Daily News from New York, New York • 89

Dquti Le Peo pie I SEL PEPE There was Larry Branson, fighting desperately to get that last precious yard, and there was Chuck Crist, a muscular, determined impediment, fighting just as desperately to prevent Branson from getting that last precious yard, and there was the big scoreboard clock going tick tick tick tick. And then there were no more ticks left, only a big, beautiful zero, beautiful if you were looking at it through Giant eyes. "I was on the sidelines," Ron Johnson remembered. "I couldn't believe what was happening. I was waiting to hear the gun go off, certain they would run another play, and then that was it, the game was over.

It was a great feeling." It was not a game of any great significance, not one that will influence the balance of power in the NFL, and yet right there, by a margin of six points and less than three feet, the Giants may have started something. There is precious little room for false starts in the compact schedule of pro football. The Giants long ago faded out of the picture when they lost six of their first seven games in a 14-game season. No team can expect to lose six games and make the playoffs and without the play-offs, what else is there? One more defeat would mean the best they could do was finish at 7-7, and how realistic was it to believe this team could win six of its last seven games when it could win only one of its first seven? There are, no doubt, a million reasons why the Giants failed, but to put it simply, and most succinctly, the offense had sputtered. The star of that offense had been Ron Johnson, a rusher in two of his four seasons with the Giants, a 902-man last year.

But in seven games, he had rushed for a mere 56 yards. "He told me he'd wait until the end of the week before making a decision on how much I'd play," Ron Johnson revealed. "When I told him I was all right, he let me play. He came through for me. It was.

a very positive act. I feel we established something between us." If Bill Arnsparger came hrough for Ron Johnson, then Ron Johnson came through for Bill Arnsparger, carrying the ball 25 times for 66 yards, catching one pass for 11 yards, scoring two touchdowns and running well early to help Craig Morton establish his ground game before he went to the air. Until Sunday, the possibility of being traded was very real in Ron Johnson's mind. It still isn't out of the question, although it is less likely, he feels. In a perverse way, his future as a Giant, Ron feels, is locked in with Craig Morton's the man Johnson says was mostly responsible for the Giant turnaround.

"Craig was doing everything against the Chiefs. He broke four or five tackles, he was trapped and got away he threw off his left foot. He made things happen which normally had not been happening." As for ettin? traded, that, says Ron Johnson, depends on what happens with Craig Morton. There's no question, the No. 1 need has to be a quarterback.

Before we got Craig, I felt there was a great possibility I would be leaving. I was something thev can offer. Now if Craig can get out of his WFL contract, that could change everything." Ron Johnson wants to stay. You can believe that, he has a new home, just purchased, in suburban Bergen County, just 20 minutes from the future home of the Giants, and and looks forward to next year. Next year.

Three days ao, the phase was "a dreaded one for Ron Johnson, but that's all changed now, the whole Giant attitude may be changed, merely because Larry Brunson did not f.et that last precious yard. There were problems. An ankle injury, a slow start, his involvement in the player strike which did not sit well with some people and a period of "Getting To Know You," between Johnson and the new head coach, Bill Arnsparger. Then there was an article in a New Jersey newspaper that suggested Johnson and Arnsparger were feuding. The article, Johnson said, "covered too many issues in too few words.

There was much more to it than that." It has to do with understanding, and confidence. "He didn't have enough confidence in my decision," Ron said, "I told him I wanted to play a full game and he would give me a little more playing time every week. I don't like going in and out of the game. I feel I can contribute more playing the whole game." Things were different, Ron said, under Alex Webster. "Alex and I had such great rapport," he said.

"Sometimes I'd go a whole week without practice, but when Sunday came and I told Alex I was ready to play, he played me. I don't let people down." Now Johnson can see that his difficulty with Arnsparger was merely a case of two people having to get to know each other. And what happened in Kansas City Sunday went a long way toward achieving that understanding. Morton Finds His. TTeam of My The State of Our Teams by Stark TWfcV 6AY AUXMlHS THIS TiM By Norm Miller "All I ever wanted was to have a team of my own," Craig Morton said after his first win as a Giant.

And all the Giants ever wanted was a quarterback with an arm, brains, experience, leadership and durability. One win as a Giant obviously doesn't establish that Craig Morton has it all in lavish proportions. But off what he showed in Sunday's upset of the Chiefs, he lent plausibility to his resolution that "It's never too late to turn things around." Probably the most remarkable aspect of Morton's QB takeover was his quick absorbtion of the Giants offensive system. With less than two weeks' familiarity with new personnel, he generated a 346-yard offense that put 33 points on the board. The Giants had scored only 24 in four previous games.

Coach Bill Arnsparger, perfectionist, cautioned yesterday: "He can't do it by himself. We've got to guard against the assumption that he is caught up We are still making errors because of his short interval with us 10 other football players have to work hard to get their job accomplished." Still he did not try to deny the obvious, that Morton has made a big difference, and has made it quickly. In that respect, he had a few things going for him: his 9'i years of experience; his dedicated attitude upon reporting to the Giants and the matching application of Arnsparger's assistants on offense; and the degree of similarity between the New York and Dallas numbering systems. Morton undoubtedly was motivated, too, by the realization this might be his last shot to "have a team of my own." "I stayed in that situation at Dallas too long," he remarked after Sunday's win. There are three basic elements to which a quarterback has to adjust in the blitz.

He set up the Giants' second touchdown with a 19-yard pass to Walker Gillette against a safety-blitz by Mike Sensibaugh. "I like teams that blitz," he smiled afterward. "If I know where my receivers are, I like blitzers." By blitzing with linebackers, teams often leave their secondary backs with no help in covering receivers. The good QBs can take advantage of this. On the other hand, the Giants got away with a timely safety blitz by Chuck Crist that conceivably influenced the course of the game.

It happened with about three minutes left to play and set the Chiefs hack from the New York 22 to the 35. That induced the Chiefs to settle for a 42-yard Jan Stenerud field goal that still left Kaycee trailing by six. However, had the Chiefs been able to score a touchdown on that series, they might have beaten the Giants on a field goal when they came back in the final seconds. Meanwhile, at Kansas City, coach Hank Stram faced possible disciplinary action from the NFL if correctly ouoted in a criticism of the officiating (lining the closing seconds of the game. "The officials were gutless." he is quoted.

"When they have to make a big play, they can't do it." He referred to the hectic final seconds when Crist tackled Chiefs pass-catcher Larry Brunson at the New York one-yard line and the clock ran out while Crist was slow in unpiling from the play. "They (the officials) blew six to eight seconds spotting the football on an earlier play," Stram said after the game. "And they permitted an overabundance of time to allow people to get back across the line of scrimmage (on the final play). "If he (Crist) deliberately lay there beyond a normal delay, the officials should have called time and allowed us to run another play," he insisted. ca-M can JmM changing ballclubs: a knowledge of his teammates, particularly the receivers; the system, which includes plays and terminology; and the overall offensive philosophy of the coaching staff.

"He was eager to catch up," Arnsparger observed. "But we have to continue working as though he has not yet caught up. He has to get his timing with receivers, he has to know their speed, reactions and where they are going to be, and he has to learn what his backs and linemen can do. It takes time." In Sunday's win at Kansas City, Morton showed his mastery in handling Jets Must Defend on Boozer Old OfSSS "The Giants are no different from any club we face. We can't get hung up in a rivalry, we have to get hung up on winning.

The rivalry doesn't come into it" Quite often this season, the Jets have gone with three wide receivers, one setback. The tactic is supposed to spread the defense and occupy a couple of linebackers, particularly when the other team is using a three-man front. Boozer has found himself spread wide on occasions, and he admits it's a bit odd. "Throwing against the "3-4" is like sticking your head into the mouth of a great white whale," he said. "I'm not quick enough to go outside.

I'm prepared to. do the job from our game plans, but, physically, I'm not By Bill Yerigon Emerson Boozer is not as quick or as durable as he used to be. He is a member of that very small group of over-30 running backs. However, next Sunday he figures to be the Jets' running game against the Giants. John Riggins is still very doubtful, and Mike Adamle came up with a severe hamstring pull in the loss to Houston.

That just about leaves it up to Boozer's old legs to get the Jets through. He Is one of the Jets old enough to remember what a game against the Giants used to mean. This time it's not even worth bragging rights. Beating the Jets or Giants is nothing to brag about. "My job is leading the fullback, getting short yardage, blocking for the quarterback.

If I do those jobs I'm satisfied. I've never been a heavy ball carrier. "We have personnel," he added, "but we're still having trouble with the "3-4" defenses. We're not being beaten physically, but those linebackers are shuffling and moving and if one guy makes a mistake we get beat. Those stunting linebackers are worse than a New York traffic jam." Part of the Jets' problems have been the coaches' unfamiliarity with the players, and part is attributed by Boozer to "a lack of cohesion." However, Namath's immobility also has to be a factor.

The blitzes are aiming at a motionless target. The old man has a lot of weight to an Eddie Bell, or a David Knight..