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Denver 16 at Chicago 13
1983 Week 3 - Sunday, March 20, 1983
Denver Gold(0-2) at Chicago Blitz(1-1)(-13)
Attendance: 26,949, TV: ABC
CHICAGO (AP) - Chicago gave George Allen the cold shoulder.
The coach of the Windy City's entry in the United States Football League brought the Blitz into snowy Soldier Field Sunday, and barely one-third of the 68,000 seats in the ancient edifice were filled.
And the Denver Gold left the Blitz with a cold, empty feeling, too. Quarterback Ken Johnson swept into the end zone on a fourth-down, 1-yard keeper with 18 seconds remaining to defeat Chicago. The 16-13 defeat was the second last minute loss by the Blitz in two weekends.
"It's like a doctor doing a lot of things properly and then the patient dies," said Allen.
Denver Coach Red Miller said he never considered playing it safe, going for the "sure" three points with a field goal and then hoping for a shot at victory in overtime. "We didn't think 'kick' at all," Miller said. "I didn't want to tie. We wanted to win - and it was a big, big win for our young team."
Johnson drove Denver 70 yards to its winning touchdown, passing twice to tight end Bob Niziolek for gains of 14 and 13 yards, the second completion putting the ball at the Chicago 3-yard line. Three plays gained just two yards, setting up the fourth-and-1.
"I took a good look at the goal line right before the play," Johnson said. "It looked like a yard and a half away." And with the snow and the wind, the footing was treacherous. But Johnson crossed up the defense, sweeping around left end and scooting over a goal line he couldn't see because of the snow.
Greg Landry's 42-yard touchdown pass to Lenny Willis and field goals of 27 and 38 yards by John Roveto accounted for the Blitz scoring. Harry Sydney set up a field goal by Brian Speelman with a 36-yard run, then sprinted 30 yards for the first TD by the Gold.
Scoring
CHI:Roveto 27 yd field goal - CHI 3, DEN 0
CHI:Willis 42 yd pass from Landry (Roveto kick) - CHI 10, DEN 0
DEN:Speelman 39 yd field goal - CHI 10, DEN 3
DEN:Sydney 30 yd run (Speelman kick) - DEN 10, CHI 10
CHI:Roveto 38 yd field goal - CHI 13, DEN 10
DEN:Johnson 1 yd run (kick failed) - DEN 16, CHI 13
Box Score
DEN CHI
First Downs 7 16
Rushes-Yards 32-150 49-155
Passing (A-C-Y-I) 7-3-25-3 17-7-114-1
Sacked-Yards Lost 1-15 1-6
Total Plays-Yards 40-160 67-263
Fumbles-Lost 3-0 5-0
Penalties-Yards 7-54 3-30
Turnovers 3 1
Time of Possession 23:54 36:06
Attendance = 22,600
DENVER CHICAGO
Passing Att Cmp Yds In Td Rate Passing Att Cmp Yds In Td Rate
Johnson,K 6 3 25 2 0 21.5 Landry 17 7 114 1 1 59.4
Rushing Att Yds Ave TD Rushing Att Yds Ave TD
Sydney 9 79 8.8 1 Spencer 20 82 4.1 0
Canada 10 24 2.4 0 Long 23 80 3.5 0
Miller,T 6 21 3.5 0 Johnson,T 1 3 3.0 0
Johnson,K 4 12 3.0 1 Landry 4 3 0.8 0
Matthews 2 8 4.0 0 Garcia 1 -13-13.0 0
Niziolek 1 6 6.0 0
Receiving Rec Yds Ave TD Receiving Rec Yds Ave TD
Niziolek 1 13 13.0 0 Johnson,T 4 58 14.5 0
James,V 1 9 9.0 0 Willis 1 42 42.0 1
Sydney 1 3 3.0 0 Spencer 1 8 8.0 0
Ricker 1 6 6.0 0
Kick Returns No Yds Ave TD Kick Returns No Yds Ave TD
Phea 1 28 28.0 0 Willis 1 15 15.0 0
Ford 1 12 12.0 0 Stone 1 4 4.0 0
James,V 1 -2 -2.0 0 Brown,E 1 0 0.0 0
Punt Returns No Yds Ave TD Punt Returns No Yds Ave TD
Martin,D 1 18 18.0 0 Anderson,M 1 0 0.0 0
Willis 1 -2 -2.0 0
Kicking Fg Lg Xp Pts Kicking Fg Lg Xp Pts
Speelman 1-1 39 1-2 4 Roveto 2-3 38 1-1 7
miss: none miss: 33
Punting No Yds Ave Punting No Yds Ave
Gortz 5 186 37.2 Garcia 5 156 31.2
Sacks Sk Yds Sacks Sk Yds
Phillips 1 6 Ah You 1 15
Interceptions No Yds Ave TD Interceptions No Yds Ave TD
Dumars 1 -2 -2.0 0 Bradley 1 5 5.0 0
Tyler 1 0 0.0 0
Anderson,M 1 0 0.0 0
Archived news report
Archived news report
Supplemental information courtesy of Chris Blackburn
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