Dec. 23, 1963 - Del Shofner, Sam Huff, and Alex Webster, three members of the New York Giants who have been on the injury list, went through a workout in snow today at Yankee Stadium and said they were in good shape for the championship game against the Chicago Bears next Sunday. Shofner, an all-NFL receiver, bruised some ribs in the final regular season game against Pittsburgh a week ago; Huff sprained an ankle when he stumbled in practice last Friday; and Webster has been troubled for more than a month by back and leg injuries. “I’ll be all right,” Shofner said. Said Huff: “I rested the ankle over the weekend and kept heat on it. It’s coming along fine. I haven’t been babying it.” Webster, whose biggest problem is to get his leg muscles into playing shape, said he felt ready to play too. “It’s up to Allie,” he said. Coach Allie Sherman (pictured with quarterback Y.A. Tittle and backfield coach Kyle Rote) said that hard work would be in store for the Giants until Sunday. “The men have had a good rest,” Sherman said. “We took care of the basics on offense and defense last Thursday and Friday. Now we’ll go hard. Tomorrow they’ll put on pads. From now until game time, with the exception of Christmas Day — which we’ll take off, naturally — it will be a matter of hard work on the refinements. So far, so good.” The Giants will leave for Chicago by chartered plane Friday at 5 p.m. At Wrigley Field in Chicago, the Bears also worked today in snow. The Bears just finished watching movies of the Giants’ games with the Cardinals and Steelers. “One thing I learned,” lamented defensive tackle Fred Williams, “is that I’ve got a job on my hands. I’ll be going against [offensive guard] Darrell Dess. The Giants use him on the left side of their line, right opposite me. From the movies, I’d say he’s the toughest guard I’ve seen all year.” Another duel will match Doug Atkins, the Bears’ hulking defensive end, against Roosevelt Brown, Giants’ offensive tackle. “Brown is a fine blocker,” Atkins said today. “I respect him, but he doesn’t scare me. I’ve gone against him nine or ten times before, so he won’t show me anything new.” A teammate who preferred to remain anonymous declared flatly: “Atkins will beat Brown nine out of every ten plays. The only way Brown can stop him at all is if he kicks, tackles, or trips him after Doug has already run by him.”
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