2 MISTAKES HURT MOST

NOV 27 (Detroit) - "Mistakes, that's what hurt us most. We make them and we don't have the finesse to come back." So said Coach Scooter McLean after his Packers dropped a 24-14 Thanksgiving Day decision to the Lions. He pinpointed two mistakes which he thought probably spelled defeat, a fumbled pass by Al Carmichael and Max McGee's decision to run with the ball on a fourth down situation in the fourth period. "Those two situations led to a total of 14 Lion points," said McLean. "We had enough opportunities to win the game. We had the momentum, but we didn't follow through. Instead, in the first period we gave them a tremendous lift with the fourth down mess (McGee's failure to make a first down) - and they took the lead away." With the Packers leading, 7-0, Carmichael fumbled a Bart Starr pass on his own 12 and Alex Karras recovered for the Lions and ran the ball back to the five. From there the Lions scored to knot the count. McLean, in recalling Carmichael's fumble said, "he could have run quite a way, he was open. But then we dropped a lot of key passes." McGee's attempt to run the ball in the fourth quarter gave the Lions possession on the Packer 24 from where they tallied. Asked he had censured McGee, Scooter said he had no comment. He did, however, indicate that he had informed McGee of his displeasure. He then went on to remark, "I think Max didn't realize the score of the game at the time," adding, "deep in his heart he was playing to win. He obviously didn't realize the position of the field and ran to the closed side." McGee's fourth down run in the first period gave the ball to the Lions on the Packer 28 and several plays later Jim Martin booted a 32-yard field goal. "I thought the boys really tried," McLean said. "The defense did a heckuva job." The Packers' lone casualty was Hank Gremminger. He injured his ankle when he tackled Tobin Rote in the third quarter. It is believed he sustained a torn ligament. "A Lion was standing on my foot," said Gremminger, "when Charlie Ane blocked me as I tackled Rote. I think I heard something snap." Rote, who was having a bruised kidney taken care of in the Lions' dressing room, had high praise for the Packers. "They were hitting as hard as any club we played this season," he said. George Wilson, Lions' coach, echoed Rote's sentiments. "They went all out to win for Scooter," he said. Wilson reported that tackles Gil Mains and Bob Miller both sustained knee injuries which could keep them out of the rest of the season.

BAYS HAVE CONTACTED DUNCAN, MCLEAN SAYS

NOV 28 (Appleton Post-Crescent) - The Green Bay Packers, unable to escape last place in the NFL, are entitled to the first choice in the NFL early draft at Philadelphia Monday, and Coach Ray McLean has that fact in mind. "We need a quarterback, and we need offensive backs first," he said Friday. "I can't tell you which one we'll draft first. We've been on the phone all day talking to prospects and we'll be in contact with them until we decide which ones to choose. First a kid will tell us he wants to play and then he'll decide he doesn't. We've got to be sure. We'll be on that phone up the last minute."...DUNCAN INCLUDED: Quarterbacks named by McLean as among those he has contacted included Randy Duncan of Iowa. McLean said he didn't care about size so long as the prospect can pass. He said Duncan, whom he rated as a good passer and all around player, wants to play for Green Bay. Other quarterbacks he's talked to, he said, were Billy Stacy of Mississippi State, Joe Kapp of California, Tom Greene of Holy Cross, Lee Grosscup of Utah and Buddy Humphrey of Baylor. He listed Don Clark of Ohio State as the first offensive back in a long list of eligibles. Only the first four rounds will be held Monday, with the rest slated for January. The Packers have surrendered their third choice to Cleveland as the price for getting end Len Ford...9 AND 7 CHOICES: Los Angeles and Detroit, by reason of previous agreements, will have nine and seven choices, respectively, Monday. McLean will travel to Philadelphia with General Manager Vern Lewellen and Talent Scout Jack Vainisi. Assistant Coach Nick Skorich will take the Packers to San Francisco Monday to prepare for the game with the 49ers Dec. 7. The team will headquarter at Palo Alto. McLean said Hank Gremminger hurt an ankle in the 24-14 loss to Detroit Thursday but may be ready for the next game. The Packers have a record of one victory, one tie and eight losses and cannot finish out of the NFL cellar.

PACKER DEFENSE DRAWS PRAISE; OFFENSE NO HELP, SCOOTER SAYS

NOV 28 (Milwaukee Journal) - In both dressing rooms after the Detroit Lions beat the Green Bay Packers here Thursday, 24-14, the talk was of Green Bay's defense. "Our defense played good ball," Ray (Scooter) McLean, Green Bay coach, said. "But we've got to score some points for them. They can't do it alone. We've got to score. We've got to get some easier ones." George Wilson, Detroit coach, said: "The Packers played real well on defense. Of course, we ourselves were all crippled up so we didn't have much offense. But I'd rather win a bad game than lose a good one." Tobin Rote, the former Packer who was less than sensational at quarterback for Detroit, also praised Green Bay's defense. "They were real tough out there," the Texan said. "I didn't have much of a day but we've had so many receivers injured that it's tough to get the timing of the new men. I wasn't throwing that ball very good, either." Back in the Packer dressing room, McLean was saying, "It's disgusting. When you have the momentum we had, the opportunities we had, then throw the game away." Bart Starr, Green Bay quarterback, said: "It was good to play again." He sat out the entire San Francisco game last Sunday. This time Babe Parilli and Joe Francis did not play. "On that interception," Starr said, "I just threw to the wrong man. Steve Meilinger was 10 yards behind the defense. I heard him holler at me after I threw the ball." The Packers' only serious casualty was defensive back Hank Gremminger. He was helped off the field in the third quarter with a bum ankle. He was walking with a limp after the game. The Lions, already crippled, lost tackles Bob Miller and Gil Mains with back and knee injuries, respectively.

SCOOTER WANTS PASSER, BACK

NOV 29 (Milwaukee Sentinel) - Well, now that the Packers have earned the first pick in Monday's early draft at Philadelphia, who will it be? That's like asking Coach Scooter McLean who are the "bad eggs" on his football team. He wouldn't say. "Right now we're looking at college films," McLean said Friday in the wake of the club's eighth loss, which entitles it to the No. 1 pick. "We've been on the telephone all day, talking to prospects," McLean said. "And we'll be in contact with these prospects until we decide which ones to pick. First a kid will tell us he wants to play and then he decides he doesn't. We've got to be sure. We'll be on that phone up to the last minute." McLean doesn't have to be acquainted with what he needs. Against the Lions Thanksgiving Day, the Packers again demonstrated that their offense can't produce enough points to win. "We need a quarterback and we need offensive backs first," McLean pointed out. "Honest, I can't tell you which one we'll draft first." McLean named some quarterbacks he's been in contact with. There is Iowa's Randy Duncan, Billy Stacy of Mississippi State, Tom Greene of Holy Cross, Lee Grosscup of Utah and Buddy Humphrey of Baylor. Scooter said he didn't care about the prospect's size, just as long as he can pass. Probably the best qualified prospect is Richie Petitbon of Tulane. He is available for the draft, but has a year of college eligibility left. However, McLean needs help immediately and can't wait until Petitbon is available. The Rams, with nine picks coming in the first four rounds, are in an excellent position to grab eligible juniors. When asked about Duncan, he said the six foot, 180 pound Hawkeye wants to play with the Packers. Scooter called him a good passer and rated him all-around in football faculties. As far as an offensive back is concerned, Don Clark of Ohio State was the first name mentioned by McLean as he went down a list of eligibles. This will be McLean's first crack at the top collegians. He must replace deadwood with the best rookies he can find, or the Packers will never get out of the wilderness. While the Rams and Lions will clean up on 16 picks in the 48 player draw, the Bays will get only three. They owe their fourth choice to the Browns for Lenny Ford. Making the trip to Philadelphia with McLean will be General Manager Verne Lewellen and talent scout Jack Vainisi. Assistant coach Nick Skorich will take the club to San Francisco Monday in preparation for its game December 7 against the 49ers. They'll headquarter at Rickey's Studio Inn, Palo Alto. The Packers previously stayed at Sonoma, about 50 miles north of Frisco. McLean said that Hank Gremminger was the only casualty in the Detroit game. He injured an ankle but should be ready for the 49ers. "Maybe a little California sunshine will do us good," was McLean's parting shot. But it appears they'll need more than sunshine to escape the worst record in 40 years. 

'PACKERS MISS RON KRAMER' BEAR SCOUT CALLS HIM IDEAL SLOT BACK; STARR STUDIES FOR JOB

NOV 30 (Milwaukee Journal) - "I'll tell you the guy the Packers miss the most this year," said Pete Halas, scout for the Chicago Bears, "and that's Ron Kramer. Now there is my idea of the ideal slotback." Pete is the nephew of George Halas, owner-coach of the Bears. He was in Detroit to scout the NFL game between Green Bay and the Lions. The Bears also use the slot T offense. The ends are split out and one of the halfbacks takes his position a yard back between the end and the tackle - in the slot. He is called the slotback but really is a third end. "In order to make the slot T offense work," Pete Halas said, "you've got to have someone who can block and is big and can catch the ball no matter if he is hit or has somebody hanging all over him. Kramer could do that. He was a natural for the job. He was mean. He liked to knock people down. He liked contact. That's what you've got to have a slotback." Halas was asked how he would compare Kramer and Bill McColl, the pianist-surgeon who plays the position for the Bears. "McColl is a good man," the Bear scout said, "but he's not as mean as Kramer." Kramer is now in the Air Force. His status for the future, as far as the Packers are concerned, is in doubt. Meanwhile, the Packers have been hurting for a replacement. Steve Meilinger was obtained in a trade with Washington but he didn't fill the bill. Gary Knafelc, before he went out for the season with a knee operation, could catch the ball but couldn't block a lick. Now Joe Johnson, a willing worker but too small, is the regular...'A GOOD PLACE': Three former pro football stars, now in the broadcasting end of the game - George Connor, Leon Hart and Paul Christman - were exchanging stories before the Thanksgiving Day game. Someone told Connor, who does the comment for the Packer telecasts, "You ought to suit up with the Packers today. They're a man short with Bullough out with a knee." Connor, an old Chicago Bear, laughed and Hart, a fellow Notre Dame man who played for the Lions and now helps broadcast their games, said, "Yeh, when you're all done, you can always play at Green Bay." Christman, a quarterback on the Chicago Cardinals when they were champions, said, "Don't you guys laugh. I put in a year at Green Bay and it was all right. When someone gets drafted by the Packers or traded to them, he usually says, 'Green Bay, I don't want to go there.' Then he goes there and find it's quite a place. The people treat you real fine. They really make things nice for you." Christman, who now telecasts with the Cardinals, was asked if he thought that close contract with the fans in a town like Green Bay was good for the players. "Sure, it is," he said. "Green Bay is a good place for a pro football player." "Sure," Hart said. "I believe you. But it's still the salt mine of the league"...HE STUDIED: The night before the Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit, Ray (Scooter) McLean was asked who would start at quarterback against the Lions. "Bart Starr," the Packer coach said. "Why?" he was asked. Starr had not played quarterback at all against San Francisco in Milwaukee the Sunday before. "Well," McLean said. "Bart took the movies of our game and a Detroit game home with him and studied them all week. He showed a lot of eagerness. Anybody that wants to play that bad, he's just got to start."

IS NFL'S 'EQUAL' DRAFT REALLY EQUAL? RAMS GET NINE CHOICES, STEELERS GET NONE

NOV 30 (Philadelphia) - The NFL's player draft will come up here Monday and the system Commissioner Bert Bell credits with equalizing team strength will allow the Los Angeles rams to draft nine players in just four rounds and the Pittsburgh Steelers none? Is there something wrong? Walter Wolfner, managing director of the Chicago Cardinals, and George Preston Marshall, volatile owner of the Washington Redskins, say definitely yes. George Halas, long a power in pro football policy, declines comment. Other owners and general managers vary in opinion from "no" to no comment. Commissioner Bell, recognized as the father of the draft, sees nothing wrong in the situation. How do the Rams get nine and the Steelers none when each should pick four? The situation is brought about by the league policy which allows clubs to use future draft choices as part of player trades. "It's like borrowing money from a loan shark to pay somebody else," says Wolfner. He has proposed to equalize strength in the league. "By trading draft choices strong teams can afford to draft 'redshirts'. The strong get stronger and weak gets weaker." (Redshirts are collegians eligible for the pro draft because their class has graduated but with college eligibility remaining. The pros "ice" them for future delivery when they actually graduate.) Marshall, the flip talking Redskins' owner, is equally vehement in his opposition to trading away draft choices. He would prohibit any team from dealing off or releasing its first and second round choices until the player selected has been signed and participated in at least three games. Marshall emphasized that the teams which need the choices worst are the ones that trade. Those clubs in favor of trading draft choices point to the fact that it gives a team a chance to strengthen ranks immediately with a proven performer. Coach Buddy Parker of Pittsburgh, in complete command of the club, has traded so many draft choices that some Pittsburgh fans have been questioning his tactics. Parker, however, says he would rather have "proven players" then take a chance in the draft. He claims he is building for the present, not the future. Paul Brown, coach of the Cleveland Browns, feels the same way and so do George Wilson of the Detroit Lions and Pete Rozelle of the Los Angeles Rams. A check of the rosters, however, shows conclusively that the clubs in contention are led by players selected in the draft and not by those secured in trades with the use of draft choices. Cleveland, leading the eastern conference, has Jimmy Brown, Milt Plum, Jim Ninowski and Bobby Mitchell, all selected in the draft; Baltimore, in front in the western conference, is led by Alan Ameche, Lenny Moore, George Shaw, etc., all draftees, too. When the clubs convene Monday, Los Angeles will select nine players. Detroit is entitled to seven and Cleveland five. Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Green Bay, the Bears and Giants each will have three. San Francisco and the Cardinals retain their four choices. Pittsburgh has none. Thus three teams will share 21 of the 48 players to be selected. Bell says he thinks the trading of draft choices is fine. He harkens back to the days when he coached the Philadelphia Eagles. "I traded almost all my draft choices. I'd rather have a tried pro than a draft choice who may never make my squad." He forgot to mention, however, that the Bell-coached, owned, trained Eagles almost always finished last. 

MUNN IS MUM ON PACKER OFFER

DEC 1 (Detroit) - Biggie Munn, athletic director and former football coach of Michigan State, said here Sunday night that he would have no comment on a report that he had been offered "complete charge" of the Green Bay Packers in the front office and on the field. Munn's name as mentioned for the coaching job several years ago. He refused comment then, too. Lisle Blackbourn was subsequently hired. It is understood that a Packer stockholder held exploratory talks with Munn in Detroit last week. In Philadelphia where the Packers are attending the NFL player draft meeting, General Manager Verne Lewellen said of the report: "We know nothing about the matter at all."

GREMMINGER HAD A HAIRLINE FRACTURE

DEC 1 (Green Bay) - X-rays Monday morning showed that Hank Gremminger, Green Bay's defensive halfback, had suffered a hairline fracture just below his knee in Thursday's game with Detroit at Detroit. He will go with the club to San Francisco, however, and will probably play in next Sunday's game.

TIME OUT FOR A TALK - QUEER IDEAS

DEC 1 (Milwaukee Journal - Oliver Kuechle) - The Packer have queer ideas about where they fit into the scheme of things. They think they have but to nod to a good college coach, if and when they decided to make a change, and he will come running. They have another guess coming. An Associated Press story out of Detroit Monday morning said that a member of the Packers' front office had approached Biggie Munn, Michigan State's athletic director, ostensibly about the Packer job. General Manager Verne Lewellen, in Philadelphia for the draft meeting, denied it. Munn himself politely said "no comment" - and later laughed. The Packers have about as much chance to get Munn as they have of winning this year's championship. In the first place, he's set at Michigan State, in the second, if he does move he will go to Minnesota, his alma mater, and in the third, most good college coaches want nothing to do with pro ball. Their names are bandied around, but how many of them go? The Packers don't seem to understand this. There are things besides money...DUNCAN: Whether the Packers made a wise choice in passer Randy Duncan in Monday morning's draft remains to be seen. There's no question about Duncan's passing skill. He is a good one. As a runner, however, he leaves a lot to be desired. He is not, for instance, a Hackbart of a Thornton, when trapped, comparing him with Big Ten quarterbacks. He is not a ball carrier. The choice clearly indicated, however, that the Packers have just about given up on Bart Starr and Babe Parilli. Duncan next fall, if he plays, will certainly have every chance to be the No. 1 quarterback. If he plays? At season's start, he said he was not interested in pro ball. He must have changed his mind.

END BICKERING OR I QUIT, BELL DECLARES

DEC 1 (Philadelphia) - Bert Bell told NFL owners Monday that he would like to continue to run the league "by persuasion" but that unless they end internal squabbling he is ready to give up his contract. Bell conferred with the owners after the annual player draft. "As far as I'm concerned," the 65-year old Bell said, "I don't want to be a Czar. I have always tried to do things by persuasion. But the individual bickering and the squawking of coaches has got to stop. If it doesn't I'll have to run strictly by the book. And unless I can run the league the way the books says, I will give up my contract." The owners retorted by giving the commissioner a vote of confidence and telling him run things by the book. The $50,000-a-year commissioner, now in his 13th year as head of the NFL, said he was annoyed by accusations of owners against each other; he was annoyed by the squawking of coaches about officials; he was tired of arguments. He told the owners that unless things were stopped they could have his job. Bell went on to say that he had warned the owners they must do something to cut down on scouting, training camp, travel and office expense. He said they must find a way to share the rich television money with the lower clubs. "Unless we do," Bell asserted, "we're going to be in trouble in the future." Worried about the increased costs of operation, Bell said the situation could become desperate for four or five clubs. He refused to name the teams, but it was obvious he was talking about the Eagles, Steelers, Packers and Cardinals.