Yet it's a venue he'll never forget, because on one of the worst days of his life, Favre turned in one of his best performances.

That was on Dec. 22, 2003, the night after Favre's father, Irvin, died suddenly of a heart attack. Favre wasn't sure if he would play at Oakland that night, or how well he would if he did.

He had found out about his dad's passing the day before, while he was playing golf with three teammates.

"I talked with a lot of the players for a while," Favre recalled Wednesday, as he prepared to play in Oakland for the first time since then. The Jets will visit the Raiders on Sunday at 4:15 p.m.

"I think from the time I found out, I really felt like I was going to play because I knew we needed to win the ballgame," said Favre, whose Packers were fighting for a playoff spot at the time.

"It's not like the game meant nothing to us," he added. "It was a question of could I play and help this team win? That was really the most important thing for me. I knew my dad would want me to play and all those things, but the shock of it. When I went out for pregame the next day, I had forgotten everything I studied all week. I couldn't tell you what coverage they were going to play, or what particular checks we had.

"Didn't know if I would play," Favre added. "Ended up playing and had a half probably better than any full game I'd ever played in."

All Favre did that night was complete 22 of 30 passes for 399 yards and four touchdowns in Green Bay's 41-7 victory over the Raiders, a win that helped the Packers reach the NFC playoffs. He had 311 yards passing by halftime.

That game was vintage Favre in many ways, one of which being that nobody is ever quite sure how well -- or poorly -- Favre might perform on a given day, whether the circumstances are ordinary or extraordinary, as in that case. Not even Favre himself.

"It was obviously a tough time," Favre said, "but was one of those games that everything I seemed to do was right."

Favre has had many such games in his career. Consider the one against Arizona on Sept. 28, when he threw an ill-advised first-quarter interception but was almost flawless the rest of the way, racking up a career-high six touchdown passes, tying a team record, in a 56-35 victory.

After that game, he said with a smile, "don't expect six touchdowns every week," and two weeks later against Cincinnati, he had only one touchdown and two interceptions. For the season, Favre has 13 touchdown passes and six interceptions, including five in the last three games.

"Nobody is ever happy about picks," coach Eric Mangini said. "On the flip side, he makes a bunch of tremendous throws into tight coverage and that makes it difficult to defend. It makes him difficult to defend. You want to go through the best decision-making process possible. He's made a ton of decisions and a ton of them have been really, really good. There's going to be some (interceptions), and I understand that. There's going to be some substantial upside as well."

Favre isn't sure how it will feel to be back at a place that holds such intensely personal memories for him.

"Maybe going out on that field at the start of the game will bring back some memories," Favre said. "But it's been a long time, a lot of games. Just the way I've handled things throughout my career, I hope that it's not anything big, one way or another. It's just another game, one that we need to win."

The Oakland crowd, "not the politest fans in the National Football League" as a smiling Favre said Wednesday, shocked him by showing their compassion with a standing ovation for him during pregame introductions that night.

This time around, he'll try not to give them any reasons to cheer.

SERIES HISTORY: 36th regular-season meeting. Raiders lead series, 19-14-2. The Jets have won the last three meetings, including a 23-3 victory in the 2006 regular-season finale, which clinched a playoff spot for the Jets. The teams played seven times, all in Oakland, from 1999 through 2003, including two playoff games. Oakland won five of those seven games, including both post-season matchups. The Jets beat Oakland, 24-22 in the 2001 regular-season finale on John Hall's 53-yard field goal, clinching a playoff berth.