Bengals: Linebacker Keith Rivers signed a contract with Cincinnati last night, ending an impasse that made him miss nine days of training camp. The linebacker from Southern California showed up at the team's training facility last night and signed the deal. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. The signing leaves Jacksonville defensive end Derrick Harvey, taken eighth overall, as the final first-round holdout.