Green Bay Packers (10-3) 42, Baltimore Colts (9-3-1) 27
Sunday December 12th 1965 (at Baltimore)
GAME RECAP (GREEN BAY PRESS-GAZETTE)
(BALTIMORE) - The Packers have regained their famous Golden Touch. And they're leading the Western Division today - just 60 minutes way from their fourth championship in six years. That Golden Touch? It's been a long time but the Golden Boy - Paul Hornung, in case you've forgotten - rode out of the past like a knight in golden armor to lead the Packers to an amazing 42-27 victory over the Colts in foggy Memorial Stadium Sunday. Hornung, the ground-eating and scoring bulwark along with powerful Jim Taylor during the 1960-61-62 championship era, had rugged going in 1963 (the suspension) and 1964 and almost to date - what with injuries. Hornung's complete recovery from a groin injury was so noticeable in practice last Wednesday that it was too good to be true. Hornung's feats Sunday were no mirage: Five touchdowns for a new Packer one-game record held by Jim Taylor, Don Hutson and Hornung. Thirty points to approach his record of 33 set against Baltimore in Green Bay in 1961. One hundred and seventh six yards in 17 trips with the ball - 61 in 15 rushed for three touchdowns and 115 yards in two pass catches for two TDs.
PAUL PERKS OFFENSE
There was one other Hornung help. When he's moving the whole offense perks up. Taylor was his old determined self. Bart Starr was hitting (10 of 17 passes for 222 yards and three TDs), and picking the Colt defense apart, and the front line kept the whole offensive show on the road with its strong blocking. Everything now points to San Francisco, where the Packers play the 49ers Sunday. The Bays, with a 10-3 record, can win the crown outright with a victory. The Colts, with 9-3-1, play at Los Angeles Saturday. The capacity crowd of 60.237 was shocked - and the 500 or so Packers rooters in the audience must have been surprised, certainly with the Packer offense, which had faltered at times during the season. This was the offense's day and the 42 points, and 366-yard total, were highs for the season. Five of the six touchdowns came on long concerted drives and the lone shorty - a 10-yard pass from Starr to Boyd Dowler was set up just seconds before the half on Dave Robinson's 87-yard return with an intercepted pass. Robinson's runback, which started on the Packers' three-yard line, turned an almost sure 20-14 Colt lead into the Packers' 21-13 halftime edge. This was the turning point.
ROBBIE'S RUNBACK
Robbie's big run sort of saved a defense that gave up 264 yard and, of course, the 27 points. Gary Cuozzo, who did exceptionally well filling in for the injured Johnny Unitas, slammed the Colts back with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter after going to the dressing room to have his injured shoulder "fixed." Tom Matte, a halfback, worked two series in the third quarter after Cuozzo was hurt. This was the highest scoring game the Packers engaged in this season - nine touchdowns and three field goals. Lou Michaels kicked two three pointers - the first from 13 yards to give the Colts their only lead, 3-0, early in the game. Hornung then scored from two yards out to put the Packers out in front for good. Six minutes later, Starr hit Hornung on a 51-yard aerial play to make it 14-3. The Colts closed the gap quickly in the second quarter. Michaels kicked a 45-yard field goal and then Lenny Moore ran three yards to make it 14-13. After Dowler's TD, the Packers broke away for two more touchdowns in the third period - Hornung going nine yards for a 28-13 lead and then three yards for a fancy 35-13 edge.
BALTIMORE TALLY
Jerry Hill smashed one yard for the Colts first TD in the fourth quarter and then Cuozzo passed five yards to Raymond Berry to make it a close 35-27 with 5:43 left. The hard fought battle (the Colts could have won the championship with a victory) saw the Packers lose two of three fumbles, and the Colts turned the errors into 10 points. The Bays intercepted three passes (Robinson, Tom Brown and Bob Jeter) turned two of them into TDs. The Packers averaged 7 yards per offensive play - their best of the season, while the Colts actually ran off 20 more plays than the Packers, 72 to 52. But the Packers made the big plays on offense. Defensively, they got at Cuozzo and Matte four time. Starr wasn't thrown once, though the Colts forced him to throw early - one of which was turned into an interception. In fact, this interception, (by Lenny Lyles) on a pass aimed at Carroll Dale got the Colts off to a 3-0 lead. The Packers advanced 80 yards in 7 plays to take a 7-3 lead. It was like old times - Taylor 11 and Hornung 14 to get the drive started. Then Starr threw 14 yards to Marv Fleming to the Colt 26. Taylor took a screen pass and broke three tackles in a powerful run to the two, from where Hornung banged in. Don Chandler kicked the first of six extra points. After Tom Gilburg got off an 18-yard punt, giving the Bays position on the Packer 42, Starr faked Taylor into the line and then threw to Hornung, who took the ball on the 35 and banged home for a 14-3 edge. Michaels opened the second quarter with a 45-yard field goal and the Colts quickly got on the board again when Lyles recovered Elijah Pitts' fumble on the kickoff on the Packer 22. Five plays later, topped by Cuozzo's 13-yard pass to Berry, Moore scored from the three and it was 14-13. After two Chandler punts and one by Gilburg, Michaels missed a field goal from the 49. With 1:12 left in the half, Taylor
fumbled on the Packer 21 and Bob Boyd returned to the four. With second and two, Cuozzo unwisely tried a short pass to Hill in the end zone, but Robinson leaped about three feet off the ground to intercept and then set sail with three blockers. Moore finally caught up with him on the Colt 10. Then, on first down, Starr hit Dowler in the end zone. The defense slammed the Colts back 13 yards in three plays, with Willie Davis, Ron Kostelnik and Lionel Aldridge making stops, and Gilburg punted to Wood on the Colt 40. The Packers scored in five plays. Taylor got 10, Starr hit McGee for 14 and Hornung turned the corner at left end for the TD. Hornung crashed into the first base wall, with some help from a Colt, and hurt his shoulder, but not seriously. He was being revived while Chandler kicked the 28th point. Hornung was back in on the next TD drive - set up Brown's interception of a Matte pass. The Bays advanced 55 yards in 11 plays, with most of the gains coming on Starr's 17 and 10-yard passes to Taylor and Dowler and Taylor's 11-yard run. Hornung made it 35-13 from the three. The Colts, urged on by their fanatic followers, scored twice to make it 35-27, but the big audience was still when Starr rifled a bullet down the middle to Hornung, who took the ball around the 30 behind three Colts and roared in for the final score. The play covered 65 yards. The Colts put together two more first downs, but Jeter intercepted. The Bays reached the Colt 34, and rather than add to the total Chandler punted into the end zone. Perhaps the Packers were saving the possible score for the 49ers.
GREEN BAY - 14 7 14 7 - 42
BALTIMORE - 3 10 0 14 - 27
GREEN BAY BALTIMORE
First downs 18 21
Rush-yards-TDs 35-144-3 27-74-2
Comp-Att-Yd-TD-INT 10-17-222-3-1 20-41-212-1-3
Sacked-yards 0-0 4-22
Net pass yards 222 190
Total yards 366 264
Fumbles-lost 3-2 1-0
Turnovers 3 3
Penalties-yards 7-68 4-37
SCORING
1st - BALT - Lou Michaels, 14-yard field goal BALTIMORE 3-0
1st - GB - Paul Hornung, 2-yard run (Don Chandler kick) GREEN BAY 7-3
1st - GB - Hornung, 50-yard pass from Bart Starr (Chandler kick) GREEN BAY 14-3
2nd - BALT - Michaels, 45-yard field goal GREEN BAY 14-6
2nd - BALT - Lenny Moore, 3-yard run (Michaels kick) BALTIMORE 17-13
2nd - GB - Boyd Dowler, 10-yard pass from Starr (Chandler kick) GREEN BAY 21-17
3rd - GB - Hornung, 9-yard run (Chandler kick) GREEN BAY 28-17
3rd - GB - Hornung, 3-yard run (Chandler kick) GREEN BAY 35-17
4th - BALT - Jerry Hill, 1-yard run (Michaels kick) GREEN BAY 35-20
4th - BALT - Raymond Berry, 5-yd pass from Gary Cuozzo (Michaels kick) GREEN BAY 35-27
4th - GB - Hornung, 65-yard pass from Starr (Chandler kick) GREEN BAY 42-27
RUSHING
GREEN BAY - Jim Taylor 17-66, Paul Hornung 15-61 3 TD, Bart Starr 1-11, Elijah Pitts 2-6
BALTIMORE - Lenny Moore 14-42 1 TD, Jerry Hill 9-24 1 TD, Tom Matte 1-12, Gary Cuozzo 2-(-4)
PASSING
GREEN BAY - Bart Starr 17-10-222 3 TD 1 INT
BALTIMORE - Gary Cuozzo 38-20-212 1 TD 2 INT, Tom Matte 3-0-0 1 INT
RECEIVING
GREEN BAY - Boyd Dowler 4-40 1 TD, Paul Hornung 2-115 2 TD, Jim Taylor 2-39, Marv Fleming 1-14, Max McGee 1-14
BALTIMORE - Raymond Berry 10-125 1 TD, Jimmy Orr 3-22, Tom Matte 2-23, Lenny Moore 2-14, Alex Hawkins 1-27, John Mackey 1-2, Jerry Hill 1-(-1)
TURNING POINT? ROBBIE'S 'BIG ONE,' VINCE
DEC 13 (Baltimore-Green Bay Press-Gazette) - Vince Lombardi, perhaps football's foremost intellectual, never has been overly fond of that cliche which runs, "What was the turning point, coach?" The age-old question, inevitably, arose in the wake of Sunday's dramatic "Battle of Baltimore," with respect to Dave Robinson's highly opportune interception in the waning seconds of the first half, a salutary maneuver, which abruptly thrust the shoe upon the other foot amid the bedlam in fog-bound Memorial Stadium and, many observers felt, swung the precarious balance to Green Bay. The Packers, it may be recalled, were clutching a tenuous 14-13 lead and the Colts, with either a touchdown or a field goal, could have acquired disastrous impetus. Fleetingly pondering these points, Lombardi adroitly sidestepped a direct answer. "That," he conceded with a wide grin, "was a big one." "Of course, the fumble (an Elijah Pitts miscue on a kickoff which the Colts recovered and converted into a touchdown) was a big one for them. But we got it back." The runaway Robinson had rumbled right past his sideline observation post, it was noted. Had he anything to say to him? "Yeah," Lombardi shot back with a chuckle, "Run." "I was surprised he didn't score," the Packer headmaster added. "I saw only one white jersey down there with all those green jerseys. I guess he must have run out of gas." When had he decided to go with Paul Hornung, an infrequent performer of later, at left halfback? "He was my choice all week," Lombardi declared. "It was a pressure game, and he's always been good under pressure." A money player? "A great pressure player," Vince replied. "I like that word better than money." Had he been surprised over "winning this big," a Baltimore scribe asked. "No," Lombardi forthrightly responded, "I wasn't." Any particular reason for recent revisions in the starting offensive lineup? Vince nodded and said, "When we got down to this thing, we used all veteran players." Elaborating on this point, he noted, "We haven't done well this year, but I don't know why. Our timing was off and we didn't seem to be able to do anything about it. And I don't think our pass timing is right yet."...USE DOWLER MORE: He volunteered in this connection, "We used Dowler (Boyd) at tight end quite a bit today. We've used him there before, but we used him there quite a bit more today." Asked about the final touchdown pass to Hornung, an item which sealed Baltimore's fate, Lombardi explained, "They blitzed us and we caught 'em. Many times it hasn't worked, but today it did." The Baltimore defense had played the Packers "close" all afternoon, it was suggested. "That's right," Vince agreed. "They played us rather close, but they played us close the first time, too." Had the Packers done anything different defensively in preparing to face Gary Cuozzo, rather than John Unitas? "Nothing," was the prompt reply. "We didn't know Cuozzo. He threw the ball well, I thought, frankly."...Elsewhere beneath the fast-emptying stadium, Colt Coach Don Shula was facing up to the realities of the situation with quiet fortitude. What now, a Baltimore writer asked? "We've got a glimmer," he said with a faint smile. "That's about all, We've got to win in Los Angeles Saturday, and then we'll see." What the Hosses' quarterback problem, now desperate with Gary Cuozzo, John Unitas' understudy, burdened with a shoulder injury? "We've got Matte (Tom) and a guy on our taxi squad we'll probably activate, George Hanner." Noting that Cuozzo's future availability is uncertain, Shula explained, "He has a slight mild separation of the left shoulder. He was taken out of the game and injected to lessen the pain. There wasn't any chance of hurting it any more today, so we put him back in there." And how
had he assessed Matte's performance? "I was very pleased with the way he played," the Colt chieftain asserted. "He went in there in a tough place and moved 'em. He's that kind of a guy, he's that kind of a ball player." As might be expected, Shula wasn't inclined to second guess Cuozzo's fateful call with second-and-two on the Packer two-yard line in the final minute of the first half just prior to Robinson's pivotal interception. "They (the Packers) had two defenses they use down there," he said. "On one of them, they come, and on the other, they keep the guy off." He thought they would be in a blitz, and they weren't. "If it works, it's a good call. When it doesn't, it's a bad call. This is football. For another example, everybody thinks Starr's call on third down (the TD pass to Hornung) was a great call."...CAN'T EXCUSE IT: Shula did not wholly exonerate his quarterback, however. "It's second-and-two," he admitted at one point, "and you have three downs to make two yards." He was even more outspoke about another maneuver, Hornung's first touchdown, which came on a 50-yard collaboration with Starr. "When it comes clean like that," Don said sourly, "he just wasn't covered. There's no way you can excuse it. He just blew it, that's all. It's not hard to look good when you're not covered," he appended. "On the second touchdown, he took it away from our guy and made a real good play on it."...Fans carrying large signs proclaiming, "Please, I need two tickets," paraded in front of Memorial Stadium for more than an hour before the game. Two Green Bay residents, who shall remain anonymous, had no signs, but they "scored" - for $50 a copy, that is...It was Homecoming Day for the Colts, who welcomed back all their alumni. They were introduced on the field before the game, with Gino Marchetti eliciting a thunderous ovation from the Baltimore faithful. Buddy Young was also tendered an enthusiastic greeting...Ben Starr, father of Bart, flew in from Montgomery, Alab., for the occasion..."We put on the lights early, hoping they would burn some of it off." Colt General Manager Don Kellett informed before the game, referring to the fog that enveloped the stadium. Conditions, however, failed to improve. "I've seen it worse," Kellett responded. "We had so much fog here for one game, you couldn't see the upper deck."
WESTWARD HO, PACKERS REALLY FLYING HIGH
DEC 13 (Palo Alto, CA- Green Bay Press-Gazette) - It was a real joy ride - the United Airlines jet trip from the ultra-modern Dulles Airport in Washington to San Francisco Sunday night. The Packers had the 133-seat DC-8 charter all to themselves, and the players had a real pillow fight once the big bird got off the ground. After dinner, the boys relaxed with a movie entitled, "Situation Hopeless But Not Serious," which really didn't cover the Packers' happy situation. All they need is one victory to create a championship situation involving the Browns in Green Bay Jan. 2...SOCKED IN MY FOG: There was some fear that the Packers never would get out of the East Sunday night. Baltimore's Friendship Airport was socked in by fog, and the jet couldn't fly in there. The Packers, however, went to the jet, which was parked at Dulles. This required a hour and a half bus ride from the stadium. The Bays "gained" three hours when they arrived here after a five-hour ride due to the difference in East and West Coast time. The team is headquartered at Rickey's Motel here and will drill this week at Stanford University. Sen. Robert Kennedy, D-N.Y., attended the game with his wife and six of his children, all guests of Colt owner Carroll Rosenbloom. Asked about his Green Bay or Baltimore allegiance, the senator hedged a bit and then allowed that "I know Coach Lombardi very well and I can't forget the help he gave us in 1960." He referred to the campaign to elect his brother, John F. Kennedy, who was quite a Packer fan. Kennedy said he would like to get down to the Packer dressing room after the game but noted, "The crowd I'm with. But pass along my best to Coach Lombardi." The crowd? He was asked how many children he had with him, and the senator quipped, "I'm not sure but I think there are six here." The Kennedys have nine children.
BOONDOCKS PREPARATION PAYS: PAUL
DEC 13 (Baltimore-Green Bay Press-Gazette) - "At 3 o'clock this morning, McGee (roomie Max) woke me up," an amused Paul Hornung confided to Coach Vince Lombardi in a quiet corner of the Packer dressing room an hour before Sunday's critical collision with the Colts amid the mists of Memorial Stadium. "I heard a noise and when I looked over, Max was sitting up in bed. I said, 'What happened?' Max said, 'I was dreaming and I woke up just as I was going across the goal line for a score.' We were both wide awake by then," Hornung grinned, "so we turned on the lights and played a little gin rummy." That nocturnal session with the pasteboards may or may not have relieved the pregame pressure, but it could become soup for the flamboyant Golden Boy if he continued to respond as he did in Sunday's all-important 42-27 conquest of the Hosses. Once again aglitter after an unaccountable mediocre season which had found him languishing in an obscure corner of the bench, ostensibly recuperating from a pulled groin muscle, Hornung soberly admitted, "I feel pretty good," in the wake of his record five-touchdown bust. Besieged by a swarm of newsmen, in contrast to recent weeks when he dressed in solitude, Hornung did not once reveal his old wisecracking self...NEVER AS READY: "This is the one we had to win," he said seriously. "In m nine years in the league, I don't think this club has been as mentally ready for a game as it was for this one. We came out here early in the week and we stayed at a motel out in the boondocks, so all we had to was think about football and this game. And it paid off." How long had he known he was going to start the big one? "At the beginning of the week, the coach said he was going to play me. He's been trying all season to get the right halfback at the right time - our offense has been kind of bogged down. The coach said he was going to play the veterans and said everybody was going to stick together. Everybody was kidding me all week," Hornung added, not without a modicum of pride. "They said I was running like a rookie. And I did feel a little quicker and faster. Of course, I did lose four or five pounds." Another swarm of scribes surrounded Bart Starr, also a key figure in he Paker push. What, for example, about that first touchdown pass to Hornung? "It was just a play where he's matched against a linebacker," Bart explained. "Paul got open and he ran a great route on him." Had he called many check-offs? Starr shook his head and replied, "I did very little checking off today - you can't hear out there."...LOTS OF PRIDE: Elongated Boyd Dowler, the target of Starr's other TD pitch, reported, "I got open pretty good - I was running at tight end at the time. I had run on out on him earlier and he was waiting for the out pattern on that one. I broke in and the linebacker backed straight up, but Bart waited for me. And it worked." Further down the line, Ray Nitschke had a ready explanation for the Pack's success. Inclining his head toward Jim Taylor and Hornung, he declared, "They have lots of pride - they always have had. They're tremendous competitors." Commenting on Gary Cuozzo's much-discussed second down pass, Nitschke said. "I didn't think they'd be throwing the ball down there, with a chance for a field goal. That's a bad pass, anyway." Another spokesman for the defense, Henry Jordan, took a slightly different view. "It was a good play," Hank opined. "Only Robbie made a little better play." Impressed with Unitas' stand-in, he added, "That Cuozzo looked like Unitas, hitting short passes. He's pretty cool, too, I'll tell you." In another corner of the room, the author of the "Play of the Day" didn't regard it as such. "Somebody else said that," Robinson observed. "But I think that pass to down was the play of the day. No question about it." How had he happened to be in the
right place at the right time? "We were in a passive defense," Robbie explained. "And I don't have to rush. When Mackey (Colt tight end John) released his man, I knew it was going to be a pass. And I also saw the fullback, Jerry Hill, flare out." Had he heard Lombardi's call to "run"? The rugged linebacker grinned and said, "No, I didn't hear it, but that's what was going through my mind. After I got to the 50, I thought I'd go all the way. I saw Cuozzo, and I thought he was a halfback - I tried to set him up for a block. I should have kept right on running - I had three blockers with me - but I got all tangled up." Hadn't he found the excursion a little tiring? "Not while I was running," David smiled, "but when I got tackled and went back to the sidelines, I was pooped." Robinson, who seemed more eager to talk about Hornung than himself, said, "Before the game, I heard the fans saying, 'Want to be, Paul?' and things like that. People haven't forgotten, and they can be cruel. I'm just overjoyed to see Paul have a good day. He's a fine athlete."...ONE MORE TO GO: Assessing the situation as a whole, Robinson added, "I really believe after a team puts forth an effort like we have, we'll be awfully hard to beat. I know I feel that way, and I think the other 39 men feel the same way. They counted us out a lot of times this season." A quietly exuberant Forrest Gregg summed up in another way, "We've got one more to go, and that's the big one. I'll tell you one thing, we'll be ready." "If a fellow can't get himself up for this game," Gregg concluded, "he's in the wrong business." Cuozzo was not remorseful about his misadventure. "I'd do it again," he said, adding wryly, "But I'd throw it a little higher. They were in a 6-1 (blitz) and he (Robinson) should have been coming at me, but he wasn't. He made a great interception - not that it was such a good pass, but he really got up there." "It wasn't a bad call," Gary observed. "It was a bad execution. I saw Robinson there and trying to throw it over his head." Had he any second thoughts as he pursued the fleeing Robinson up field? "Yeah," Cuozzo said with a rueful grin. "Unprintable." As might have been expected, the incapacitated John Unitas declined to second guess his understudy. "I thought he did an excellent job," King John declared. Had Cuozzo consulted with him on the sidelines? "Occasionally, very occasionally," Unitas replied. "He knew what he wanted to do. He called a very good game. It was a tough game - we just didn't get enough points."
CUOZZO MADE BAD DECISION, SAYS SHULA
DEC 13 (Baltimore) - "As racked up as we are, I don't think it really matters what happened in the final NFL games," Coach Don Shula of the Baltimore Colts said after the Green Bay loss. That was after he first said stoutly, "We still have a glimmer and have to go out and win Saturday" in Los Angles. Then the Packers would have to lose the next day at San Francisco for the Colts to recapture the Western Conference title. But when Shula thought of the injury jinx which has descended in force on the Colts, he shuddered. There may even have to play Los Angeles without an experienced professional quarterback. Gary Cuozzo, trying to fill in for John Unitas, suffered a slight left shoulder separation early in the second half against Green Bay Sunday. He returned to direct two touchdown drives in the last quarter, but a decision is awarded on whether he should play the last game...MATTE STEPS IN: If not, then halfback Tom Matter steps in with only slight game experience at quarterback. He was in for one series against Green Bay and moved the Colts 34 yards by tunning. He then missed on two passes and the next was intercepted. Offensive tackle Bob Vogel also came up with an injured ankle and flanker Jimmy Orr had to be replaced for a spell by Alex Hawkins. Ordell Braase was back at end and Don Shinnick at linebacker on defense for the first time in several games. "They hung in there, but..." commented Shula. Most of the dressing room talk after the 42-27 victory by Green Bay was about a Cuozzo call at the end of the first half. With second down on the Packer two, he tried to lob a pass to fullback Jerry Hill. Linebacker Dave Robinson intercepted, ran to the other 10 and the Packers scored. The Colts were trailing 14-13 at the time. "It was a bad decision on Gary's part," said Shula. "It was a gamble, and he didn't have to. He should have just rammed it in there." Cuozzo himself defended the call. "It was just bad execution," he said. Shula blamed the defense, particularly in letting Paul Hornung loose for two touchdown passes, more than the offense for the loss. "There is no way to excuse it, the defense just blew it," he said. In the first period, Hornung was all by himself in taking a pass and running it over for a 50-yard play. In the last quarter, when the Colts had pulled to within 35-27, Hornung caught a 5-yard pass, broke away from a tackler, and ran 50 more yards for another touchdown. "If you don't cover a guy, it's not hard for him to get into the end zone," Shula said disgustedly.
PACK FIRST: GAMES BALLS FOR HORNUNG, TAYLOR
DEC 14 (Palo Alto, CA-Green Bay Press-Gazette) - Fog, thunder and lightning. This really isn't a weather report, but to start with: The dense fog that shrouded Memorial Stadium in Baltimore Sunday was quite noticeable in pictures of the game, viewed out here by Coach Vince Lombardi and aides Phil Bengtson, Norb Hecker, Red Cochran, Tom Fears, Ray Wietecha and Dave Hanner. "We couldn't see a thing," Lombardi said, "it was that bad - especially the plays near the goal line." But there was no mistaking the Packers' 42 to 27 victory and Lombardi noted that "our offense played an excellent game, and our defense was good." He felt that "we didn't do a good job on Berry, but we held down Mackey well." Raymond Berry, the Colts' version of Don Hutson, caught 10 passes for 125 yards and one touchdown, but John Mackey, the giant tight end, was limited to one catch for two yards. "This was our best offensive showing of the year, and you have to give a lot of credit to Hornung and Taylor," Vince said. And that brings up the Thunder and Lightning bit. Paul Hornung was known as Lightning because he strikes in so many places, and Jim Taylor as Thunder because of his powerful runs - during the Packers' 1960-61-62 championship period. With Hornung scoring five touchdowns - two on pass catches - and Taylor roaring for 66 profutable yards, the Packers resembled one of their title teams against Baltimore. And, in a salute to these two, the Packers awarded two game balls after the big triumph - one to Taylor and the other to Hornung. This had never been done by the Packers. Hornung's performance was a complete surprise since he hadn't had a real big day since 1962. He was out in 1963, and injuries plagued him last year and this season until last midweek. Asked if he felt he was going to have a "big one," Paul said, "Well, I had no idea about the five touchdowns, but I felt good. And things just went right." His five TDs set a Packer record. To show the "lightning" in Hornung, his two pass receptions netted as many yards as Berry made with 10. Hornung, on his 50 and 65-yard aerial touchdowns, got 115 yards - just 10 less than Berry. With the two bombs, Bart Starr averaged 13.0 yards on each of his 17 attempts. He completed 10 for 22 yards and three TDs, the other going to Boyd Dowler. The two safeties, Willie Wood and Tom Brown - both performing before their Maryland families, did a strong job on Mackey. In fact, Adderley said, "You better give Wood and Brown a good writeup. Mackey is their key and he didn't get anything all day." Brown passed the buck a bit, noting that "the linebackers held up Mackey some at the line of scrimmage. The Lions didn't hold Mackey up at all and look what he did." Mackey ran wild against the Lions,
catching three passes for TDs from John Unitas, while they concentrated on Jimmy Orr with two men. The Packer defensive backfield, as good as there is in the league, didn't have to double up on anybody although linebacker Lee Roy Caffey drifted out occasionally to help Doug Hart. Hart got a wicked workout from Berry and the Bays' young defensive back allowed that "Berry was a little hot out there."...'THIS IS A ROUGH GAME': This was a real mean game and both sides were clobbering each other. Adderley caught Orr with a clean hit once and the Colt receiver was "out" for a few minutes. "That was no worse than the Colts who gave Hornung a shove into that wall," Herb said, adding, "This is a rough game. You've got to play it hard." Most of the Packers were of the opinion that they could have won even if the Colts had Unitas. It might have been a different kind of game but the way the Packers were playing and scoring we could have won regardless of who was quarterbacking the Colts - was the general view. The Packers, off Monday, gathered today to start preparations for the big game against the 49ers in Kezar Stadium Sunday. Most of the players spent Monday in San Francisco. The team will drill at Stanford University.
1ST HALF LIGHTNING HELPS PACK TWICE
DEC 14 (Palo Alto, CA-Green Bay Press-Gazette) - The title of this opus could be "Don't Get Smart With Packers" or "Lightning Really Can Strike Twice in the Same Place." Both the Vikings and Colts ruled rather stupid with thank you plays in the final seconds of the first halves against the Packers on the last two Sundays. And Green Bay turned each into a vital touchdown with the help of long runs. The Vikings had the audacity to try a 59-yard field goal against Green Bay (even with the wind), but it was short and Willie Wood returned it 73 yards to the Viking 3. Two plays later, Elijah Pitts scored to cut Minnesota's margin to 16-14 with nine seconds left in the half. In Baltimore, Gary Cuozzo had a second and two situation on the Packer 2-yard line of all places. He tossed off to his right. Dave Robinson intercepted and returned 87 yards to the Colt 10. Bart Starr pitched a touchdown pass to Boyd Dowler with 14 seconds left. Robinson's return actually was a 14-point play because it took a sure touchdown away from Baltimore, that would have put the Colts ahead 20-13. Instead, our boys had a 21-13 lead. This was the third longest interception return in Packer history. The record of 94 was set by Rebel Steiner against the Bears in 1950, and the next longest was 88 by Bob Summerhays against the Eagles in 1951. Both went for touchdowns. Robinson's run would have been 97 yards if he had scored. Big Robbie, not slow by a long shot despite his 230 pounds, had four or five blockers, and one of them, Herb Adderley, yelled for Robinson to lateral the ball to him. Junior Coffey was kidding Robinson about his run on the trip out to California Sunday night. Nobody was quite sure who finally caught Robinson. "I think it was Moore (Lenny), the Colts' fleetest back, who got me," Robinson said, but Coffey cut in, "No, I think it was one of those big linemen." This was casting friendly asparagus on Robinson's speed, but it was agreed that, as Robinson put it, "I should have run straight down the sideline and maybe over somebody. That slowed me down." He turned off the straight pat around the 20. "I was afraid you'd drop the ball," Coffee jabbed, but Robinson laughed, "No, I never gave that a thought." With Robinson's gallop, the Packers returned their three interceptions 123 yards - an average of 41 per. Tom Brown and Bob Jeter each returned their steals 18 yards. PS - Gary Cuozzo finally nailed Robinson.
49ER COACH PROMISES A BIG EFFORT
DEC 14 (San Francisco) - The race for the Western Division title in the NFL is driving prognosticators crazy again. Here it is, the final week of the season, and all the Green Bay Packers have to do to sew it up is beat the San Francisco 49ers here Sunday. It's that simple. If the Packers win, neither the Baltimore Colts, whom the Packers beat 42-27 last Sunday, nor the Chicago Bears have a chance. But if the Packers lose, plenty can happen. Baltimore could win its final game at Los Angeles and become the champion. Or Baltimore could lose, too. If Green Bay and Baltimore both lose, Chicago could end up in a tie with Green Bay, making a playoff necessary. Then, of course, all three contenders could lose, in which case the Packers would end up with the title anyway. On the face of it, it would seem an easy matter for the Packers to beat the 49ers at Kezar Stadium Sunday. The San Francisco crew just took one of its worst pastings in history at the hands of the Chicago Bears, 61-20, and are going nowhere. A fourth-place finish is the best coach Jack Christiansen and the 49ers can hope for...ONE OF BEST: But wait. The young 49ers are closing out one of their best seasons in recent history. They beat the same Chicago Bears in their first meeting, 52-24. A victory Sunday would give them a respectable 8-6 record. They have one of the best passers in the league in John Brodie, who has completed 216 out of 357 attempts this year for 2,817 yards and 27 touchdowns. They have good runners in rookie Ken Willard and John David Crow. At times they've looked great. The Packers, if they're worrying, aren't saying so yet. They arrived at Rickey's Hyatt House in nearby Palo Alto Monday, where they always stay prior to games in San Francisco. Coach Vince Lombardi would comment only that the team has no serious injury problem at present. "Our plan for the game is unformulated at this time," was his cautious parry to one question. Christiansen, with less to lose, was more talkative. "We're not going to do any experimenting against Green Bay," the 49er coach said. "This game is very important to a lot of people and we owe it to the league to give our best performance. We'll use our best player, and we'll give it everything we've got on every play."
'POKER PLAYING' PACKERS EYE POT AT END OF CHAMPIONSHIP
DEC 15 (Palo Alto, CA-Green Bay Press-Gazette) - This is "Championship Week" for the Packers. Every move counts. Big money. The winner of the Jan. 2 championship will get close to $10,000 - per. But like every good poker player, the Packers aren't counting the pot until they can win it. Which means they'll have to whip the 49ers in San Francisco Sunday before they can be assured of at least part of the gold. The Packers are confident, of course. Asked if he felt Green Bay would win the Western Division championship, Willie Wood had a condensed version: "Yep, and you can quote me." Ray Nitschke happened to be showing his 1962 championship ring to rookie Bill Curry after practice Tuesday. And without cracking a smile, Nitschke told Curry, "You'll get one of those." Willie Davis said, "It would be a shame if we didn't win the championship." The Bays' ace defensive end added that, "We've got to play the 49ers like we did the Colts. And if that happens, I'm sure we'll take it." Championship Week started like any other practice week in this University town. The two big buses carrying the team pulled out from in front of Rickey's Hyatt House and traveled down busy El Camino Real about three miles to the familiar athletic rooms at Stanford University for the 10:30 practice Tuesday morning. They dressed quickly and then walked across a rugby field to an enclosed practice field. There was the usual 15 minutes for "horsing around" on the field, while Coach Vince Lombardi and his aides scattered among the player...LOMBARDI COMMAND: A command from Lombardi set the wheels in motion. First they gathered in a giant circle and started calisthenics with a different player running out to the middle to lead the exercises. Fuzzy Thurston was out first, then Boyd Dowler. About that time the players started to call for "Paul," but Paul Hornung didn't get out until after Eli Strand of the taxi squad and Tom Brown appeared. Hornung finally made it and got a big cheer. Dave Robinson finished off the muscle stretching and then came the race (fast jog) around the goal posts and back to the center of the field. The Tuesday drill is really nothing compared to the concentrated Wednesday and Thursday sessions. The linemen played touch football, with Dave Hanner and Ray Wietecha officiating. The rest of the players engaged in a pass drill with the linebackers and defensive halfbacks guarding against the passing of Bart Starr, Zeke Bratkowski and Dennis Claridge. Phil Bengtson and Norb Hecker worked with the defense, and Red Cochran and Lombardi the offense. Following a pattern similar to that at the Washingtonian Motel is Gaithersburg, Md., last week, the Packers will have afternoon and night meetings. Clear, cool (for here) crisp weather is promised for this week. The temperatures have been in the upper 50s, but the sun is toasty - especially out of the breeze. Perhaps California is a good championship omen. The Bays clinched two of their three straight western titles in the sunshine state. They whipped the Rams in the final game in Los Angeles to win the 1960 crown. They won the 1961 title with a victory over the Giants in Milwaukee, but in 1962 they won in the finale in Los Angeles. The Packers didn't have to win there in 1962 because they got word in the second quarter already that the Bears had whipped the Lions, thus putting the Packers in, rather than back in. The Packers won the game anyway. And now the scene shifts to San Francisco. The 49ers will be a real test and if the Packers win it Sunday they will have earned their championship. Up the freeway a couple of towns - Redwood City to be exact, Coach Jack Christiansen served a warning to the Packers...NO EXPERIMENTING: "We're not going to do any experimenting against Green Bay," Christiansen said, adding: "We don't have a chance for second place. The best we can do is fourth, but this game is very important to a lot of people (the Packers, Bears and Colts are still in it), and we owe it to the league to give our best performance. We'll use our best players and we'll give it everything we've got on every play." Christiansen, very disappointed with his team's play in its 61-20 shellacking by the Bears, explained, "We didn't react well at all. These bad games happen to teams, and I wish I knew the reason. But I don't think we'll have any trouble getting up for Green Bay."
PERSONALITY PARADE
DEC 15 (Green Bay Press-Gazette) - Moodily surveying the darkening landscape through a rear window, Dave Robinson was a somber citizen as the Packers' chartered bus rumbled homeward from Milwaukee on a late November Sunday afternoon in 1963. The Pack had just dispatched the San Francisco 49ers in Milwaukee County Stadium but Robinson, then a rookie, had not been an active participant and the recent Penn State All-American was brooding over his unaccustomed role as a benchwarmer. Although it was suggested that first year men customarily see little action, he was not comforted. Blessed with deep, burning pride, he said, "I want to play. I've always played, always been a regular, in high school and college." Shaking his head morosely, he added, "I don't think I could take another year like this." Fortunately for the square shouldered Mt. Holly, N.J. native's piece of mind, if not for his incapacitated teammate, fate took a hand just four days later. Center linebacker Ray Nitschke was injured in the Packers' final Thanksgiving Day appearance against the Lions in Detroit, and Robbie was summoned to combat, then Defensive Capt. Bill Forester moving into Nitschke's spot and Robinson into Forester's right linebacker post. "That was quite an experience, too," he volunteered via telephone from the Pack's Palo Alto, Calif., training base Tuesday. "Lionel Aldridge and I were both rookies over there." "I played the last part of the Thanksgiving Day game, the last two league games of the season, and against Cleveland in the Playoff Bowl," Dave reported, adding with a chuckle, "I saw a lot of traffic over. It's funny, now." When Forester retired at the end of the '63 season, Robbie's future looked bright, despite the fact the Packers subsequently acquired monolithic Lee Roy Caffey from the Eagles in an off-season trade which dispatched all-pro center Jim Ringo and Earl Gros to Philadelphia. Here fate again intervened, however. After an impressive preseason performance, Robinson sustained a knee injury and gave way to the fast-maturing Caffey. The towering Texan held forth at the right side the balance of the season while Dave, still troubled by the damaged knee, somberly viewed the proceedings from the sidelines. Surgery ultimately was indicated, followed by further frustration. "I had the operation on the second of January, and the Playoff Bowl was the next day. I laid in the hospital watching the game and that was a miserable experience," Dave declared. "Watching those linebackers getting hurt (Nitschke and Dan Currie both were sidelined), and not being able to help the team. It was hard to take." The surgery was a success and, with the departure of Currie for Los Angeles in the Carroll Dale trade, an opening again developed as the 1965 Packers assembled. But, although a starter from outset at left linebacker, Dave was not entirely happy with himself. "I was real rust, not playing too much last year," he explained. "I wasn't able to read my keys the way I should, and I wasn't playing the type of ball I should have been playing. Then, just before the Cleveland game this year, I saw films of last year's game, with the Browns, and I discovered I wasn't playing as reckless as I had last year. It was very evident - I had just seen our film of last week's game before they showed the one from a year ago. I decided then I'd play reckless again. It could have been I was trying to protect my knee," Robinson mused, "but it was foolish to try to do that because it was completely healed. Once I got back to where I had been, it was just a matter of playing and getting more game experience." The Baltimore Colts undoubtedly would concede the point, in the wake of Robbie's fateful second quarter interception and 87-yard runback in last Sunday's pivotal collision at Baltimore, a maneuver which well may have cost the Hosses the Western Division championship...'FEW DROPPED ONES': Although he freely admits the other two pale by comparison, Dave now has three interceptions "and I'm happy about it. I had a few dropped ones, too, that I'm not so happy about. I had a little trouble at the beginning of the season - dropped four of 'em against St. Louis in our final exhibition." His mother, who lives in Moorestown, N.J., was among those present in misty Memorial Stadium Sunday - but not necessarily on Dave's invitation. "She saw only two other games this season, the Bear game in Chicago on television and our game with Detroit in Green Bay - and we lost both of them. I tried to talk her out of coming Sunday, but it worked out all right." He's not superstitious? "Of course," Robbie chuckled, "who isn't." The father of twin sons, two-year-old Richard Edward and David Michael, Dave will never forget the weeks immediately preceding their arrival. "The only thing the doctor said was that it would be two or more," he said. "They were having a lot of multiple births around the country then, triplets and quadruplets, so I was really shook up for a while."
PACK SEASON TICKET HOLDERS GET FIRST CHANCE
DEC 15 (Green Bay Press-Gazette) - All Packer season ticket holders in Green Bay are being given first chance to purchase their normal allotment of tickets for the possible NFL Western Division playoff game in Lambeau Field Sunday, Dec. 26, but Green Bay and Milwaukee season ticket holders will get an equal chance to order tickets for the possible NFL championship game in Lambeau Field Sunday, Jan. 2. Packer Ticket Director Merrill Knowlton said today that all letters to Green Bay season ticket holders regarding the playoff game have been mailed and that he hoped to have all letters regarding the championship game in the mail to both Green Bay and Milwaukee fans by Friday. Although the total season ticket holders number about 85,000, including Milwaukee and Green Bay, Knowlton said that past experience indicates that not all will request championship tickets and that he expects to be able to fill all orders. Knowlton added, however, that the Packers are reserving the right to reduce the individual season ticket holder's normal quota in case the orders exceed the 50,852 capacity at Lambeau Field. He said that there would be no distinguishing between Green Bay and Milwaukee ticket holders. In both the playoff and championship game cases, any tickets remaining after the season ticket holders' ordered are in will be placed on sale to the public, and an announcement regarding this will be made as soon as possible. Tickets for the playoff game are priced at the normal season game levels, $6, $5.25 and $4. Championship game tickets are priced at $12 along the sidelines and $10 for the end zones.
ROBINSON NAMED AP DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF WEEK
DEC 15 (New York) - Dave Robinson, the Green Bay linebacker whose key interception against Baltimore has been called a 14-point play, has been named by the Associated Press the Defensive Player of the Week in the NFL. Green Bay was clinging to a 14-13 lead, but Baltimore was on the Packers' two with seconds to go in the first half of the big game at Baltimore last Sunday. Gary Cuozzo, the Colts' quarterback, expected the linebackers to come charging in so he decided to ty a short pass out to his right in the flat to fullback Jerry Hill. There was only one trouble with Cuozzo's reasoning. Robinson and Willie Davis, the Packers' left end, read the play and went for the ball instead of the passer. Davis almost intercepted, but the low toss slid over him into the hands of the leaping Robinson while Hill still was running toward the sidelines. It looked like a sure touchdown for Robinson, a 6-foot-3, 245-pound former Penn State athlete. Robinson did ramble 87 yards before Cuozzo cut through a wall of interference, opening a gap for Lenny Moore to make the tackle on the Colts' 10. Green Bay went in on the next play for a halftime lead of 21-13 instead of a potential deficit of 20-14.
49ERS WARNED BY CHRISTIANSEN
DEC 15 (San Francisco) - Green Bay's Packers play for a title, while several San Francisco 49ers struggle for their livelihood Sunday when the two NFL clubs battle at Kezar Stadium. A Green Bay victory gives the Packers the Western Conference championship and right to meet Cleveland for the NFL crown. San Francisco lost to Chicago and Gale Sayers 61-20 last Sunday in a game which made Coach Jack Christiansen so unhappy he didn't speak for several hours. After the psychic battles eased, Christiansen declared, "Everybody had better settle down to thinking about next Sunday and Green Bay. I think there'd better be a helluva comeback on the part of a lot of people if they want to be around next season." Coach Vince Lombardi brought his club West early as he usually does for late season games. His practice field at home is frozen and the playing field is cozily covered so either a division playoff and-or the championship game may be played there...IN GOOD SHAPE: The Packers go into the finale in solid physical shape. The squad no longer has the injuries that plagued them in the middle part of the season. Paul Hornung, who scored five touchdowns last Sunday, quarterback Bart Starr and fullback Jim Taylor all are in good shape for this title bid. Lombardi sent his squad through a 45-minute practice on the Stanford field Tuesday and planned a longer workout today. The Packers have watched movies of their game with Baltimore and now will watch scenes of the Chicago-San Francisco game, trying to see what the 49ers were trying to accomplish.
BEAT FRISCO? SOUNDS SIMPLE
DEC 16 (Palo Alto, CA-Green Bay Press-Gazette) - The Packers must beat the 49ers if they expect to win the Western Division championship. It's sounds quite simple. As Jerry Kramer said "all we have to do is beat San Francisco." Then he rolled his eyes back as if to add: "What am I saying." At this point, the 49ers loom as a much more troublesome opponent than the Colts did in Baltimore last Sunday. The biggest problem with the 49ers is containing their offense, which is the "yardiest" and highest scoring in the league. "Once they start scoring they can run you right out of the park," a local warned some of the Packers in practice. The Packers' biggest headache is 49er quarterback John Brodie, who has completed a cool 60.5 percent of his passes. Worse yet, he has a string of five straight games in which he hasn't been thrown for a yard loss attempting to pass. "We never even bother to clean his uniform. During the Bear game last Sunday in the mud, he went through without a smudge," said 49er publicist George McFadden. In the 12 games he has played (he missed one against Dallas and George Mira replaced him), Brodie has been thrown only 13 times for 99 yards. Mira was caught five times in the loss to Dallas. Brodie was nailed twice in the Packers' 27-10 victory in Green Bay Oct. 10 - by Lionel Aldridge and Willie Davis. "We'll just have to get to him, but I always feel that the guy playing across from me is the best blocker in the league," Aldridge said. The big train will line up against Len Rhode, a 255-pounder who is in his sixth season. Davis, who will oppose Walter Rock, a 257-pound third year man, said that "we'll just have to keep pressure on Brodie and make him throw in a hurry." Planning any special tricks? Davis wouldn't say if he did, but he did point out that "I've been working myself only on fundamentals, the standard way of doing things. These other teams study you in the films and if you do try something different they'll find it. That way it's always good to come back to fundamentals on occasion."...OTHER BLOCKERS: Other members of the 49ers' interior line are guards John Thomas, 250, and an eight-year man, and Howard Mudd, a valuable sophomore who packs 268; and 10-year center Bruce Bosley, 246. Mudd, who beat out Leo Donohue last year as a rookie, is considered one of the best young guards in the league. His coaches praised him for the job he did on Alex Karras in the 49ers' two victories over Detroit. Brodie's other blocking is provided by the two big backs - John David Crow and Ken Willard. "John often keeps them both back to help block on pass situations," McFadden said. One of the first things Coach Vince Lombardi warned the defense about this week was Brodie's five-game streak. The 49ers are low by a long shot in the league in fewest times, 18, the passer was nailed. Packer passers Bart Starr and Zeke Bratkowski have been caught 42 times for 393 yards. As you can see, protecting the passer can be a problem for the Packers, although the safety given Starr in the key Colt game was nothing short of perfect...RUGGED PRACTICE: The Packers spend a good five minutes in "rugged" shoulder-knocking practice a couple of times each week in drilling pass blocking and Wednesday's workout was no exception. The trick is to pick up the blitzes by the linebackers. Things must have worked out well because there was plenty of hand-clapping from the other clubs. The practice was especially spirited and one of the highlights was the running of rookie fullback Allen Jacobs, who backs up Jim Taylor. Jacobs is a dead ringer for Taylor - the way he runs and even returns to the buddle. The 208-pounders also has good balance which reminds of Jim. The Packers don't have a rookie among the starters, but sophomores Tom Brown and Ken Bowman are completing their first full seasons. Bowman played regularly at center last year - after Bob Skoronski was shifted from center to tackle in midseason. Steve Wright, the sophomore tackle, started the first 11 games this season, but was benched when Forrest Gregg was moved from guard to tackle against the Vikings at Minnesota.
HIGH-POWERED PASSING ATTACK TO CHALLENGE STRONG BAY SECONDARY
DEC 16 (San Francisco) - The San Francisco 49ers, as impressive on the attack as Green Bay is on defense, will throw the NFL's most high powered air attack at the Packers Sunday in a bid to keep the Packers from sewing up the Western Conference crown. With John Brodie, the busiest passer in the league at quarterback, the 49ers will be trying to extend their NFL-leading passing yardage figure which stood at 3,194 after 13 games. Brodie, who has completed 216 passes in 357 attempts, will be up against the league's best pass defenders in the Packer crew of Herb Adderley, Doug Hart, Willie Wood and Tom Brown. The Packer secondary has allowed only 161 completions in 349 attempts, while intercepting a league high of 24. Enemy passers have picked up a mere 1,688 yards against the Packers, a major factor in Green Bay's position in the title chase. A win Sunday cinches the title for Green Bay, now one-half game ahead of Baltimore in the conference. Trying to find openings in the tightly guarded Green Bay secondary will be Dave Parks and Bernie Casey, both topnotch receivers. Parks leads the league in receptions with 71, good for 1,195 yards and 11 touchdowns. Casey has taken in 55 passes for 737 yards and eight touchdowns. Brodie completed 21 of 38 passes against Green Bay in the first meeting of the two teams this season. The Packers won 27-10, holding Parks to only three catches for 36 yards. Defense is the weak spot for San Francisco. The 49ers have allowed 378 points. Green Bay has allowed only 200. San Francisco opposition has rushed and passed for a total of 4,341 yards. The Packer total defense figure is 3,577 yards. San Francisco has a good defense against rushing, allowing only 1,459 yards (the Packers have allowed 1,899 yards), but the 49ers' pass defense is something else. It's been riddled for 2,882 yards. Part of the Packer defensive success can be traced to the fierce pass rush led by Willie Davis and Ron Kostelnik and part of Brodie's success stems from his fine protection up front. He has not been dropped for a loss while trying to pass in six Sundays.
GALE SAYERS, FIVE PACKERS NAMED TO UPI ALL-NFL TEAM
DEC 16 (New York) - Gale Sayers became the first rookie since 1957 to crack the NFL's all-star backfield, announced Wednesday and the man who last did it, Cleveland's Jim Brown, was a unanimous choice on the United Press International all-NFL team for 1965.
Sayers, the flashing halfback and punt-return artist for the Chicago Bears, shattered the league touchdown record with 21 in his first 13 games including a record-equaling six TDs last Sunday against San Francisco. Brown, enjoying perhaps his finest overall season, has scored 20 times this year to increase his pro record of 125 TDs and already has wrapped up his eighth rushing title in nine seasons with 1,470 yards. He is the only player to be selected unanimously more than once, having received all the votes cast for the 1963 team. A total of 42 sportswriters - three from each league city who regularly covered the NFL - participated in the voting...JOHN'S FOURTH TIME: Baltimore's Johnny Unitas was named the top quarterback for the fourth time and second year in a row. There were six newcomers to the two-platoon team, four on the offensive unit and two on the defensive unit, which underwent a massive change last year. Tight end Pete Retzlaff of Philadelphia, a 10-year veteran, made the starting 11 for the first time with a landslide margin over Chicago's Mike Ditka, who held the spot for the past three years. Gary Collins of Cleveland won the flankerback spot for the first time and second-year pro Dave Parks of San Francisco was named split end. The only new faces on the defensive squad were 261-pound Dave Jones of the Los Angeles Rams and Jim Huston, a six-year guard from Ohio State...PACKERS PLACE FIVE: Twelve of the 14 teams in the league were represented on the No. 1 teams, paced by Green Bay with five, Cleveland with four, and Baltimore with three players. New York and Pittsburgh were the only teams not represented. The Packers placed four men on the defensive team - safety Willie Wood, halfback Herb Adderley, end Willie Davis and middle linebacker Ray Nitschke. All but Adderley were named for the second consecutive year while Adderley returned for the third time after missing the team last season. Nitschke, who was joined teammate Forrest Gregg as offensive tackle for the fifth straight year, edged Chicago rookie Dick Butkus by a single vote for the middle linebacker spot, 14 to 13. Cleveland Browns offense tackle Dick Schafrath was chosen for the second year in a row.
TAYLOR VERY DOUBTFUL FOR FINALE VS. 49ERS
DEC 17 (Palo Alto, CA-Green Bay Press-Gazette) - Bob Long and Lloyd Voss did a spot of Christmas shopping at the Town and Country Village Center Thursday. And you'll never guess who they ran into. The familiar face belonged to Dave Parks, the 49ers' outstanding sophomore flanker who ranks second in the league with 61 receptions and first with 12 touchdown catches. "I had known him a little," Long said, "and it seems like I know him real well. I have a lot of interest in pass receivers, and I always watch him. He's a second year man, too. He told me the 49ers were a little upset about losing to the Bears by such a big score." Told that Parks had 17 passes thrown at him by John Brodie in the Bear game (he caught 8), Long joked, "If they threw 17 at me in one game, I'd get five touchdowns." Parks and Long are about the same size, although the 49er receiver is about eight pounds heavier. This brings up the point today. Can you imagine Bart Starr leaning on one receiver to the tune of 17 passes? Brodie threw 42 all day. "Bart only threw that many last Sunday, but he completed 10 for three touchdowns. Our system has proven itself and it certainly is right," Long said. Which is why the Packers rarely have an end among the league's leading receivers. Boyd Dowler caught 53 in 1963, and that was phenomenal. Other than Ron Kramer, who was also noted for his blocking, only one Packer end made the Pro Bowl game since Coach Vince Lombardi came to Green Bay, insisted on a balanced offense and, of course, produced the winners to prove that "it's right." Dowler recalled that "Max (McGee) was the only receiver to make it. I never made it but I guess the closest I came was when I was a rookie. I really don't care because we're winning as a team of receivers." Dowler was rookie of the year in 1959. Boyd thought it over a moment and then added, "I suppose it would be nice to go - just to say I was there." Carroll Dale, the Pack's other starting
"distance" receiver, has never been in the Pro Bowl game, but he's familiar with the Coliseum in Los Angeles where the game is played. He was with the Rams five seasons starting in 1960. In fact, it turns out that Dale was a key figure in the Rams' upset of the Colts in Los Angeles in 1960. He caught an 81-yard touchdown pass from Bill Wade that day and "that ball went 63 yards in the air, which is still a record in the Coliseum. Caught it falling away and I guess I was lucky." That Ram victory all but ruined the Colts' chances of winning the championship and made it possible for the Bays to become champs by winning at San Francisco the next day. "We knew you were in San Francisco watching us," Dale recalled...Jim Taylor is bothered by a groin pull picked up in practice before the Colt game. He has been taking it easy in practice here, but should be ready for the big sawoff with the 49ers Sunday - but probably not at top speed. Taylor gained 66 yards in 17 rushes and caught two passes for 39 yards vs. the Colts. Lombardi said Thursday night that Taylor is quote very doubtful unquote. Tom Moore and Allen Jacobs are running at fullback. Held out of the Colt game with a series of injuries that plagued him most of the season, Moore is running better now. Otherwise, the squad is in excellent physical condition...There is a lot of birthday talk in the Packers' camp at Rickey's Hyatt House. Five players have birthdays in December, and naturally the only gift they want is a victory Sunday and the championship that goes with it. The December bornees are Tom Brown, the 12th (the day the Packers beat the Colts), Ken Bowman, the 15th; Paul Hornung and Willie Wood, the 23rd; and Ray Nitschke, the 29th. Bowman, known as Sam, got the calisthenics nod from Lombardi the other day. "Come on, Sam, it's your birthday today, you lead 'em," Vince yelled. Reminded that he was going to be 30, Hornung smiled, "No, now I'm only 29."...The Packers went through another lively drill Thursday and, again, Lombardi hasn't found it necessary to crack the whip. All practices are closed to the general public except for members of the Stanford University football team. The sun warmed the temperatures up to 60 Thursday...Equipment Manager Dad Braisher had to do some switching around for Thursday's drill. Herb Adderley's and Taylor's duffle bags were missing in addition to all of Bill Curry's apparently stolen from the team's training quarters at Stanford University Wednesday night. School authorities are trying to track down the missing gear.
CHRISTIANSEN POINTS OUT PACKERS HAVE ALLOWED ONLY 200 POINTS
DEC 17 (San Francisco) - Coach Jack Christiansen of the San Francisco 49ers was one of the top defensive halfbacks in the NFL for the Detroit Lions. But it doesn't take a defensive back or a head coach to appreciate how the Green Bay Packers have managed to climb to the top of the Western Conference with only two of the 14 NFL teams below in the offensive statistics. "When we played at Detroit, we gave up an average of only 17 points per game in one of our title years," Christiansen said as his 49ers prepared for the season finale Sunday against the Packers, "and people around Detroit said the defensive team won the title."...GAVE UP 200 POINTS: "But I notice that Green Bay has given up only 200 points in 3 games," Christiansen continued. "That's an average of little over 15 per game." No matter what happens 24 hours earlier 440 miles down south, the Packers must go all out Sunday against the 49ers, the NFL's second leading offensive team. Baltimore, with its quarterback problems, meets an oncoming Los Angeles team in the Rams' home lair Saturday in a game televised across the country. The Colts are 9-3-1 and must win to stay in contention - if given for just one day. But even if the Colts should lose, the Chicago Bears could tie Green Bay by beating Minnesota on Sunday should the 49ers score an upset...ESCAPE HUMILIATION: The 49ers will take their best shot, if for nothing else to escape the humiliation of their 61-20 defeat last Sunday as Gale Sayers scored six touchdowns for the Bears. On that same day, Paul Hornung was crossing the goal five times for the Packers against the Colts. And Hornung has scored 110 of his 700 career points against these same 49ers. The Golden Boy has averaged exactly 10 points a game against the 49ers, including a high of 23 in 1960 contest. In the same year, the former Notre Dame star scored all the points as the Packers sloshed 13-0 over the 49ers in a mud battle. Hornung reaches his 30th birthday one week from today, something he'd probably like to celebrate by giving himself a conference title for a present.
PACKERS PRIMED FOR 49ERS, PROMISE 'BEST WE'VE GOT'
DEC 18 (Palo Alto, CA-Green Bay Press-Gazette) - The Packers are ready and waiting for their championship effort against the 49ers in Kezar Stadium Sunday. How does the team feel about the biggest game of 1965? The attitude of Green Bay is best expressed by the club's spokesmen - the three captains, Bob Skoronski of the offensive unit, and Willie Davis and Hank Gremminger of the defensive group. Here's how they put it: Skoronski - "The championship feeling is strong among all of us and especially those who were in the past championship games. We're definitely not taking the 49ers lightly. They won four in a row before they lost last Sunday. I think we have an excellent chance and there's not a guy who doesn't feel that way. The big thing is the feeling among the veterans of other title years. We like being champions and the 49ers will receive the best we've got. A lot of people wrote us off but when the going got tough we came through. We've all gone through 23 weeks of this season and there has been plenty of blood and sweat. We are fortunate to be in our present position." Davis - "I feel that this team has overcome too many obstacles along the way to mentally let down for this one big game. True, it's hard to tell about this team. Sometimes we've had great practices and then looked bad on Sunday and sometimes we've had poor practices and then looked good. We looked good in workouts last week and then came in with a good game against the Colts. We expect to do the same against the 49ers. The big thing is that we now can do it ourselves. We need no help to win the championship regardless of what the other teams do. We feel that we just can't afford to lose Sunday." Gremminger - "The big game and championship we expect to win will mean more than just the money. It would mean that we would be champions again. You remember the championship ring a lot longer than the money. For some of us, this could be our fourth championship game. Some with us (Carroll Dale, Zeke Bratkowski and Billy Anderson) have been playing for years and never reached the title game. A lot of people think we are old and washed up, but this is far from the truth. We expect to prove it Sunday."...Jim Taylor was running better in practice Friday, and it appears that he'll be a starter Sunday. Coach Vince Lombardi has put the big fullback, who has a groin pull, in the "very doubtful class." Paul Hornung is confident Taylor will be ready for the big game. "I just know he'll be himself," Paul said, adding, "I'll talk to him."...The Packers added another signee today, Jim Weatherwax, a 270-pound tackle from Los Angeles State who was drafted as a junior a year ago. Coach Vince Lombardi, who announced the signing, said Weatherwax "told me that he's coming from one champion to another championship team." Weatherwax, who stands 6-6, led his team to the California College Conference title.
UNPREDICTABLE 49ERS, PACKERS KEEP EYE ON OTHER CONTESTS
DEC 18 (San Francisco) - Green Bay's Packers gun for the Western Conference championship of the NFL Sunday, facing the unpredictable San Francisco 49ers. The pros from Wisconsin find out late today just what will be at stake. Should the Baltimore Colts beat the Los Angeles Rams in their nationally televised game today in Southern California, the Packers must beat the 49ers to finish on top. Going into the regular season finale, there could be any number of outcomes with Green Bay, Baltimore and Chicago's Bears all remaining in the title picture. So Coach Vince Lombardi and his Packers must concentrate on beating San Francisco a second time this year...FULLBACK TROUBLES: Both clubs go into the Sunday fray with troubles at fullback. Jim Taylor of the Packers has been hampered by a leg injury suffered in last week's 42-27 victory over Baltimore. San Francisco's rookie star, Ken Willard, was hampered by a pulled muscle, but Coach Jack Christiansen said he expects the former North Carolina fullback will be able to play. Otherwise, both clubs seemed in good physical shape for their battle. Green Bay's Paul Hornung came into his own again last weekend with five touchdowns against the Colts, three rushing and two on pass receptions. The 49ers were trounced by Chicago 61-20 as gale Sayers ran wild. Green Bay beat the 49ers 27-10 in their first meeting when Bart Starr passed for two touchdowns. Taylor rushed for 73 yards and Don Chandler staged a kicking show that included two field goals, three conversions and a 90-yard punt. The 49ers have the league's top pass receiver in Dave Parks and one of the league's top gaining offenses with quarterback John Brodie directing traffic. They'll be up against a club which has allowed only eight touchdowns through the air all season and which has picked off 24 enemy passes.
DAY OF DECISION: PACKERS DUEL 49ERS IN TITLE BID
DEC 19 (San Francisco-Green Bay Press-Gazette) - The Packers play for their fourth Western Division championship in six years in Kezar Stadium today. And a shot at the world title. If the Packers beat the 49ers, they will meet the Browns, champions of the East, in Lambeau Field Sunday, Jan. 2. If they lose? The Colts, by virtue of their tremendous 20-17 win over the Rams Saturday, would then capture the West with a 10-3-1 record. Green Bay's would be 10-4 and cast them into a second-place tie with Chicago - if the Bears beat Minnesota. The Bears then would go to the Playoff Bowl in Miami. At any rate, the Bears are eliminated from the title race. The Packers and Colts could still play a third game - the playoff in Green Bay December 26, if the Packers and 49ers tie. The Packers are favored to win by a touchdown - as they should be. The stakes are high - over $8,000 per man if they can reach the big showdown and beat the Browns. And the Packers are expected to be equally high. About the only thing that could hurt the Packers now is tightness, but you can bet Lombardi will figure out a way to send the big Bays in action as loose as the proverbial goose...Injuries could be a factor, of course - especially early in the game to key personnel. The Pack's chief gun, Jim Taylor, has been ailing all week with a groin pull but his teammates have been prodding the big bull and he likely will be snorting like he did last Sunday. The Packers had an experience with an injury here last year they won't forget. Bart Starr was kayoed in the second quarter and the 49ers went on to hold down Zeke Bratkowski and score a 24-14 victory...BRAT 'WON' THREE: Bratkowski has relieved Starr in five games this season and came out with three wins - over the Colts and Rams in Green Bay. Bratkowski figured in the losses to the Bears and Rams on the road. The Packers will be facing one of the best 49er teams since the days of Frankie Albert, John Henry Johnson and Hugh McElhenny. Perhaps the current edition is more explosive with the three fine receivers in Dave Parks, Bernie Casey and Monte Stickles; sharp-shooting John Brodie, who has a 60 percent completion percentage; and power backs John David Crow, Ken
Willard and Gary Lewis. Brodie and his aide, George Mira, have thrown 32 touchdown passes and the 49er offense ranks as the best in the league. Brodie hasn't been thrown for a loss attempting to pass in the last five games. The game shapes up as a duel between the 49ers' offense and the Packers' defense, which ranks as the best in the league. Green Bay's defenders have allowed a fantastically low eight touchdown passes and the fewest points, 200. Willie Davis and Co. are in fine condition, and they know they'll have to duplicate the 10 points (or less) they allowed the 49ers in Green Bay's 29-10 win last Oct. 10. With 42 points against the Colts to think about, the Packer offense is all souped up - and that goes double for Paul Hornung, who scored a record five touchdowns against the Colts. Hornung continued the form in practice this week that he showed against the Colts. The rest is up to Starr, Taylor, receivers Boyd Dowler, Carroll Dale and/or Bob Long, and Marv Fleming; and the offensive line which did so well in the last game. The largest crowd of the year in Kezar, nearly 50,000, will watch the showdown. And they'll be helping the 49ers go all out. San Francisco Coach Jack Christiansen announced earlier in the week that he will do experimenting with younger players and "we'll do everything we can to beat Green Bay." The Packers, who wore their "home" green and gold uniforms in Baltimore last Sunday, will wear their white jerseys today.
STRANGE THINGS HAPPEN: NOW LONG GULPS CONTACT LENS
DEC 19 (San Francisco-Green Bay Press-Gazette) - Things happen to Bob Long, the Packers' sophomore pass receiver. Earlier in the week at the Bays' training quarters in Palo Alto, Long ran into Dave Parks, the 49ers' sophomore receiving sensation. The next morning Long reached for a glass of water on his table upon awakening and...oops...swallowed one of Dennis Claridge's contact lenses. Fortunately, Claridge always carries a spare lens. And needless to say, Long has taken a lot of ribbing about the whole thing.
