Oct. 27, 1963 - Elijah Pitts, one of two substitutes in the backfield, raced 34 yards for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter today to give the Green Bay Packers a 34-20 victory over the Colts in Baltimore. The victory, before 60,065 fans, was the sixth straight for the Packers. It kept them tied for first place in the Western Conference of the NFL with the Chicago Bears, their opening-day conquerors. Pitts, a human rocket from Philander Smith University in Little Rock, was playing for Tom Moore, who was sidelined by a pinched nerve in the neck. Pitts’s touchdown run, set up by a terrific block by Fred Thurston, broke a 20-20 tie. A pass interference call against Len Lyles on Max McGee preceded the touchdown. Jim Taylor then scored his second touchdown. John Roach, playing quarterback for the injured Bart Starr, kept the Packers moving throughout. He threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Marv Fleming, a rookie replacing Ron Kramer at end. Kramer hurt a knee early in the game. “I’m prouder of this win than maybe any other since I’ve been coaching,” exclaimed the Packers’ perfectionist leader, Vince Lombardi. “We’ve had a lot of trouble the last week,” said Vince. “I’m not saying that other ball clubs don’t have the same problems, but when you lose a quarterback and a first-string halfback and your regular right end bangs a knee early in the game, that’s a lot of people. We had our share.” Forrest Gregg, Green Bay’s offensive right tackle who did a first-rate job in his rematch with the Colts’ all-pro defensive end, Gino Marchetti, said he had had his hands full. “I had my work cut out for me, and I knew it,” said the seven-year veteran from Southern Methodist. “If I don’t do a good job on Gino, I know he’ll be all over our quarterback. And Roach was the only one we had left.” Roach, confessing he was “damned nervous” as successor to Bart Starr, disclosed afterward that he had received a pregame good-luck telegram signed by 880 Packer loyalists in Green Bay. “That was nice,” he said. On the telegram, somebody forged the name of John Unitas. Somebody in Packerville has a ghoulish sense of humor.
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