New York Post, Saturday, November 14, 2020nypost.comBORN TO RUN: Paul
Hornung, rushing the ball
during a Packers
scrimmage in 1959, was
moved from quarterback
to running back by new
coach Vince Lombardi.
Hornung’s versatility
helped the Packers
embark on an era of
dominance in the 1960s.
APUndrafted Mack
making his mark
By Peter BotteThis hardly was a big-screen
case of “Austin Mack, no matter
what,” on draft day.
The undrafted wide receiver
out of Ohio State fought his way
onto the Giants practice squad
and then kept working to be
added to the active roster in
Week 6. He made his first true
impact as an NFL player in
last Sunday’s win against
Washington, contrib-
uting a 50-yard recep-
tion and a would-be
touchdown that was
overturned by replay
review.
Mack’s role for
Sunday’s game
against Philadelphia
still remains uncer-
tain, probably hing-
ing somewhat on
Golden Tate’s availa-
bility while working his way
back from team discipline and a
knee injury suffered Thursday in
practice.
“It’s been a grind. I’ve been re-
ally focused in knowing that it
wasn’t going to be easy,” said
Mack, who finished with four re-
ceptions for 72 yards in the Gi-
ants’ 23-20 win over Washington.
“At the end of the day, [my mind-
set] was just come in and work
hard, put my head down, and
just wait for an opportunity.
“Whenever there was an op-
portunity, just try and maximize
it and just keep competing each
and every day.”
The Giants already have en-
joyed immense success with oneundrafted free agent wide re-
ceiver, Victor Cruz, and they ob-
viously would be elated if Mack
can come anywhere close to
having that sort of impact.
Giants coach Joe Judge de-
scribed Mack earlier this week
as “definitely a scrappy dude”
and someone who “makes plays
and does things” on the field,
whether it be blocking or mak-
ing tough receptions. Wide re-
ceivers coach Tyke Tol-
bert added that Mack
also has impressed
the coaching staff
with his willingness
to serve as “an enfor-
cer” both in the run-
ning game and on
special teams.
“He just keeps
showing up,” Judge
said. “He’s a guy that
may not flash all the
time but does some-
thing that just jumps out at you.
He just keeps making play after
play and he shows up on a regu-
lar basis.”
Not bad for a player who
clocked just a 4.59-second 40-
yard time before the draft. He
didn’t get selected after totaling
just 79 receptions for 1,050 yards
in four seasons at Ohio State,
playing at times behind future
NFL receivers Terry McLaurin,
Curtis Samuel, Parris Campbell
and others.
“This guy has earned every-
thing he’s gotten so far,” Judge
said. “He keeps coming to work
every day and giving us reasons
to put him on the field.”
football heroes in New York’s [email protected]
football history were Frank Gif-
ford and Joe Namath. Hornung
was Gifford cross-pollinated with
Namath.
When Lombardi went to Green
Bay, he took one look at Hornung
on film, playing quarterback for a
hapless 1-10-1 team, and an-
nounced: “He’s no quarterback!
He’s my new Gifford!” Back home
in Louisville, Hornung was mak-
ing a killing in real estate and not
much enjoying losing in Green
Bay. Lombardi called him with his
new plan.
“I can do that,” he said, and to-
gether they did, together Horning
and Jim Taylor brought Lom-
bardi’s power sweep to life, to dev-
astating effect. Like Gifford, Hor-
nung was gifted enough to do just
about anything on a football field:
throw, catch, run, kick.
Like Namath, he was gifted off
the field, too, the Golden Boy
writing a template that Broadway
Joe would follow a few years later.
Dick Schaap, writing an article on
Hornung , spent seven days
chronicling a typical Hornung
week: “Sixty drinks, a couple hun-
dred cigarettes, companionship
every night (without ever dou-
bling up) and then a win on Sun-
d ay.”
Hornung himself — happily
married the last 41 years to Angela
— famously quipped not long
after his first marriage, in 1968:
“Never get married in the morn-
ing. You never know who you
might meet that night.”
Still, the defining relationship of
his life was with the Old Man,
with Lombardi, who often admit-
ted he envied the way Hornung
could embrace the good life, in a
way he never did — or could. It
was Lombardi who, as the Packers
cruised toward their first NFL title
in 1961, reached out to a football
fan named John F. Kennedy about
allowing Army reservist Hornung
a furlough to play in the champi-
onship game against the Giants.
“Paul Hornung isn’t going to win
the war on Sunday,” Kennedy said.“But the football fans of this coun-
try deserve the two best teams on
the field that day.”
Hornung ran for 89 yards that
day, caught three passes for 47
yards, kicked four PATs. The Pack-
ers won, 37-0.
Two years later, when Hornung
was suspended for gambling on
football games — copping to the
charge, refusing to name other
names — it was the Old Man, the
surrogate father, who reproached
him but also said: “You stay at the
foot of the cross,” and welcomed
him back a year later. When Lom-
bardi died, 50 years ago, Hornung
admitted a lot of his fire for foot-
ball was extinguished.
But there was so much more to
his life, this full, amazing life, all
the way to Friday, even as the
Golden Boy reached his golden
years.
“Nobody in this life,” he said in
the press box that day in 2008,
“has more to be grateful for than
me.”
[email protected]Freeman out at least 3 weeks
By Peter BotteDevonta Freeman will miss at
least the next three weeks, giv-
ing Alfred Morris a full-time ros-
ter spot with the Giants and a
continued share of the rushing
duties with Wayne Gallman en-
tering Sunday’s game against
Philadelphia.
Freeman, who has missed the
past two games with an ankle is-
sue, has been placed on injured
reserve after he also suffered a
hamstring injury this week.
The Giants signed Morris, who
has rushed 17 times for 95 yards
the past two weeks, to replace
Freeman. Morris already had been
called up from the practice squad
twice (the maximum allowable
times), so he would have been ex-
posed to waivers unless he was
signed fully to the 53-man roster.➤A new injury to watch is cor-
nerback Isaac Yiadom, who has
been listed as questionable with
a calf injury. The Giants already
are without Ryan Lewis (ham-
string), and they lost Corey Bal-
lentine via waivers this week to
the Jets. Yiadom played every
defensive snap in Sunday’s win
over Washington. Defensive
back Montre Hartage also was
signed off the practice squad.➤Starting left guard Will Her-
nandez (Reserve/COVID-19) is
expected to return after missing
two games.
“He had a good practice
[Thursday], and we’re looking
forward to him playing this
week,” coach Joe Judge said.GIANTS NOTES
AUsTiN MAck