COLT RUN GAME TAKES PLAY AWAY FROM PASS

NOV 17 (Green Bay Press-Gazette) - The Colts a running team? It's hard to imagine after remembering some of Johnny Unitas' passes on third down and short yardage and even on fourth down. But there is growing evidence that General John is relying more on the ground game despite such receiving experts as Johnny Orr, Raymond Berry, R.C. Owens, Dee Mackey and, of course, the reversible Lenny Moore, who is now a running back. The present Colts are averaging 29 pass attempts a game, and that's a reduction from past years. They averaged 31.2 passes per game in 1961; 32.6 in 1960; 31.2 in 1959; and 29.5 in 1958. The Colts beat the big Rams in Los Angeles last Sunday 14-2. They scored both touchdowns on third down running plays - both up the middle. Unitas would have been a cinch to pass in these two situations other years. On the first TD, the Colts had a third and four situation on the Ram 16. Unitas sent Moore up the middle and the fancy-stepper made it all the way. On the second, the situation was third and five on the Ram nine. Coach Weeb Ewbank sent in Alex Hawkins for Moore and Unitas sent Mark Smolinski up the middle for the TD. The Colts apparently are leading considerably on ball control rather than the explosive pass. Keep this in mind, folks, when they test the Packers in City Stadium Sunday. Baltimore has run off more plays than any other team in the league, with 575 in the first nine games, including 261 passes and 314 rushes. Pittsburgh is next with 573, including 385 rushes. Green Bay follows with 556 plays, including 354 rushes. The Colts' offense, held to two field goal by the Pack three weeks ago, has snapped back with six TDs in the last two games. Three major changes have been made in the offense. Jim Parker was shifted from left tackle to left guard for the purpose of guarding the Pack's Hank Jordan. Parker had been a success at the spot and ditto for Tom Gilburg at left tackle. Another "change" is the return of Moore to the lineup after his crippling knee injury. The flashy Lenny has carried 54 times in the past three games for 200 yards and an average of 4.1. Third, Alley Oop Owens will start at left and in place of Berry. R.C. didn't play vs. the Bears and Pack in earlier games but he started against his former teammates in San Francisco and did so well he got the nod for the Los Angeles game. He caught six passes and returned a "short" field goal for 40 yards. He was placed under the crossbar just in case a field goal try could be reached if close. The kick was quite short and he ran it back. Smolinski, who is improving every Sunday, will start in place of Joe Perry at fullback. The success of Smolinski vs. the Pack may determine the Colts' course in the upcoming draft of college players...The Packers were booed something fierce during their game in Baltimore Oct. 28. In recent days, many fans have called the PG sports desk with three different suggestions - (1) boo the Colts when they play in City Stadium, (2) cheer them or (3) be silent toward them. The majority of fans feel, and we'll buy this, the Colts should be treated with respect and, in turn, even cheered at times. Booing merely riles up the opposing team. This treatment served to anger the Pack some in Baltimore. Actually, all good Packer Backers should save their vocal energy for their favorite team. The Packers always need and appreciate noisy encouragement...The Colts arrived early this afternoon by plane, worked out briefly and then relaxed at the Northland Hotel. They'll fly off right after the game Sunday.

PACKERS LOSING PROPOSITION TO NEW YORK BETTORS; OFF BOARD

NOV 17 (New York) - To the 65,000 inhabitants of Green Bay, Wis., the Packers, of course, are something priceless. The question is why can't anybody get a price on them in New York. In Los Angeles, putting a bet down on Vincent Lombardi's new race of supermen is as easy as finding a bookmaker. In Las Vegas, all it takes is money. In Green Bay, the bettors have been raking in their winnings with the same consistency that the Packers have been raking up the football field. But as far as New York's bookies are concerned, the team isn't even in the league, even though the team happens to lead it. The Packers, in fact, have been off the city's betting boards since Oct. 8, and nobody's laying any odds when they'll return. Nobody's giving any explanation for their absence, either. "Sure, we carry a line on Green Bay," one of the city's merchants of chance told the Post. "But it isn't a betting line. Of course, we'll make some private accommodation for a good customer. If you're a $500 bettor, maybe we'll let you have $200, just as a favor. But the idea is we have to watch out for sharpies. Otherwise, Green Bay is a losing proposition." With nine NFL victories to their credit, the unbeaten - and unlikely to be beaten - Packers seem to be anything but a losing proposition. Even league commissioner Alvin Ray (Pete) Rozelle, although not a betting man himself, professes to be mystified by New York's discrimination against Green Bay. "We've been following the betting lines very closely," said Rozelle, continuing a practice established by his predecessor, the late Bert Bell, who used to check on the point spreads throughout the country right up until kickoff. "We have the same investigators that Bert did. In fact, we even have more. Whenever a game goes off the board, I want to know why. With Green Bay, they've been on some lines and off others. I was very concerned about it at first, although I wouldn't want you to infer that I was panicked by it. But we've checked this out in almost every major city in the county, and although it's an unusual situation the only conclusion we can gather is because the Packers have an unusual team."...DISCOUNTS LION GAME: "We haven't had this in the league in years - that one team could win by two 49-0 scores in one season. Apparently, the bettors have developed a tremendous respect for Green Bay. The superiority of the Packers has been shown to such a marked degree that the oddsmakers just can't set enough points against them." Rozelle discounted the possibility that New York bookmakers stopped taking bets on the Packers because of their behavior during their muddled 9-7 victory over the Detroit Lions last Oct. 7 - even though that was the date when the city's bookies started saying no bet on Green Bay money. In their win over the Lions, the Packers' otherwise unstoppable ground-gaining machine didn't cross the goal line once. Instead, Green Bay scored on three field goals, one of them kicked in the final seconds by Paul Hornung. Since the Packers had been 7 1/2-point favorites over Detroit, they won the game but lost on the points...SLIPPED IN MUD: "I saw nothing suspicious in that game," Rozelle said. "Detroit has a pretty good defensive team and the field conditions were very bad. Green Bay had started out at the beginning of the week as a 10-point favorite on the basis of its 49-0 win over the Bears the week before. But Detroit money hammered the points way down to 7 1/2 because of a 49-0 win over a team as crippled as the Bears was not indicative of the Packers' true superiority in that game. What happened was that there was a minute and a half to play and Detroit had a third and eight on their own 49. Detroit was winning, 7-6, but elected to pass for the first down instead of trying to run and use up time. It was supposed to be a hitch pass to Terry Barr, but when he tried to pivot he slipped on the muddy field and the ball went right into Adderley's hands for an interception. He caught it on the Green Bay 42 and returned it to the Detroit 18. I see nothing suspicious in Detroit's decision to pass, and even if somebody thought it was suspicious, how could you blame Green Bay for it? Detroit historically has won and lost games in the last seconds and they threw the same pass in the same situation in their game the following week. Of course, the Lions in retrospect wish they hadn't thrown the pass, but it was a comparatively safe pass. So many coaches get burned in the final seconds that they don't like to sit on a lead. Another thing, Green Bay also has the best runback man in the league. You're not going to punt and put the ball up in the air if you can help it." Rozelle said that a check by his agents showed that Green Bay has remained on the boards in such cities as Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Chicago. In some cases, he said, Green Bay doesn't go on the boards until later in the week, but he attributed this to the continuing uncertainty of whether the injured Hornung would be in the Packers' lineup. In addition, he said, so much money was being wagered on Green Bay that bookies apparently are having trouble balancing the bets with money put up against the Packers. "If the bookies set the points too high, for example," he said, "all it has to do is rain and they're wiped out." Bet-takers in other part of the country tended to agree with Rozelle's analysis. "The Packers have never left my board," Jimmy Snyder, a licensed Las Vegas bookmaker, told the Post. "They've been up every day and every game. If there was anything suspicious, if anything would have been wrong with the Green Bay Packers in any way, there would have been unnatural money. The unnatural money would have shown here in Vegas more than anywhere in the world. The price would have fluctuated by as much as five points if that happened. But there was never any unnatural money. Most of the money had been for Green Bay, and they won by the points in all but two games. I don't know why the Packers are off the boards in New York. That's their headache."