GAME RECAP (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL)
(GREEN BAY) - Add obituaries over the weekend: And the Packers lost, too. In a savagely fought game on which the lead in the western division of the National league
hinged, they bowed to Jimmy Conzelman's well manned, well
coached Chicago Cardinals before a record breaking crowd of
25,502 here Sunday afternoon, 14-10. The Packers bowed
but they bowed only after the most stubborn sort of fight.
They wanted this game as badly as they have wanted any
other this fall, perhaps even more badly, for a victory would
have left them as the only undefeated team in the league.
The fight, though, was a little too much. The Cardinals were
a little too good.
CRUNCHING FOOTBALL
Here was a game which at 2 o'clock looked as thought it
might develop into a high scoring duel. All the ingredients were
there. On one side was the dream backfield of Charley Trippi,
Paul Christman, Marshall Goldberg and Pat harder which had
averaged 38 points a game in two previous starts; on the other,
the fast, well balanced Packers, who had averaged 23. But it
wasn't a high scoring duel at all. It was a crunching sort of
battle in which the teams hammered out most of the yardage
on the ground, in which the passing specialists, Jack Jacobs
of the Packers and Christman of the Cardinals, played lesser
roles, and in which the two teams together scored only three
touchdowns and a field goal all afternoon. Both scored their
touchdowns rushing, the Cardinals when Elmer Ansgman
slammed home from the two yard line in the second quarter
and John (Red) Cochran repeated early in the third quarter,
and the Packers when the skipping Tony Canadeo, behind
good interference, went eight yards around left end later in the
same period. Canadeo's touchdown was added to a field goal
by Ted Fritsch from the 21 yard line in the second quarter.
DESERVED VICTORY
As the statistics show, the Cardinals deserved the game, yet
the 25,000 couldn't help wondering what might have been if
Green Bay had not suffered lapses on three fine opportunities
late in the battle. What might have been - who was it wrote the
poem? It was 14-10, still anybody's game, when the first of
the big opportunities bobbed up in the third quarter. On the
most spectacular pass of the afternoon, Jacobs to Gillette,
the Packers swept to Chicago's eight yard line. Here, indeed,
was position. On two running plays, Fritsch hurriedly inserted
into the game here, gained only three years, missing a hole
on the first, Canadeo failed to gain and a pass fell incomplete.
And the Cardinals took over.
SCHLINKMAN FUMBLES
The second opportunity bobbed up on the first play of the
fourth quarter. Vic Schwall fumbled on his own 33, Baby Ray
recovered and the boys had position again. On three plays
they quickly swept down to the 17 - then lost the ball when
Schlinkman fumbled on first down. And the third opportunity
followed a minute later when Comp intercepted a pass in
midfield and returned 24 yards to the 25. Certainly here the
Packers would do something. But they didn't. Canadeo gained
a yard at left end and three passes fell incomplete - one of
them when a receiver loafed. So it went. What might have
been will bother some of the good burghers up here for a long
time. Each of the touchdowns was scored on good sustained
football. The Cardinals went 54 yards in eight plays for their
first and 53 yards in seven plays for their second. The Packers
drove 70 yards on 10 plays for their tally. Even Green Bay's
field goal was preceded by a drive, the boys going 70 yards to
get their position. Both lines played tremendous football,
Chicago's especially, and both backfield sparkled at times -
Trippi, Angsmann, Cochran, Cody, Schlinkman and Gillette
especially. Pat Harder started out as though to have one of
his roaring afternoons, but he cracked a rib in the early
bruising play and sat out most of the game. The victory lifted
the Cardinals into undisputed first place in the western
division of the league, the only undefeated team in the league
by the way, and dropped the Packers into a tie for second
place with the Los Angeles Rams.
FEEL EACH OTHER OUT
They felt each other out in the first quarter, the Cardinals with
four first downs, the Packers with three, but only the Packers
made theirs eventually pay off. The Cardinals never got
beyond midfield. The Packers waited until late in the first
period to get their initial first down, starting on their own 15,
then quickly added two others - long ones - and on the last
play of the period found themselves with a first down on
Chicago's 27. Here was the best position either team had had
so far, and the Packers took it to score the game's first points.
Gillette and Schlinkman quickly added a fourth first down on
Chicago's 14 and the 25,502 thought they saw a touchdown in
the making. On the 14 however, the Bays bumped into a stone
wall and on fourth down Fritsch stepped back to the 21 and
kicked his goal. The three points against them, however, were
just what the Cardinals apparently needed for they dominated
the play completely through the remainder of the half. First
they threatened, driving 53 yards to Green Bay's 15, first
down, where they were stopped when Forte intercepted a
pass on the two. Jacobs punted out at once, of course, and
a good kick it was, to Chicago's 46, but the Cardinals
smashed right back - and this time for keeps. Dimanchoff
cruised down the middle for one first down on Green Bay's 35,
Angsmann down the middle for another on the 20, and
Christman, with marvelous protection passed to Kutner for a
third on the two yard line. The rest was easy. Angsmann went over center for the touchdown. Harder converted. And so the half ended, 7-3.
CARDS ADD TO THEIR LEAD
The Cardinals wasted no time in adding to their lead, either, as the third quarter got underway. They kicked off, got the ball back on their own 47 on a punt and went all the way with Trippi the big gun in the drive. He picked up one first down on Green Bay's 39 added another on the 27 and then turned the job over to Christman. Christman didn't fail. On second down he pitched a strike to Kutner on the four and the die was cast. An offside helped the Cardinals to the two, and on first down from there Cochran easily went over. Harder converted. With the Cardinals roaring as they were it looked at this point as though they might pile up a score, but the Packers had different ideas. They took the subsequent kickoff back to their 30, and then with Schlinkman, Cody, Gillette and Forte ripping the Cardinal line apart, and with a pass, Jacobs to Goodnight thrown in for good measure, they put together four first downs to Chicago's 17. There was no stopping them here. It took only three plays. Gillette picked up seven at right end, Cody two at right tackle, and Canadeo, with great blocking, swept around left end for eight and the touchdown. Fritsch converted. And the Packers didn't stop with this either. They got the ball on a punt on their own 38 a few minutes later, and on a spectacular 40 yard pass, Jacobs to Gillette, swept clear down to Chicago's eight on one play. A touchdown looked like a cinch. But the Cardinals braced. They held Fritsch, who had just replaced Schlinkman, to three yards on two plays and then batted down two passes.
KEEP COMING
Still the Packers came. Ray recovered Schwall's fumble on Chicago's 33 yard line a few minutes later and they had position again; they even moved down to the 17 on three plays, but Schlinkman fumbled on first down here and that was that. A third chance they got a few minutes later when Comp intercepted a pass in midfield and returned 24 to Chicago's 25. Once more, though, they were stopped, picking up one yard on the first play and throwing three incomplete passes, and they rested their case for the day. In the closing minutes, in fact, they had their hands full to hold the Cardinals in check. Once Ivy's attempted field goal from the 27 was blocked and once Harder's field goal from the 33 was wide. The Cardinals had the ball in Packer territory again as the game ended.
CHI CARDS - 0 7 7 0 - 10
GREEN BAY - 0 3 7 0 - 14
2nd - GB - Fritsch, 51-yard field goal GREEN BAY 3-0
2nd - CHI - Elmer Angsman, 2-yard run (Pat Harder kick) CHI CARDINALS 7-3
3rd - CHI - Red Cochran, 1-yard run (Harder kick) CHICAGO CARDINALS 14-3
3rd - GB - Canadeo, 7-yard run (Fritsch kick) CHICAGO CARDINALS 14-10