Green Bay Packers (5-0) 31, Detroit Lions (3-2) 21
Sunday October 17th 1965 (at Detroit)
GAME RECAP (GREEN BAY PRESS-GAZETTE)
(DETROIT) - This was the Packers' finest half hour. The rally they put on in Tiger Stadium Sunday must easily rank as one of the most memorable in the team's long history. The Packers were behind 21 to 3 at halftime, but at the end of the third quarter they were in front 24-21. When the game ended, Green Bay had beaten Detroit 31 to 21. The Packers scored 21 points in the third quarter behind a fabulous display of efficiency by Bart Starr. Look: In the space of 13 plays, covering 13 minutes and 24 seconds, the Pack's icy quarterback threw three touchdown passes, completed seven out of eight passes for 249 yards, and called five rushing plays for 24 yards. The Lions were furious now, but Starr had set a fire under the Bays and just to cinch the verdict in a boo-stricken fourth quarter Starr scored the fourth TD himself, on a four-yard bootleg run. It was Green Bay's fifth straight victory and left the Pack as the only unbeaten in the league. Next assignment is Dallas in Milwaukee Sunday, and the Cowboys are the only team to beat the Pack this season - in a preseason game in Dallas. But that third quarter! Starr and Bob Long worked a 62-yard aerial to start it off - on the second play. On the 10th play - second and six, Starr threw to Tom Moore up the middle for 32 yards to set the score at 21-17. On the 13th play - get this, it was third and two, Starr flipped an eight-yarder just over the line to Carroll Dale and the swift former Ram legged in for the TD, the play covering 77 yards. All 11 Lions were in tight, expecting a smash at the line. The Lions never got beyond the Packer 43 from there on as the Bay defense ground the keyed Lions to a halt, with Doug Hart and Willie Wood intercepting passes in the fourth quarter. The Packers did virtually a complete about-face in the second half. They gained only 71 yards, overall, in the first half but romped with 303 in the second half hour. It was the "other way" for the Lions, who got 209 yards in the first half, 87 in the second.
49-YARD FIELD GOAL
The Packers got off to a 3-0 lead on Don Chandler's well-boomed 49-yaed field goal early in the first quarter. Then, the Lions put on their own explosion. Milt Plum threw 15 yards to Ron Kramer in the end zone for the first TD. Wayne Rasmussen, the Lions' rookie defense back, intercepted a Starr pass deflected by Roger Brown and returned 36 yards for a TD. Midway in the second period, Plum and Terry Barr worked a 55-yard scoring toss to set the count at 21-3. Starr completed 15 passes in 23 attempts for 301 yards and the three TDs. He had a fantastic 12.7-yard average gain per attempt. Long and Dale both were in the 100-yard class, Bob catching four for 106 yards and Carroll three for 108. The Packers were far from healthy going into this contest. Ray Nitschke and Forrest Gregg didn't play due to knee injuries. Lee Roy Caffey took over at middle linebacker for Nitschke, and Tom Crutcher was at Caffey's outside spot. The Lions directed most of their rushes right at Caffey and he had a busy day. Fuzzy Thurston went the route for Gregg, who has started every game under Coach Vince Lombardi - until Sunday. The game drew an audience of 56,712 fans who (other than a few hundred Packer diehards) set some of record for booing late in the fourth quarter. The audience was upset when the Lions received back-to-back 15-yard penalties, the first when Bruce Maher belted Marv Fleming after the play had obviously been whistled dead. Coach Carl Tassef raged onto the field in protect and the officials nailed him for 15. When the officials put the ball on the Detroit 15, the booing controlled the game. Starr brought the Bays to the line of scrimmage five times, but it was to no avail as the booing increased. Capt. Joe Schmidt of the Lions signaled for quiet, and the PA announcer asked for cooperation. The whole business lasted about five minutes and the officials kept the clock running for a minute. The booing still continued as Moore took three cracks at the line, reaching the four on a 13-yarder on third down. Starr then pulled his bootlegger. The crowd cut it off as soon as Starr score. School was out. Though the Lions received the opening kickoff, the Bays got into position when Tom Brown intercepted a Plum pass tipped by Wood on the Bay 39. The Bays reached the Lion 30 but Starr was thrown for a 10-yard loss and Chandler then kicked his field goal, a good long distance effort to go with his 47.7-yard punting average of five boots. This was the only time Starr was thrown, although he ran four times when he was unable to pass. The Lions then went 80 yards in eight plays for a TD, with Plum throwing to Ron Kramer, who had worked away from Dave Robinson and Brown, for the TD. Plum's passes to Barr (30 yards) and Gail Cogdill, plus a 15-yard penalty on the Pack, ate up most of the yardage. A holding penalty put the Pack back on their own 14, but on second down Rasmussen intercepted the deflected pass and, receiving good blocking, ran for a TD. The Lions next moved 83 yards in six plays for their 21-3 lead, the payoff coming on Plum's 55-yarder to Barr, who made a fine catch for the TD just a step ahead of Hart.
STARTED INNOCENTLY
The famous third quarter started innocently enough with Long taking Starr's 13-yard pass on a square out to the right. Next time, Long went straight down, cut to his left and took Starr's pass and cut toward the left sideline and into the clear while Dale blocked Rasmussen. Studstill's good punt put the Bays on their own 11 again, but Starr
and Dale worked a 26-yarder to get out of the danger zone. The next big play was an 11-yard clutch catch by Paul Hornung to the Lion 36. Paul was shaken up on the play and Moore came forth. Two plays later Moore took Starr's pass down the middle and broke away from tackles by Schmidt and LeBeau for the TD. A good tackle by Caffey forced another Lion punt and the Bays were back deep again - this time on their own 15. Taylor hit for five and then when Starr and Dale pulled their magic. It was 14:05 when Chandler kicked his third extra point for the 24-21 lead. The game really got defensey in the fourth quarter and the Lions' only score effort was a 50-yard field goal try by Wayne Walker. The play that got the Pack's fourth TD drive moving was a 20-yard pass from Starr to Taylor, who made one of those hard, reaching catching at the Packer 45. Two plays later Fleming took Starr's pass and Maher's overtime tackle and the boo-action followed. After Starr's bootlegger, the fans had a few more boos saved up. When Plum was removed from the game in favor of George Izo, the departee was given a round of boos. On Izo's first play, Wood intercepted and the game was over. The Packers had achieved what seemed like the impossible.
GREEN BAY - 3 0 21 7 - 31
DETROIT - 14 7 0 0 - 21
GREEN BAY DETROIT
First downs 17 18
Rush-yards-TDs 28-83-1 29-131-0
Comp-Att-Yd-TD-INT 15-23-301-3-1 14-33-179-2-3
Sacked-yards 1-10 1-14
Net pass yards 291 165
Total yards 374 296
Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-0
Turnovers 1 3
Penalties-yards 4-49 9-81
SCORING
1st - GB - Don Chandler, 49-yard field goal GREEN BAY 3-0
1st - DET - Ron Kramer, 15-yard pass from Milt Plum (Wayne Walker kick) DETROIT 7-3
1st - DET - Wayne Rasmussen, 36-yard interception return (Walker kick) DETROIT 14-3
2nd - DET - Terry Barr, 55-yard pass from Plum (Walker kick) DETROIT 21-3
3rd - GB - Bob Long, 62-yard pass from Bart Starr (Chandler kick) DETROIT 21-10
3rd - GB - Tom Moore, 31-yard pass from Starr (Chandler kick) DETROIT 21-17
3rd - GB - Carroll Dale, 77-yard pass from Starr (Chandler kick) GREEN BAY 24-21
4th - GB - Starr, 4-yard run (Chandler kick) GREEN BAY 31-21
RUSHING
GREEN BAY - Jim Taylor 13-45, Tom Moore 8-25, Bart Starr 4-11 1 TD, Paul Hornung 3-2
DETROIT - Nick Pietrosante 13-74, Joe Don Looney 14-67, Pat Studstill 1-(-4), Milt Plum 1-(-6)
PASSING
GREEN BAY - Bart Starr 23-15-301 3 TD 1 INT
DETROIT - Milt Plum 32-14-179 2 TD 2 INT, George Izo 1-0-0 1 INT
RECEIVING
GREEN BAY - Bob Long 4-106 1 TD, Carroll Dale 3-108 1 TD, Paul Hornung 3-27, Jim Taylor 2-18, Tom Moore 1-31 1 TD, Marv Fleming 1-8, Boyd Dowler 1-3
DETROIT - Terry Barr 5-112 1 TD, Ron Kramer 4-39 1 TD, Gail Cogdill 4-32, Joe Don Looney 1-(-4)
'WE STAYED IN THERE AND IT PAID OFF,' VINCE
OCT 18 (Detroit-Green Bay Press-Gazette) - "The Packers have pride." This is the way Coach Vince Lombardi summed up the second half determination of the Packers as they charged back to score four touchdowns and a 31-21 victory over the Detroit Lions. Lombardi was beaming during postgame activities in the dressing room as he explained the sharp turn in affairs for the Packers. "This was a great comeback. We stayed in there and it paid off. This team has a great deal of pride and the players knew they had to come back," he said with a wide smile and a gesture to the entire team. "I didn't have any magic formula or any great changes for them at halftime," said Lombardi. "I knew they were all pros and I simply gave them a little advice that went something like this: 'You're all Packers and you've got your pride. Stay in there and things will work out for you.'" He admitted the Lions put great pressure on Bart Starr during the first half "and it seemed every time we got the ball it was on the 10-yard line." The Packers made only one offensive change in the second half and that was to put Jerry "When Hill (Jimmy) began limping a little we went after him," Lombardi added with a grin. He directed his praise at Starr. Lombardi said Starr called a great game especially with the strong pressure from the front four of the Lions. "Starr had himself a great, great game," said Lombardi. "He got undue pressure in the
first half, but stayed right in there. He deserves a lot of credit." Asked about a second quarter call to go for a punt instead of a field goal, Lombardi said there was nothing to gain with three points and added midfield is a long way for a field goal. "If it was blocked we would have been in real trouble," he said. Starr acknowledged the third quarter which brought three touchdown passes was "the best of my career." he said the third and one situation which ended with a 62-yard pitch to Carroll Dale "was a gamble that worked." "You gotta be lucky sometimes," he observed. "I was hoping they were looking for a run," he said. The Lions were playing right and he figured he could hit Dale with a long toss. Dale said he had nothing to do with calling the play. "All I had to do was catch it and run and hope my knee would hold that far." Dale said he had no trouble getting into the open with the Lions' two defensive men playing close. Commenting on the booing by the Lion fans in the final period, Starr said "we couldn't heat a thing. We tried one play, but the boys couldn't hear the signals." He praised the efforts of Joe Schmidt and Wayne Walker for trying to calm down the crowd. With Thompson out and Hill limping, Starr admitted the Packers worked on that area of the defensive unit. With a grin he said, "Anytime there's a new man out there, we look them over." Asked about his fourth down run for a touchdown, Starr said it was a simple option and he decided to go all the way. It was happy Doug Hart, who pulled on a shirt after a long shower. Hart had the assignment of being tied to Terry Barr, and it was a long afternoon. He said he couldn't play Barr too lightly because of his moves and speed. When Barr caught one of Milt Plum's passes in the second quarter for a 55-yard touchdown run, Hart said Barr "simply had too many fakes and outran me." First he went in, then up, then out and down and there it was. It was a different story in the second half though when Plum connected on only one pass to Barr and had another interception by Hart. "We were relaxed the second half. We knew we had to win," Hart added. Lee Roy Caffey agreed he received a real workout playing center linebacker for the injured Ray Nitschke. Caffey said this was the first time he had played the position in league play, although he did work it a bit in preseason play. "That second half was quite a change," Caffey said. "Guess I'm a little to blame for not putting enough pressure on Plum during the first half," he admitted. Despite the loss, Lion Coach Harry Gilmer was high in his praise do his team. He said the first half was one of the best the Lions had played this year and attributed the change in the third quarter to the harder play of the Packers. "Green Bay played better and that was the story," he said. Having Thompson out of the lineup and then Hill out with a groin injury hurt the defensive unit, Gilmer said. "Plum did a good job though and the boys were ready for this one." This was an obvious reference to the mid-week scrimmage he gave the Lions. "When something has to be done, than we'd better work on it," he said about the extra workout. Former Packer tight end Ron Kramer, who signed with Detroit this season after playing out his option with Green Bay, faced his old teammates for the first time and scored Detroit's initial touchdown. Kramer said after the Packers' second half shock wave. "Green Bay will always have a good team as long as Vince remains coaching there."
CAFFEY FINDS 'THE ACTION' AT MIDDLE LINEBACKER SPOT
OCT 19 (Green Bay Press-Gazette) - Lee Roy Caffey was busier than that proverbial one-armed paperhanger in Detroit Sunday. Caffey, the Packers' regular right linebacker, moved into the "middle" slot when Ray Nitschke was held out with a leg injury. "That's where the action is, all right," Lee Roy roared after the game, "and for a while out there it seemed as if they were running every play right at me." Caffey's spot was occupied by Tommy Crutcher, who, like Caffey in the middle, was inexperienced at the job. Dave Robinson was at his old stand - on the left side...MURDER POSITION: "I thought Lee Roy did a good job considering the fact that he hadn't played there. And he got the feel of it and got better as the game progressed," Nitschke said. Middle linebacker is a "murder" position since it's a sort of converging point for the offensive linemen, the tight end in particular. The MLBer takes a lot of abuse and that's why he'll finish the game looking like he'd been in a street fight. Nitschke, who is in his eighth straight year of middle-linebacking, said, "It's a tough place and it's all a matter of reaction because you never know where they're coming." Here are some notes from Sunday's Packer-Lion playbook: BLITZ - The Packers blitzed the first time early in the first quarter when Crutcher went in and forced Milt Plum to throw early on a deep pass to Terry Barr. Plum went to the same receiver on the next play for a 30-yard gain, getting considerable time to thrown. FOOT COUNTS - A five-yard gain isn't always a five-yard gain. Bart Starr threw a left side screener to Paul Hornung for a five-yard gain but on the next play (a three-yard gainer by Jim Taylor) the Lions were offside. The Pack took the five-yard penalty, of course, but a measurement was called for and the Bays were a foot short. QUICK COUNT - Bart Starr called a quick count on a first down pass just before the half and completed a 26-yard pass to Bob Long. The Packer offensive line pulled back suddenly and formed protection before Lion defensive linemen got a start. BEAUTY BLOCK - Open field blocks are something to behold and the block Carroll Dale put on Wayne Rasmussen on Long's touchdown run was a crusher. The rookie defender, who has five interceptions already, was flipped into the air. HART SAVER - Doug Hart made a last second stab to save a possible touchdown on Plum's long pass to Gail Cogdill early in the fourth quarter. It was a "bomb" and Hart stayed with Cogdill all the way. BIG PLAY - Plum needed four yards on a key third down play in the fourth quarter and aimed a throw at Looney. But Hank Jordan knocked it down on the line of scrimmage. MIGHT HAVE BEEN - Starr might have thrown a fourth TD pass in the fourth quarter. Long had Bruce Maher beat up the middle, but Starr slipped as he went back to pass. He righted himself to throw, but it was too late. Incidentally, he slipped on the loose sod (like a rug on a slippery floor) that covered the infield. SIMMER DOWN, DICK - When Jim Taylor took Starr's pass in the fourth quarter for a 20-yard gain up the middle, Dick LeBeau started to get frisky with Long and one of the officials quickly grabbed LeBeau and cooled him down.
HAYES READY FOR PACKER
OCT 19 (Dallas) - Bob Hayes, the speedy, pass catching end of the Dallas Cowboys, said Tuesday his leg injury is a sprain, and he will be ready to play against Green Bay on Sunday. Hayes said his right leg was stepped on twice just above the ankle in the NFL game with Cleveland last Sunday. The injury was painful and bothered him some, the former Olympic dash champion said, but x-rays have shown it is not serious.
DID LIONS LOSE 2 MINUTES?
OCT 19 (Detroit Free Press) - Innocently enough, things have a way of disappearing without trace in this careless world. There was Jimmy Durante's chord, lost forever. And Little Bo Peep's sheep. And tisket-a-tasket, didn't somebody lose a yellow bucket? The mysteries widened Monday. Where are those two minutes which disappeared from the scoreboard clock at Tiger Stadium Sunday as the Lions were fighting for their lives against the Green Bay Packers?...And where is that faintly remembered rule dealing with penalties against a unruly football crowd? Those two minutes, it developed, were either lost or stolen. And that rule, which allows officials to penalize the home team when the crowd becomes unmanageable, has either been misplaced or forsaken by the NFL. Nobody's sure. Lion head coach Harry Gilmer was not about to be drawn into a debate of the incidents which marked the Lions' late collapse and 31-21 loss to the Green Bay Packers. But Gilmer wondered about that lost time...When the crowd of 56,712 shook
old Tiger Stadium with boos late in the fourth period of the game, about 5 1/2 minutes remained on the clock. "It was 5:37," said Gilmer. He remembered, because he had looked, as a coach should. By the time the Packers got off their next play, 3:45 remained - a loss of nearly two minutes. The time vanished from the clock while the crowd roared its disapproval of back-to-back 15-yard penalties against the Lions, setting Green Bay on the Detroit 15 and virtually ending hometown hopes. Bruce Maher was rapped for unnecessary roughness and Lion assistant coach Carl Taseff was tagged for stepping onto the playing field to protest Mahers' penalty..."I think we lost about 30 seconds each time Bart Starr (Packer quarterback) came to the line and couldn't get the play off because of the noise," said Gilmer. Starr needed four tries at it to make the first play. The boos stopped him once more before he could run a second play, so maybe two minutes were lost to the Lions. "I think the lost time was a penalty against us," said Gilmer. At NFL headquarters in New York, Mark Duncan, chief of the league's referees, was aware of the tumultuous windup to the Packer-Lion game. "They might have lost 45 seconds on the delays," said Ducan. "But there was a point there where the clock was running behind official time. They let it run about 35 seconds to catch up." The heavy booing continued so long that many suspected referee Red Pace would march off penalty yardage against the Lions, since, it's generally believed, the home team is responsible for the crowd. Gilmer thought he might have seen five-yard penalties marched off once, or twice, in such instances. He wasn't sure. Duncan wondered, too. He seemed to remember such a rule that would permit the officials to act. "I can't find it," he confessed. "I think they dropped it from the book some years back." All of it merely added to the confused controversy of the Lions' second straight defeat. Gilmer's strongest feeling about it all involved the call against Maher for knocking down the Packers' Marv Fleming apparently after the whistle had blown..."He was still standing and trying to move (Lion Ernie Clark had Fleming at the ankles)," said Gilmer, "and I have to believe he was still 'live' bait." Overall, Gilmer found the Lions' display against the unbeaten Packers "encouraging." "We came ready to go," he said. "It's the best we have looked in spite of the defeat. I've got to feel better about that. But it hurts when you let one slip away. Our injury situation hurt us, no doubt about it. And then, when we really needed to control the ball (with the Packers pressing for the lead in the third period), we began just barely missing." The injuries continue to be a problem as the Lions look toward the Bears in Chicago next Sunday.
LITTLE THINGS KEYED PACKER REVIVAL
OCT 19 (Green Bay Press-Gazette) - It's the little things that count - like a few steps. In the second half of the Packer-Lion game in Detroit Sunday. The Packers went behind 21-3 in the first half and just couldn't get untracked. They blew the Lions off the field in the second half and won 31 to 21. What happened? Coach Vince Lombardi looked into the celluloid microscope Monday and this pinpoint today: "We did the same things as we did in the first half except that our guards blocked stronger, and Starr took a little more depth on his passing. In short, guard Jerry Kramer and Fuzzy Thurston toughed up on their blocking after the Lions' two inside greats, Alex Karras and Roger Brown, and quarterback Bart Starr retreated a step or two more than he had earlier in the game. Starr threw touchdown passes of 62, 32 and 77 yards to Bob Long, Tom Moore and Carroll Dale, respectively, on the Pack's second, 10th and 13th plays of the third quarter. Just like that - tougher blocking and a few steps. But there's more to it, of course, and it spells S-T-A-R-R. "You can't say enough about Starr," Lombardi warmed up, adding: "He called a superb game, and he showed his poise and courage. A lot of quarterbacks would have become upset under similar circumstances." In the third quarter uprising, Starr completed eight out of nine passes for 225 yards and three touchdowns and the throw that put Green Bay ahead, the 77-yarder to Dale, was on a daring third and two situation. Everybody in the park, including the 11 Lions on the field, must have expected Starr to send a back into the line. In fact, a pressbox wag wondered if "we didn't make it, would the Packers go for it on fourth down" - as they did in the crucial Colt game three weeks ago. Asked about a possible fourth-down-go-for-it on the Lions' 23, Lombardi said, "I can answer that easy. No, we wouldn't." While the entire game seems to "rest" in the second half, Lombardi said the Packers look good throughout the game. "We had a little trouble getting untracked in the first half and every time we had the ball it was down on the 10-yard line," Vince pointed out. As to the Pack's defensive play, Lombardi quickly noted the few times that Detroit actually made a first down on a third situation. The Lions did it only three times all afternoon - and not once in the crucial fourth quarter when the heat was really on. In the first quarter, Milt Plum completed a 30-yarder to Terry Barr on third down; in the second Joe Don Looney picked up three yards on a third and one play; and in the third Plum threw an 11-yarder to Gail Cogdill on third down. To top it off and kill the Lion's last move, Willie Wood made his interception on George Izo's first pass - on third down. Lombardi started Max McGee at left (split) end and then followed up with Boyd Dowler, but both were still bothered by injuries. He then called up Carroll Dale and the swift ex-Ram, though he is bothered by a muscle pull, caught three passes for 108 yards...TWO 100-YARDERS: Long turned in four catches for 106 yards. And as Dowler exclaimed after the game, "It's tough enough for one receiver to get 100 yards, but we had two of them today." Lombardi was happy to report that "we came out without an injury." He said it's too early to tell yet on Forrest Gregg and Ray Nitschke (both were held out in Detroit) for the Cowboys in Milwaukee.
FRESHMAN LOGAN TIGHTENS TOUGH COWBOY DEFENSE
OCT 20 (Green Bay Press-Gazette) - The Cowboys have a rookie by the name of Obert Logan. He's from Trinity College (that's in Texas, suh) and he stands 5-10 and packs 173 pounds. Obert started the season as a flanker but for some reason (perhaps Bob Hayes) Obert was shifted to defensive safety. He made his first start against the Browns last Sunday in place of veteran Mike Gaechtner and here are some of the heroics he performed: Stopped Jimmy Brown on an open field tackle that kept the big fullback from going for six. Threw Leroy Kelly for a two-yard loss on a running play - no mean feat for a safety. Blocked a field goal attempt by Lou Groza. Broke up a touchdown pass to Gary Collins. Threw Frank Ryan for a 12-yard loss on a safety blitz. Larry Karl, the Cowboys' publicity chief, didn't list any unheroics but the above five items are proof enough that the Cowboys' defense - one of the best in the league - will be rugged for the Packers in Milwaukee Sunday. With the exception of Logan and Jim Ridlow, who retired, the Cowboy defensive team is the same that ranked the best in the East last year (on a points permitted basis) and fifth best in the league. And it's the same that held the Packers without a touchdown in a 21-12 victory over the Packers in a preseason game in Dallas last August. The Packers scored on four field goals. That still stands as Green Bay's only loss this season. The Cowboy defense is led by the fantastic Bob Lilly, the 255-pound tackle, and captained by player-coach Jerry Tubbs. Lee Roy Jordan trades off with Tubbs on occasion. Offensively, the Cowboys present a real problem at quarterback and no problem at left end. QUARTERBACK - "Don Meredith (the club's only veteran signalist) has a sore arm in camp every year, but it usually goes away with the normal. This year, it didn't go away and the coach has had to go with our two fine rookies, Craig Morton and Jerry Rhome," Karl said, adding: "Morton looked good against the Eagles and he was given the starting assignment against the Browns. Meredith came on in the second quarter and finished. The coach may start Morton in Milwaukee and then switch to Meredith, although he expects to name his starting quarterback today." Thus far, Morton has completed 7 of 14 for 112 yards and 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Rhome hit 9 of 23 for 157 yards and 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Meredith hit 337 of 92 for 622 yards and 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. So take your pick. The left end, of course, is Bob Hayes, the great Olympic dashman, who surprised the league with 18 catches for 375 yards and four touchdowns. He's averaging 20.8 yards per reception. "The thing most people forget about Hayes is that he was a football player first and then a trackman. He's not like a lot of the track stars who came up with little or no football experience," Karl pointed out. Considered a "good football player" at Florida A and M, Hayes stands 5-11 and weighs 189. The Cowboys' other two receivers are Frank Clarke, who works at the slot end, and flanker Buddy Dial. The Cowboys use the slot formation but on occasion will drop Dial back and then install Clarke as a tight end. Most times Dial will be flanked on the line of scrimmage and Clarke will play back. The Cowboys' two big rushers are fullback Don Perkins, 206 pounds, and Perry Lee Dunn, 200, who works at left half. They're each averaging 3.3 yards. One of the title favorites at the start of the season, the Cowboys are now saddled with a 2-3 record. But Karl issued a word of warning: "We ought to be 4 and 1 instead of 2 and 3."...PS - Happy birthday to Zeke Bratkowski. He turned 34 today.
PERSONALITY PARADE
OCT 20 (Green Bay Press-Gazette) - Quiet, retiring Thomas Marshall Moore, who has be the most effective "pinch hitter" in NFL history, has been chief understudy to Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor for six years. which may be an all-time record for waiting in the wings. But the well-knit Vanderbilt University alumnus, whose stirring 32-yard collaboration with Bart Starr for a third quarter touchdown loomed large in the Packers' fortuitous "Operation Snapback" at Detroit last Sunday, is well adjusted to his unenviable assignment - as well, that is, as any prideful performer can be. "It's sort of tough - you never know from game to game if and when you're going to get the call," he admits, "but I guess I ought to be used to it by now." Familiarity did not eliminate apprehension, however, when he was summoned to replace a shaken up Hornung in that exhilarating third quarter, Tom also conceded, "At that stage of the game, you wonder if you'll get into the swing of things, or if it's too late." The former was answered in the resounding affirmative two plays after Moore's arrival upon the scene, when he clutched Starr's short pitch to his chest, then shrugged off two Lion defenders with an awesome display of determination en route to the Detroit end zone. "I think one guy had hold of me good back there right after I caught the ball, but the one down near the goal line was sort of a desperation tackle - he sort of knocked me into the end zone as much as anything else," Moore explained. Asked if he had acquired any painful souvenirs of his latest relief stint, Tom replied, "No, I didn't get hurt at all." He laughed and added, "That's one of the advantages of not playing. I only carried about 8 times - we were throwing a lot and that makes it a little easier. You don't have to block as much."...PUSH SELF IN PRACTICE: How much of a problem, as a sometime performer, is it to stay physically and mentally sharp> "It's difficult to be in the right frame of mind," Moore admitted. "You more or less have to push yourself in practice to try to stay ready. You have to keep thinking there's a possibility you'll be playing on Sunday. If you ever gave up in practice, it might be the week you'd have to play, and then you wouldn't be ready to go," said Tom, who, of course, will be standing by as usual when the Packers encounter the Dallas Cowboys in Milwaukee County Stadium Sunday. There is impressive documentary evidence to indicate the 27-year-old Goodlettsville, Tenn., resident has the psychological answer to this knotty problem. Although he has been actively employed for less than half of the available playing time since being drafted No. 1 by the Pack in 1960, he ranks a slightly incredible 13th in the team's all-time scoring table with 162 points, just behind such Green Bay greats as Tony Canadeo and Tobin Rote and ahead of such other past luminaries as Joe Laws and Andy Uram..."WEREN'T HERE LONG": Moore, who also has averaged better than 4.3 yards per carry in amassing 2,035 yards in 495 attempts, almost apologetically dismissed his lofty perch among the Pack's "400." "I was sort of surprised to find that out when I looked over the all-time point totals recently, but I noticed a lot of the guys weren't here too long," he modestly pointed out. Does he ever, in the light of these substantial accomplishments, find his perennial reserve role discouraging? "You've got to take it," was the matter-of-fact reply, "so I take it. The big thing is when you're with a winning team, that helps a lot. That cures a lot of pain. The father of three children (Karen 5, David 3 1/2, and Berry 2 1/2), Tom is adopting a "let's wait and see" attitude about a football future for either of his sons. "But one of 'em," he optimistically noted, "will be big enough, it looks like."
PACK, DALLAS MATCH 'SWIFT'
OCT 21 (Green Bay Press-Gazette) - The Cowboys and Packers have something in common - a pair of Bobs with pure, unadulterated speed. They are Bob Long of Green Bay and Bob Hayes of Dallas. Both were famous for something other than football in college. Long was a basketball star at Wichita and never came out for football until he was a senior. Hayes is the world's fastest human, racing for Florida A and M and the United States in the Olympics. Long and Hayes are the current pass receiving rages of the NFL. Our Bob caught nine passes for 211 yards and three touchdowns - one in each of his last three games. He's averaging 24.5 yards per catch. Dallas' Bob caught 18 passes for 375 yards (a 20.8 average) and four touchdowns. Long is a sophomore but played little behind the talented Boyd Dowler last year. In fact, he caught but one league-game pass - that, incidentally, against the Cowboys in Dallas. Hayes is a rookie and, of course, has a good shot at Rookie of The Year honors. The Olympic hero didn't go into football cold off the street. He was a top-flight receiver in college. Hayes' speed is known worldwide - 9.2 in the 100, to mention one mark. Long's speed is an unknown factor. He never went out for track at Wichita because it interfered with his splendid basketball career. Asked about his speed, Long smiled: "I really don't know. I've never been clocked. Maybe I picked up speed since I've been here because I've been running with weights." Basketball has helped Long. He runs up and down the field play after play and never tires. "Basketball has helped me in catching the ball. You handle the ball about 75 percent of the time in basketball and you get used to catching it, even though the size is different," Long said. Hayes was tagged with "bad hands" when he came into pro football, but it was strictly a falsehood, or a misunderstanding. Somebody stepped on his hands in practice before the College All-Star game. Sideliners, apparently unawares of the injury, observed that he wasn't catching the ball very well. Thus, the story spread that he had bad hands. If nothing else, the incident proved that "Hayes is a tough kid. He stuck in there," said Cowboy publicist Larry Karl. Which brings up Hayes' newest injury. He was stepped on twice above the ankle in the Brown game last Sunday. X-rays showed it was nothing more than a bruise and Karl predicted that Hayes will be running as well as ever Sunday when the Bays and Cowboys clash in County Stadium. Unlike the balanced Packers, the Cowboys have depended on Hayes. Coach Tom Landry pointed out Hayes has been our offense so far. He's sparked our drives with key catches and leads our scoring. Hayes goes back with Mel Renfro on punts and kickoffs and presently Bob is leading the league in punt returns with five for an average of 17.6. The swift Renfro is 10th in the league in KO returns, averaging 24.2. Landry is still undecided on his starting quarterback for Sunday. He said in Dallas he was waiting for one of his three pitchers (Don Meredith, Jerry Rhome and Craig Morton) to take charge. "Rhome and Morton (both rookies) are going to be top football players, but they have a lot of developing ahead. I don't know why Meredith is so inconsistent on his passing, but you can't go against the defenses in this league with rookies," Tom said. And speaking of passing, it is wonderful to point out today that the Pack's Bart Starr has taken over the league leadership in passing. Rudy Bukich is second and John Brodie third. Starr's completion percentage is a lofty 64.7, tops in the league. He had now thrown eight touchdown passes - three of which came in the Pack's third quarter uprising in Detroit Sunday. Coach Vince Lombardi sent the Bays through a stiff "opening" practice Wednesday and more of the same was on tap for today.
DALLAS COWBOYS HOPING TO REPEAT PRE-SEASON FEAT
OCT 21 (Green Bay) - The Dallas Cowboys, the one blot on the Green Bay Packers perfect 1965 record, are heading for Milwaukee hoping to do what they did in a preseason game in Dallas - beat the Packers. The all-winning Packers, 5-0 in regular season play, lost only once in the exhibition season and that was to the Cowboys. "I think we kind of caught the Packers on an off day," said Cowboys Coach Tom Landry of the 21-12 victory last August. "If our defense can play an aggressive game like it did last August and if our passing game can start clicking, then we stand a good chance against anybody, including the Packers," Landry said. The Cowboys, 2-3 on the season, have lost three straight. Last Sunday Cleveland beat them 23-17. Landry's major problem is at quarterback. The man he started the season with, Don Meredith, developed a sore arm, then lost his timing. Landry has been going with two rookies, Jerry Rhome and Craig Morton. "You can't go against the defense in this league with rookies," said Landry. But even rookies have been having success throwing to Bob Hayes, the former Olympic sprinter billed as the "World's Fastest Human." "Bob's been our offense so far," said Landry. "He's sparked our drives with key catches and leads our scoring (with five touchdowns)." Hayes and Mel Renfro give the Cowboys a dangerous punt return combination that should test the Packer kicker Don Chandler's ability to aim the ball away from the receivers.
PACKERS PUSH PAIR OF STREAKS; DALLAS RUGGED VS. RUSH
OCT 22 (Green Bay Press-Gazette) - The Packers have a couple of streaks going Sunday. No. 1, of course, they'll be seeking their sixth straight league victory this year when they meet the Cowboys in County Stadium. In addition, the bays will be going after their 13th straight league win over Eastern Division opposition since Coach Vince Lombardi took over Green Bay back in 1959. His first across-the-border test was a loss - to the Giants in New York. Since then, the Pack stopped the East in 12 straight games, including one over those Giants (that clinched the title for the Pack in '61), and two over the Cowboys...Pro footballers, on occasion, will talk with their opponents during the heat of battle, though it's not common. The Cowboys' pass catching flash, Bob Hayes, got a few words when he lined up across from Erich Barnes, the Browns' defensive back. Said Barnes: "Well look who I get, the fastest man in the world." Hayes had an answer: "You better believe it." Bob has the records to back up his swiftness and they're well known from here to Madison. Hayes, by the way, caught five passes in Barnes' area...And speaking of speed, Coach Lombardi rates that five-letter word as one of the Packers' two major concerns for Sunday's test. The other is the Cowboys' defense against rushing. "They have great speed on the flanks and they've got very fast kickoff and
punt return men," Vince pointed out today, adding: "Nobody has been running on the Cowboys." It is interesting to note that the Browns gained only 105 yards rushing on Dallas last Sunday and the great Jim Brown was held down to 85 yards. Holding Brown to under 100 yards is a miracle job in itself."...Marv Fleming, who bears a striking resemblance to former heavyweight champion Sonny Liston, has "drawn" two key penalties in the last two games. The 49ers' Elbert Kimbrough took a poke at our Marv (6-5 and 245) two weeks ago and the ensuing 15-yard penalty helped the Bays along to a field goal that put Green Bay ahead 10-7. Little Bruce Maher whammed into Fleming after the whistle had blown in Detroit Sunday and the 15-yard penalty was a factor in the Pack's fourth TD - the score that just about clinched the victory. Says Marv, who walks away from these incidents with an inward chuckle, says: "We're supposed to be football players, not boxers."..."Everybody's in pretty good shape," Coach Lombardi reported today after completing a week of lively drills, pointing out: "How much they'll play, I don't know." Vince was referring chiefly to Ray Nitschke and Forrest Gregg, who were held out of the Lion game with knee hurts. Max McGee and Boyd Dowler are recovering from shoulder injuries while Carroll Dale is running out a muscle pull...Jim Kensil, the NFL's publicity chief, asked Coach Lombardi after the Detroit game for a breakdown of the Packers and here's how Vince described Green Bay's component parts: Defensive line - "It's the key to the team. Not big, but quick, very quick." Linebackers - "Big, nice and big. They have good speed and their size compensates for the lack of it in the line." Defensive backs - "As good as there are. As an example, Bob Jeter was hurt in the preseason and had to give way to Doug Hart. Now Jeter's healthy, but he can't regain a starting job." Offensive line - "Great on pass protection. And the interior linemen grades out a lot better on blocking for the run than the offensive statistics would have you believe." Running backs - "Very good, as they always have been. But there is no question they'd be stronger if Jim Taylor were not bothered by his ankle injury." Receivers - "Fine as any in the league. Faster than ever with Boyd Dowler, Carroll Dale and Bob Long." Kicking - "Solid with Don Chandler." Quarterbacking - "Bart Starr has long been underrated. He's always been a slow starter, but he's off to his best start ever this year. He's never been more ready."
TAYLOR STRANGELY ABSENT FROM PACKERS' ELITE ELEVEN SCORERS
OCT 23 (Green Bay Press-Gazette) - Eleven different people have scored points for the Packers. And there's sure to be a 12th soon. The missing scorer is Jim Taylor, the highest scoring back in Packer history with 81
touchdowns. Taylor, of course, has been hurt - a bad ankle - but he has been plugging along. He carried 58 times for 205 yards in four games, missing the crucial Colt game entirely. Eleven scorers at this stage of the season borders on the fantastic, but it points up the Bays' versatility. Just about every offensive eligible has scored - with the exception of Taylor. Leading the parade is kicker Don Chandler with 40 points. Paul Hornung and Bob Long each have 13. Two defensers have scored - Herb Adderley, with two TDs, and Lee Roy Caffey, with one. More people seem to be taking part, as it were. The Cowboys, who meet Green Bay in County Stadium Sunday, have nine scorers, rushers and nine receivers on the board. Their leading scorer is Danny Villaneuva, who has 34 points. Oddly enough, Green Bay also has nine rushers and nine receivers. The Packer offense had produced 14 touchdowns - nine via passing. Bart Starr threw for eight teedees, and, get this, averaged 36.5 yards per throw. Zeke Bratkowski's toss to Max McGee for the winning TD in the Colt game went 37 yards. Starr has thrown (in order) touchdown passes of 31, 10, 48, 23, 9, 62, 32 and 77 yards. Try that on your pitching arm. Another hot figure is the Pack's interception total - 10. The Bays intercepted only 16 all last year, but there are still nine games left...Cowboy Coach Tom Landry today named quarterback Craig Morton as his starter in Sunday's fray. The former California star was given the nod because, Landry says, he had performed exceedingly well in practice this week.
LOMBARDI LAVISH WITH PRAISE FOR 'TOUGH' DALLAS UNIT
OCT 23 (Milwaukee) - Coach Vince Lombardi overflowed with superlatives this week as he prepared his unbeaten Green Bay Packers for Sunday's NFL clash with the thrice-beaten Dallas Cowboys. Lombardi didn't shower them on his finely turned Packers but on the Cowboys, the only team to inflict a defeat on the '65 Green Bay team. "Dallas is tough as heck," said Lombardi of the Cowboys, who kept the Packers from scoring a touchdown last August, beating them 21-12 in an exhibition game at Dallas...KICKOFF RETURNS: "They've got the world's fastest human (Bob Hayes, former Olympic sprint champion). They've got three fine ends (Hayes, Frank Clarke and Buddy Dial). Dial scares you on reputation. They've got great kickoff return men, great punt return men. They've got great defense. No one has touched them running." If Lombardi feared the Cowboys, Dallas Cowboy Coach Tom Landry was equally wary of the Packers. "We've got to be at better than our best to have a chance Sunday," said Landry. "Any team has to play over its head to stay with the Packers." Both teams are in good physical condition for the game which could turn out to be a battle between two evenly matched defenses. Green Bay's running game has been slow in coming around. The Packers have been winning on the strength of a tough defense and a solid passing game built around quarterback Bart Starr...UNPROVEN ROOKIES: Dallas' ground game has also been hurting, and the Cowboys have no quarterback of Starr's status to pick up the slack. Landry is relying on the inconsistent Don Meredith and two unproven rookies, Jerry Rhome and Craig Morton. Both teams have been stingy with points. The Cowboys have surrendered only 87 in winning two of five games. The Packers have given up a league low of 71 points in winning five straight. Dallas has allowed its opponents 1,497 yards overall. Green Bay has allowed 1,490 yards. Opposing runners have gained 632 yards against Dallas and 630 yards against the Packers. The Cowboys have yielded 865 yards passing. Green Bay has surrendered 860 yards in the air. The Packers beat Dallas 45-21 last season.
MAYBE NEITHER TEAM CAN WIN PACKER-DALLAS GAME
OCT 24 (Milwaukee-Green Bay Press-Gazette) - The Packers and Cowboys will find it hard to beat each other in County Stadium this afternoon. Sound a bit confusing. But here's the pitch and it's simple: Defensive-minded teams are always rough to handle. Only four teams in the league have allowed less than 90 points in their first five games - the Packers (71), the Colts (74), the Cardinals (83) and the Cowboys (87). Those are real mean, cold, defensive figures. The Packers know about Dallas' defensive strength. The Cowboys held Green Bay without a touchdown in a preseason game in Dallas last August and, what's worse, the Texans made off with a 21-12 victory. That loss ranks as the Packers' only blot in 1965. And, needless to say, it will figure in spurring Green Bay. Kickoff is set for 1:05 (WJPG and WBAY-TV) and a crowd of over 48,000 will be out to cheer the Packers on to their sixth straight victory and sole possession of the league in the Western Division. The Cowboys have lost three straight and rarely do losing streaks extend beyond three in the NFL. Dallas was originally rated a solid championship contender in the Eastern Division and must win today to regain that status. The Packers are coming off one of the most spectacular victories in their long history. Behind 21-3 at halftime the Packers did an about-face and whipped the Lions 31-21. The Cowboys have just dropped a 23-17 decision to the Browns in Cleveland but they found new defensive hope by limiting Jim Brown and Co., to just 105 yards rushing. Dallas' defense is a problem for Bart Starr and it will be interesting to see how the Packer quarterback deals with it - especially in view of his passing explosion in the third quarter last Sunday when he hurled three TD passes. The Cowboy defense is led by Bob Lilly, a whale of a tackle; Capt. Jerry Tubbs, a linebacker; George Andrie, a defensive tackle who once played at Marquette; and safetyman Mel Renfro and Obert Logan, considered one of the best rookie defense backs in the league. Starr likely will try to find out in a hurry what his rushers, Jim Taylor, Paul Hornung and
Tom Moore, can do against the Cowboys, who limited Brown to 85 yards. The Cowboys undoubtedly will be more concerned with the Packers' new-found pass receiving speed, chiefly Bob Long and Carroll Dale. Packer scoring has been on the upswing, what with 58 points in the last two games - 27 on the 49ers and 31 on the Lions, and all of it was produced by the offense. The Packer defense will have to contend with amazing speed, topped by the Olympic flash, Bob Hayes, who already has caught four touchdown passes. Backing him up are backs Perry Lee Dunn and Don Perkins; and flankers Buddy Dial and a new find, Pete Gent. There has been speculation as to the Cowboys' starting quarterback but Coach Tom Landry is expected to go with experience, Don Meredith - unless he's hurt. In that case, rookie Craig Morton will get the nod over another rookie, Jerry Rhome. Coach Vince Lombardi will have his entire crew ready to play, but several of them may not be 100 percent, including Ray Nitschke, Forrest Gregg, Max McGee and Boyd Dowler. This will be the third league game between the two clubs since Dallas entered the league in 1960, and the Cowboys will be looking for win No. 1. Green Bay won 41-7 in 1960 and 45-21 in 1964. This will be Dallas' first appearance in Milwaukee. The '60 game was played in Green Bay and last year's battle was in Dallas.
