One for the Cripples

It may not be good for their image, but the Green Bay Packers do read newspapers. So last week they learned that they were old, worn, weary, and probably not up to the task of playing the fresh, eager, healthy Cleveland Browns for the National Football League championship.

They worried over reports that Quarterback Bart Starr could barely lift his arm, let alone throw a pass, that Fullback Jim Taylor was limping around with a pulled groin muscle, that Halfback Paul Hornung was nursing bruised ribs, a twisted knee and a sprained wrist. They noted with alarm that Coach Vince Lombardi thought so little of Taylor and Hornung that he had already hired their replacements--signing Illinois Fullback Jim Grabowski for $250,000, shelling out $600,000 for Texas Tech's Donny Anderson, who just might run, catch and kick better than any halfback since Doak Walker. Finally, after ascertaining that the stock market at least was holding its own, the Packers put away their papers, put on their pads, and went out and clobbered the fresh, eager, healthy Browns 23-12.

An Inch or So Apart. Maybe the Browns weren't eager, after all--not after they woke up to discover that 3 1/2 in. of snow had fallen in Green Bay on the morning of the game. The playing field was chocolate pudding--which was tasty as far as the Packers were concerned. "Packer weather," it is commonly called around the league, since Coach Lombardi's brand of football is so basic that little things like mud and snow don't bother him a bit. Cleveland's attack, as always, was built around the ultrasophisticated running of Jimmy Brown--and one look at the field was enough to convince Jim that it was not going to be his day. Although he is a fullback, Brown is primarily an outside runner, and he needs good footing to outmaneuver defenders on the sweeps. "The difference between a great back and a good back is only this much," he said, holding his thumb and forefinger an inch or so apart. "It is small things you can do that other guys can't do effectively. On a heavy, slippery field like this, you can't make a violent move to avoid a tackler. You just have to go into him and get what you can."

The Packers drew first blood on a 47-yd. TD pass from Quarterback Starr to Carroll Dale. The Browns roared right back in three plays. They missed a conversion attempt--Lou Groza's first miss in 46 tries this season--but then Lou kicked a 24-yd. field goal to put Cleveland ahead 9-7. By half time, when Green Bay had the lead back, 13-12, the Browns could take solace only in the knowledge that they would get the ball on the second-half kickoff.

It was one thing to get the ball, and another to move it. To beat the Browns, the Packers knew they would have to stop Jim Brown, put constant pressure on Cleveland Quarterback Frank Ryan so that he could not throw the "bomb" to Paul Warfield or Gary Collins. The first job fell to Packer Linebacker Ray Nitschke. "Brown was my big heat," Nitschke said afterward. "I keyed on him 85% of the time." The measure of his success was that in the crucial second half Brown gained a grand total of 9 yds. Ryan was the responsibility of the whole Packer line. Time after time, he dropped back to throw--and suddenly found himself looking down the throat of an onrushing Green Bay lineman. He was thrown four times for losses, and between them, Collins and Warfield caught only five passes all day. "Don't blame Paul and Gary," Ryan insisted. "They were open. I just couldn't get the ball to them."

Slogging to Victory. Throughout the second half, the Packers slogged up and down the muddy field, scoring a touchdown and a field goal, controlling the ball so effectively that the Browns got to run only 16 plays to Green Bay's 35. The stars of that relentless assault were the cripples: Fullback Taylor, Halfback Hornung. In all, Hornung carried 18 times for 105 yds.; Taylor, workhorse of the Green Bay backfield, picked up 96 yds. on 27 carries to earn the game's Most Valuable Player award. When the final gun sounded, it was Hornung and Taylor who hoisted Coach Lombardi to their shoulders, and paraded him off the field. The future might belong to Bonus Babies Grabowski and Anderson. "But I guess," sighed Lombardi, "that there's a little spirit left in those old fellows yet."

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