Evening star., 1942-11-11
seke kbeHuson Football Battery Is Lone Hope Stop Chb
Great Duo Well Tuned
for Victory Needed
10 Tie in West
Champs PIoyoff Record
Makes Them Look Safe
II Deadlock Results
BY JOHN LARDNER.

BY JOHN LARDNER.
Special Correspondent Of The Star.
NEW YORK, Nov. II (NANA).- -
The Green Bay battery, Isbell and
Hutson, warmed up for the best
!. part Of so minutes last Sunday in
preparation for the big game this
week end, and reports from Cleve-
land had 1t that the pitcher looked
good and the catcher even better.
Since this battery, either through
Its own efforts or the mighty threat
= and diversion it sets up, will be the
factor that beats the Chicago Bears
II the Bears are beaten, it is very
important that Mr.. Cecil Isbell and
Mr.. Donald Hutson be timber and
ready.
In all of football history, do not
recall team which relied so heavily
on a single pass-and-catch COM
bination. There are other good
operatives in Green Bay livery this
year. but nothing that cannot be
neutralized or outweighed by cor
responding operatives on rival teams.
The Bears, especially, are equipped
to smother at least nine e-elevenths
OF any lineup the Packers put on the
fleld. 1sbell and Hutson are the
d1f1erence-and the sole hope and
the potential glory of Green Bay.
Bears Toughm In Playoffs.
To be sure, even if the Packers
whip Chicago next Sunday, they
will gain no better than a tie in the
Pro League standings. There will
have to be a playoff, and the Bears
are much better in playoffs and
special performances than they are
IN routine Sabbath games, which
means they are terrific indeed I
saw them beat good Washington
Redskin team by 73 to 0, with the
championship at stake. I saw them
play the collected stars of the nine
opposing teams in the league last
January and win by a clean knock
out.
That latter game, in a way, was
An indication that no forward pass
ing battery, however great, will bring
the Bears to ultimate defeat. Sam
uel Baugh was throwing that day.
and Samuel is, to my mind, an even
better passer than Isbell.
He had some fine, gay and fast
receivers. but never did the total
scoring potential represented by all
these gentlemen threaten to match
Chicagos. Hutson came in for
one play. He caught a pass from
Baugh and was then assisted from
the field with busted leg.
Keeps Them Under Control.
do not mean to imply that the
standard Bear defense against pass
Ing Is to break the catcher's leg.
They have other resources. Often
the rival catchers are free to run
around all day long But they do
not run to much avail.
Nevertheless, Isbell and. Hutson
have licked the Bears ~occasionallyz
In their time, Just as this rollickine
battery has beaten every other team
IN the league. have a hunch that
IN this particular case the facts
OF baseball are reversed, and that
the catcher is the more important
man Of the two.
Being Mr.. Hutson, he also is, of
course, the senior partner. Mr..
Hutson has been around an amaz-
ingly long time for so agile a char
acter. Before Cecil Isbell came on
the scene, Hutson was the battery
mate of Arnie Herber, and his value
then was even more emphatic than
1t is now. That is, he stood out
more boldly In the combination, for
the Isbell of today is a better and
more versatile back than the Her
Der OF yesterday.
Receiver Is More Important.
Any passer good enough to star
on a professional team is a complete
passer, but Herber's speciality was
fading back and singing the ball
high and far down the field. In this
sort OF pass it's my notion that the
catcher contributes 80 per cent to
the success Of the play when it sue
ceedS.
No long passer can pick his tar
get, as you realize as soon as you
try it yourself. lie just throws as
close as possible to a given section
of the terrain, and it is the receivers S
business to be where it lands and
to grab it, through the use Of tricks,
feints, speed and change of pace,
Of which Hutson is master, from
all the foemen who have had a
chance to follow it's long, high
flight down the gridiron.
The long pass and the medium
long pass still are staples of the
Green Bay attack-because Green
Bay has Hutson. With Hutson out
of the game. you see Isbell concen-
trating on short, fat stuff, at which
he is very good. When he cuts loose
and heaves the ball the catcher must
be a genius in his line: and the
catcher almost always Is Hutson
This battery is all that lies between
Chicago and the championship. It's
a DANGEROUS place to lie, but 1sbell