PRO FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : Packer Coach Remains in Intensive Care

Gil Haskell showed improvement Monday, a day after the Green Bay Packer assistant coach fractured his skull when slammed to the ground during a sideline accident in Dallas.

John Gray, associate team physician, said doctors anticipate a good recovery. Haskell’s condition, reported as serious, has shown “very encouraging progress.”

“His neurological function and mental status both have improved, along with his level of responsiveness,” Gray said in a statement released by the Packers. “He is currently alert but still disoriented, as might be expected.”

Haskell, 52, the wide receivers coach, was injured late in the second quarter of the NFC championship game Sunday at Texas Stadium.

Dallas Cowboy safety Darren Woodson knocked flanker Robert Brooks out of bounds and into Gray, his head striking the artificial surface.

Haskell remained at Baylor Medical Center. The Packers said he may stay in the neurological intensive care unit under continuous observation the rest of the week.

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Four busloads of Cleveland Brown fans left for Atlanta, where they will try to persuade NFL owners to block the team’s move to Baltimore.

The buses, paid for with corporate contributions to Save Our Browns, carried more than 150 fans. Mayor Michael R. White and Ohio Gov. George Voinovich, a former Cleveland mayor, will make the city’s case to NFL owners on Wednesday.

Before that meeting, White plans a series of public appearances in Atlanta to highlight the effort to block plans by Browns’ owner Art Modell to move the club, founded in Cleveland in 1946.

Opponents of the move plan a vigil Tuesday night outside the hotel where many of the owners will be staying.

One of the NFL owners, Dan Rooney of the Super Bowl-bound Pittsburgh Steelers, said Brown fans had overdone it with a barrage of phone calls and faxes to club owners.

“They’re hurting their cause,” he said Sunday.