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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.

1st Q




Complete Game




Highlights




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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