August 15, 1974
By Paul Zimmerman
There were three ugly red welts across George Sauer's rib cage, and as he talked to reporters last night he kept rubbing his hand across the bridge of his nose.
A wild Portland rookie named Honey Bear Hinton, a safetyman out of USC caught Sauer with a cheap shot after Tom Sherman overthrew him, smashing him in the head with a forearm after the play. For a minute or so, it turned the lights out for the ex-Jet All-Pro.
"It just stunned me," said Sauer, who had had his biggest night of the season - seven catches for 92- yards, and two touchdowns in the Stars' 38-16 win over the Storm on Randalls Island.
"No, being away from the game for a while has nothing to do with not being ready for a shot like that. You're never ready for it. I wasn't expecting it, and I still don't know what it was. I know who but not what."
"I didn't want to send him back in the game," Stars' coach Babe Parilli said. "I said, George take a rest."
"He said, No, I don't want them to think they knocked me out of the game."
Sauer caught his first touchdown in the first quarter, a 20-yarder off cornerback Frank Andruski. Andruski was in for Willie McKelton, who'd been getting a workout, and Sauer fed the sub an inside fake and then broke for the corner. Andruski was still heading toward Ward's Island when the ref signaled touchdown.
"Could you believe that move," said Sherman, who had a pretty good night himself, 11 for 18 for 144 yards and two scores.
"Did you ever see anything so beautiful? The guy never knew where he was."
Sauer's second score, a three-yarder was in the opening drive of the third quarter, and it made the score 30-0 and just about ended the game. He lined up in the slot inside the flanker on the right side, slanted into the end zone, dove and came up with the ball.
"The play was supposed to be a double-pick to Dave Richards, the halfback," Sherman said, "but George got open and he waved to me and I waved back."
Let's see there was a 14-yarder Sauer had to leap for on the sidelines as he was getting belted and a few curl-ins to him that found the soft spot in the zone defense, and a little five-yard out pass, a perfectly timed pass Sherman threw as Sauer was making his break.
"I used to watch George when he was with the Jets," said Sherman, who was the Patriots' quarterback in the Jets' Super Bowl year, "and I'd wonder what it would be like working with a guy like that.
"All his moves are so precise. It takes a while to get your timing right with him, but once you've got it. It's something special. You can throw the ball when he makes his break, and you know he'll always be in the same place. He'll never change the pattern."
Same Advantage
Sauer has the same kind of advantage with the Stars that he had with the Jets - a fine receiver on the other side, to keep the enemy from loading up their coverage, Al young, the ex-Steeler, gives the Stars a two-way threat, and last night he had five catches for 70 yards.
"Everything feels about the same as it did when I with the Jets," Sauer said afterwards. "Maybe I'm a little slower, but I never had much speed anyway. Maybe I get tired a little more often now.
"My legs, mainly. It's not like being out of shape. It's kind of weariness. Maybe I'll have to start thinking like an older ballplayer (he'll be 31 in November) and start pacing myself. Anyway I feel better than I have in the last two weeks.
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Sherman admitted he got away from the Stars' traditional strength - their league-leading ground game because "I felt I could throw on them any time I wanted to." ...Patriots have just cut QB Brian Dowling, who's signed a Stars' contract for 1976. If the NFL waives him, he could be heading to Randall's Island. "If it was Bob Griese or Joe Namath I'd be upset," Sherman said. "But I'm not going to get worked up over Dowling. We're winning now. Really, what else do I have to say?"
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Portland (0-5-1) had reputation as weak team against the run, but their secret is out now. They can't stop the pass either...secondary look disorganized...The Storm operated in weird ways. When they were down, 30-0, they ran six straight plays and ate up four and a half minutes at the end of the third quarter. But with 10 seconds left and the score, 38-8, they called time out. It paid off. They blocked a kick and scored a TD on the last play of the game.