PACKERS HAVE GREAT DEAL OF PERSERVERANCE - VINCE

JAN 3 (Green Bay Press-Gazette) - As Green Bay's soggy, begrimed world champions clumped through the long gray tunnel to their Lambeau Field dressing room Sunday afternoon, an exuberant Elijah Pitts whooped, "We is the greatest!" Ex-pedagogue Vince Lombardi, who didn't hear the ebullient declaration, might have taken issue with Elijah's grammar, but he heartily endorsed the sentiment minutes later. Encircled by a crush of newsmen in his functional first floor "office," where he presented a picture of restrained jubilation, the Packers' square cut headmaster asserted with evident pride, "This team has more character than any other team I've had. And I think that is a great compliment to them." A torrent of questions, and not a few congratulatory handshakes, intervened by the one-time Block of Granite subsequently returned to this theme. "I think I marked this team pretty well (during the training season). I said this may not be the best team I've had, but it has the most character." "I think it's got a mark to it," Lombardi continued. "It's got a great deal of perseverance - it never seemed to count itself out." Elaborating upon this point, he said, "A lot of things happened to us this season, but the players closed their mouths and never said a word to the press or anyone. They kept their mouths shut. Everything that was said was said here (in the dressing room). I'm talking about injuries and a number of things." This prompted an allusion to the Pack's mid-season recession, which Lombardi acknowledged with, "Thats' what I said. A lot of teams would have folded, but we stayed right in there." Ever forthright, he hastily appended, "We had a break, however. Let's not say we won it all by ourselves. We had a break from the Bears (the Bruins' 13-0 victory over the Colts in Baltimore Dec. 5)." Some wag interjected, "That's what Halas said the day the Packers beat 'em here in October, that he was going to give you some help along the way." "I'm glad," Lombardi rejoined with a smile, "he said that." The Pack's guiding genius earlier had indicated the manner in which the victory had been accomplished, noting with a twinkle. "Maybe some of the people who say we don't have any offense will change their minds now." This caused one eager scribe to observe, "You predicted this (the title) last summer." "I don't think I did that," Lombardi chuckled, "but it sounds good." Had he decided to play fundamental football because of the field conditions" "Yes, we did," Vince replied, "but we're a basic football team anyway." The Browns' attack also had dictated this approach, he pointed out. "I think you have to control the ball to beat the Browns because they have a great offense." He hadn't made any changes in pregame planning? "No, I didn't. That's what you get out of," he grinned, "when you are a basic football team." Lombardi added puckishly, "I am glad people believe that, anyway." In this connection, he revealed that the Pack's game plan had been developed "by Wednesday. We knew by Wendesday what we were going to try to do." Did he think Jim Taylor, voted the game's most valuable player, had been inspired by the presence of all-league fullback Jim Brown in enemy silks? "I think it's an ordinary reaction with all fine athletes," Lombardi responded, "if he has enough pride." The Packers' major-domo also was asked why he had replaced Doug Hart with Bob Jeter at right cornerback in the first quarter. "We thought Jeter could do a better job of covering Warfield (Cleveland split end Paul)," he said. Agreeing that Bob had sparkled in his unexpected assignment, Lombardi pointed out, "Jeter's probably the fastest man we have on the squad - Jeter and Long." Quizzed about the Browns' early success with the pass, Vince observed, "We didn't react as well as we might have. But let's not take anything away from them - they were beautiful passes. That one to Collins in the corner of the end zone was a beautifully thrown ball." Commenting on the Packers' quarterbacking, Lombardi declared, "I think Starr was real sharp. I think he called a great game, by the way. It was not the best day for passing, of course. The receivers couldn't make their cuts well and the ball was slick. I think you could see that with Ryan (Cleveland quarterback Frank) a couple of times." Taylor and Hornung, somebody suggested, hadn't looked too bad, considering they were supposed to be in the twilight of their careers. Appreciating the understatement, Lombardi responded with one of his own. "I think," he chuckled, "there's a little spark left in them." In the dressing room proper, a few feet away, all was confusion. Television cameras and wires, plus news photographers and swarms of reporters from throughout the nation, crammed every cubic inch of the Packers' plush green and gold quarters, clambering over each other in an attempt to pry comments from the heroes of Green Bay's ninth world title. Before greeting the press, Lombardi had taken note of the invasion, particularly the electronic aspect. Still wearing bespattered rain gear, he took time out for his preparations for the TV "eye" to admonish his athletes. "Watch your language now." Elsewhere, rookie Junior Coffey was shouting, to no one in particular, "How sweet it is!" and, in another corner of the bedlam, Defense Coach Phil; Bengtson was embracing one of his proteges, Willie Wood. At the other end of the Pack's palatial quarters, prime hero Jim Taylor was almost inaccessible. His rugged features still caked with mud, the Bayou Bronco patiently held forth for wave after wave of newsmen, who delayed his departure for the shower room for more than an hour. Weeding his way through the mass of humanity, Lombardi finally managed to reach his multi-muscled fullback. "Let me shake your hand again, Jimmy," he told him, with obvious fervor. "You did a great job, a great job. And I know you were hurt, too." Taylor smiled his thanks, and, as the Packer coach departed, returned to the questions at hand. He had been troubled by injuries throughout the season, it was noted. "That's true," Taylor nodded. "The Achilles tendon stayed with me for six or eight ball games - it was almost severed in our last exhibition game against St. Louis." The majestically hewn LSU alumnus was whisked away for yet another picture with Lombardi, and his longtime "companion," Paul Hornung, but shortly returned to accommodate the fourth estate. Taking up where he had left off, he volunteered, "I played very little in our opener at Pittsburgh and not at all in our next game against Baltimore. I was running at about 60 percent, if you can set a percentage. I couldn't cut and drive on it. It was just like running on one leg. I couldn't depend on it - I didn't have any confidence in it. I couldn't play the position the way you're supposed to play it. The only thing I could do for it was rest it. I worked very little this week - you can't run on it and strain it." What had caused him to limp off the field in the fourth quarter Gingerly tearing a huge piece of tape (protection for a pulled muscle) off his left thigh, Taylor explained. "I got a knee." He tapped his right leg and added for emphasis, "I got a pretty good pop in the knee." Had Brown's presence affected his performance? The crew cut blaster paused for a moment, then replied, "I'm conscious I'm playing against him," he admitted. "But I don't have any individual honors in mind. I just want to play the best game I can play, every game I play." Diagonally across the room, Taylor's running mate, the irrepressible Hornung, labeled this latest title more of a satisfaction than the two he previously had helped acquire in '61 and '62. "This one's better than those two," he declared. Why? "Because if's '66, that's why," the Golden Boy good-naturedly shot back. Discoursing upon his highly opportune 13-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, Hornung explained, "It was just a perfect play. Jerry (Kramer) had a great block on the linebacker and Skoronski (Bob) and Anderson (Bill) both got good blocks. It was just a well-executed play." The effectiveness of the now famous Lombardi sweep on this critical occasion was mentioned and Paul pointed out, "It's always been our bread-and-butter play. The older I get," he added dryly, "the worst it hurts. Those linebackers really hit." Hadn't he, too, been troubled by injuries? "Yeh, which ones do you want to talk about?" Hornung quipped. "Knee, groin or my shoulder." This reminded him of a happy prospect and he added, "Now I'll be able to relax and play a little golf. I'm leaving for Los Angeles tonight. In fact, I'll be on the first tee at Bel Air Wednesday morning. I'm going to get me some sunshine." In reply to another question, he conceded that his title performance had been embellished by "my best blocking day. He (Browns linebacker Jim Houston) didn't jam me too much. He wasn't playing me tight, so all I had to do was tie him up so Jimmy could slide inside or outside. They weren't blitzing too much - in fact, they had one weak side blitz all day long." Defensive hero Bob Jeter, who shut out Paul Warfield after replacing the injured Doug Hart in the second quarter, explained, "Doug had trouble with his foot before the game. He couldn't put full speed on it, but he had a couple of shots of novocaine and they (the coaching staff) thought it would be all right. About the middle of the first quarter, he came over to the sidelines and said he couldn't go on it, so they sent me in." Although he was aware of the magnitude of his assignment, Jeter pointed out, "I've been practicing at the position quite a bit. But," he admitted with a smile, "I was nervous. I'm thankful I was able to go in there and do a good job." The former Iowa star also was happy to append, "No, he didn't catch any on me." Explaining how he had foiled the Browns' gifted flanker, Bob reported, "I just laid back and did the best I could, plus the line was putting a pretty good rush on Ryan, which made it easier." Hart, who applauded Jeter's performance, revealed, "I don't know what it was. I woke up Saturday morning with this pain in my left foot. I had two novocaine shots this morning, but they didn't seem to help." "Bobby," he added, "did a great job out there." Bart Starr, who had just presided at his third championship in as many attempts, was describing the Pack's first touchdown across the way. "Dale (Carroll) made a great effort on that one," he revealed. "I rared back and let the ball go, but it just squirted out like somebody had hit it with both hands. He had to come back to get it - he made a great play on it." Why had Boyd Dowler been a particular target? "We were keying certain people," Starr explained, "and when they weren't open we went to somebody else. We felt from their pass coverage, we felt we'd have to throw to Boyd. They do a great job on covering the tight end. Anderson (Bill) almost never got open. Early in the game, we decided we'd have to throw to somebody else." And what about his arm (Starr had been troubled by bruised ribs on the right side, acquired in the Western Conference playoff