With NFL training camp upon us, let’s look at some of the greatest games in Big Red history. Below are my top 10 games from the 1970s. Agree? Disagree? Leave your thoughts in the comment section.

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November 16,1970: St. Louis Cardinals 38, Dallas Cowboys 0

Perhaps one of the greatest Big Red performances of all time occurred on a Monday at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. Keith Jackson, Don Meredith and Howard Cosell were in town for Monday Night Football and the Cardinals put on a dominating performance with a 38-0 win over the Cowboys. Box Score.

Johnny Roland scored three touchdowns and Roger Wehrli picked off two passes and batted down five others in the victory.

“It was one of the first big games I had as a Cardinal,” said Wehrli, who still has a VHS tape of the contest. “At the end of the game, Meredith is just kind of blabbering all over himself and doesn’t know what to say,” Wehrli said. “Howard Cosell says, ‘Johnny Roland and Roger WEHR-li. From Miss-OURI. The Dallas Cowboys might need to go to Missouri to find some players.’ ”

It was the third consecutive shutout for St. Louis as they improved to 7-2, but they would only win one of their last five games and miss the playoffs. Meanwhile, Dallas went on to play in Super Bowl V, but lost 16-13 to the Baltimore Colts.

Shortly after the season ended, the Bidwill brothers fired head coach Charley Winner.

“Quite a disappointing year,” said Wehrli. “Everything just kind of fell apart for us.”

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September 23, 1973: St. Louis Cardinals 34, Washington Redskins 27

Donnie Anderson scored three touchdowns and Don Shy returned a fourth-quarter kickoff 97 yards for a TD to give the Cards and new head coach Don Coryell a 34-27 home opening win over the defending NFC Champion Washington Redskins. Box Score.

“You know what today showed me?” said defensive tackle Bob Rowe. “It showed me that we have confidence in ourselves, a confidence that coach Coryell built. He has made us respect one another. And today showed a lot of other teams something. It showed them not to take us lightly. No one’s going to pass us over anymore.”

“This year is no comparison with last year,” said free safety Norm Thompson. “Just the general attitude of the coaches and the outlook of the players is different. We’re loose now.”

The win was the Cards first over Washington in five tries and their first home-opening win since 1970. Although the team finished with a 4-9-1 record for the third consecutive season, there was an air of confidence heading into the offseason that hadn’t existed in years past. The Cardiac Cards era would soon be upon us.

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September 22, 1974: St. Louis Cardinals 17, Washington Redskins 10

The Cardinals used two big plays to upset Washington 17-10. Box Score. It was the team’s first victory at RFK Stadium since 1967 and improved the team’s record to 2-0.

Ron Yankowski’s first-quarter 71-yard fumble return changed the momentum of the game and gave the Big Red a 7-3 lead. “I saw the ball flopping around on the grass,” Yankowski said, “and I thought to myself, ‘Better fall on it.’ But then I saw a white jersey out of the corner of my eye so I picked up the ball and started running and hoped to get a block. I thought someone would catch me, but when I looked back I saw nothing but white jerseys, and when I got to the end zone I looked back for a flag.”

A few minutes later, Terry Metcalf took a quick pitch from Jim Hart, got excellent blocks, and raced 75 yards to give the Cards a 14-3 lead. “Jackie (Smith) came down on the defensive end,” said Metcalf, “and Mel (Gray) threw. a nice block on the corner. Big Ern (Ernie McMillan) took out the strong safety—it was picture perfect, just like you’d see it on the blackboard.”

The Big Red defense, maligned and mistreated in seasons past, saved the game for the second week in a row. The prior week, they stopped the Roman Gabriel and the Eagles on four downs from the 9-yard line and this week, safety Jim Tolbert intercepted a fourth down Billy Kilmer pass in the end zone to ice it. “My responsibility was where I was,” said Tolbert. “I just watched Kilmer and he threw it right to me.”

“We’re playing well on defense,” said defensive coordinator Ray Willsey, “but you can’t discount the fact that we’ve been pretty fortunate. If they hadn’t dropped those passes, we would have been the ones with the long faces.”

“You know,” Bob Rowe said, “this is the first time I’ve gone home from Washington with a smile. on my face.”

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October 13, 1974: St. Louis Cardinals 31, Dallas Cowboys 28

In a game filled with big plays, the undefeated Cardinals proved they were no fluke by beating Dallas for the first time since 1970. Box Score. Western Illinois alum Dennis Morgan started the scoring by returning a first-quarter Hal Roberts punt 98 yards for a touchdown.

But a trick play put the Cardinals on the board early in the second quarter when Mel Gray limped off the field with an apparent ankle injury. His replacement, a relatively unknown receiver named Gary Hammond, entered the game, took a lateral pass from Jim Hart, and threw a pass downfield to Jackie Smith for an 81 yard gain. Two plays later Donnie Anderson ran it in from the two to tie the score at 7-7.

“I never even practiced the limp,” Gray said after the game.

Hammond saw Smith flying down the sideline all alone. “He was so open I was worried,” the former SMU quarterback said.

Gray returned to the game a few minutes later and didn’t look like a man in great pain when he streaked down the right sideline and hauled in a Jim Hart pass for an 80 yard touchdown to put the Cards up 14-7. “I don’t think anyone can cover me man to man,” Gray said.

Late in the first half, with the score tied at 14, Jackie Smith turned in a play that Don Coryell called a “superhuman effort.” Smith caught a Hart pass over the middle and broke several tackles before diving into the endzone to give the Cardinals a 21-14 halftime lead. Describing the play after the game, Smith said, “I remember the catch and I remember diving over. Nothing else. It seems that some people did hit me, but I couldn’t tell you who.”

Dallas tied the score at 28 with only 2 minutes left in the game, but made a fatal mistake by kicking off to Terry Metcalf who raced upfield for 56 yards to the Dallas 34-yard line. A few plays later, Jim Bakken kicked a 31-yard field goal for the victory.

“I knew it was going to come down to that,” said Bakken. “As soon as I kicked it I felt it would be good.”

“They’ve got great momentum,” Cowboys coach Tom Landry said, “and this game is pretty much momentum. They’re playing like we did in 1966. They’re playing scared. They think it’s too good to be true. I like to see a team come from where they did and get rewarded for it.”

“They’re the team to beat,” Staubach said.

Check out a detailed account of this game at the Big Red Zone.

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December 7, 1975: St. Louis Cardinals 31, Dallas Cowboys 17

Just ten days after being embarrassed by Buffalo on Thanksgiving Day, the Big Red turned in their best performance of the season in beating Dallas 31-17 in front of a sell-out crowd at Busch Stadium. Box Score.

“When you screw up as often as we did against the Bills, you just know that things are going to go your way the next week,” Tom Banks said. “Sometimes you have to get mistakes out of your system.”

Terry Metcalf was the star of the Cards first possession as he accounted for all 65 yards, including the finishing touch—a 30-yard touchdown on a Jim Hart floater that somehow got past three Cowboy defenders.

“The ball went through their arms and I was lucky enough to grab it,” said Metcalf. “I had thought I had a lot of room, but the ball hung up there and then the corner and the safety and someone else got closer and closer. The ball just found me.”

Later in the first quarter Hart connected with Mel Gray for a 49-yard touchdown and a 14-3 lead. “It was just a straight go (fly pattern),” Gray said. “The backs shifted their coverage and I wound up man to man.”

The Big Red would add to their lead with two more touchdowns in the second quarter—a Steve Jones TD run, and a 6-yard Mel Gray touchdown reception—to go up 28-3 at halftime. “We wanted to go out there and score as many points as possible,” head coach Don Coryell said. “We started the game wide open and we stayed with it.”

Dallas cut the lead to two touchdowns in the fourth quarter but Roger Wehrli picked off two Roger Staubach passes deep in Cardinal territory to preserve the victory.

“This was a must-game,” said the former Mizzou star. “We were looking forward to this after the game in Dallas (a 37-31 overtime loss in September). Everyone did well against the pass.”

The win gave the Cardinals sole possession of first place in the NFC East and clinched a playoff berth.

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November 14, 1976: St. Louis Cardinals 30, Los Angeles Rams 28

Of all the Cardiac Cards come from behind victories in the Coryell era, this may have been the most impressive. “Sometimes, I think we amaze even ourselves,” Big Red tackle Dan Dierdorf said after the Cardinals erased a 15-point second-half deficit and beat. a good Rams team 30-28 at the L.A. Coliseum. Box Score.

The Cards scored on every second-half possession and limited the Rams to just 83 yards of offense. And everyone contributed to the victory.

• After a poor start, Jim Hart completed 13-16 passes for 229 yards in the second half including a 25-yard fourth-quarter TD pass to J.V. Cain to cut the Rams lead to 28-27. Hart also ran the two-minute offense to perfection to set up Jim Bakken’s game-winning field goal with 4 seconds left. “He was just unbelievable, completely unbelievable,” head coach Don Coryell said about Hart. “I’ve never seen him better.”
• A gimpy Terry Metcalf scored two touchdowns and returned a punt 29 yards to set up Bakken’s game-winner. “I’m satisfied that we won, but I wanted to run up and down this field. I couldn’t.”
• Pat Tilley, filling in for an injured Mel Gray, caught six passes for 120 yards including a diving 45-yard catch down the right sideline. “If Mel had been running that pattern it would have been a touchdown,” Tilley joked.
• Ike Harris caught eight passes for 130 yards including several key receptions that set up Metcalf’s first TD. “I really believe that we’ve got receivers who can catch the ball with anybody in this league,” said Harris.
• With less than two minutes left in the game, defensive end Bob Bell may have come up with the biggest play when he sacked Rams quarterback Pat Haden on third and 10 which forced a punt and allowed the Cardinals to go on their game-winning drive.
• Conrad Dobler completely dominated Rams defensive tackle Merlin Olsen to the point that the future Hall of Famer removed himself from the game late in the second half. “I managed to get him mad. What more could I ask?” said Dobler.
• And Jim Bakken, who missed three kicks the week before against the Eagles, connected on three extra points and three field goals including the game-winner. “If you can control your emotions in that situation,” said Bakken, “you can make them work for you. Your adrenaline is pumping, you’re standing there like a bridesmaid. you know you’re going to get your chance.

The win improved the Cardinals record to 8-2 and dropped the Rams to 6-3-1.

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December 4, 1976: St. Louis Cardinals 24, Baltimore Colts 17

After back-to-back losses to Washington and Dallas, the Big Red were clinging to their playoff lives with the NFL’s highest scoring team, the ten-win Colts, coming to town. The Coryell teams had struggled against quality AFC opponents in the past, but this time they got unexpected production from several players in a solid 24-17 victory. Box Score.

• Eddie Moss, who was working as a civilian the week before, recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff to set up a Jim Hart to J.V. Cain touchdown. “Football had been in the back of my mind,” said the Poplar Bluff, MO legend. “Then when I came back to the team this week, I had a dream. I dreamed that I scored a touchdown against the Baltimore Colts and we won. I only recovered a fumble though. Guess I’ll have to settle for that,” he chuckled.
• Tim Kearney, who had been dumped by three NFL teams before signing with the Cardinals for their fourth game, recovered a first-half fumble and rambled 16 yards to set up the second touchdown—a 41-yard Hart to Metcalf pass. “This is one of the happiest days of my life,” said Kearney.
• Jackie Smith, who had been dealing with a foot injury the entire season, returned a botched kickoff 35 yards to the Big Red 47 which eventually led to a Steve Jones touchdown and a 21-10 halftime lead. “When I turned the corner, I thought I might just go all the way,” said the 14-year veteran who had lost his starting job to J.V. Cain. “That would have been one of the biggest thrills of my career.”
• Clinging to a 21-17 fourth-quarter lead and the Colts driving, defensive tackle John Zook forced a Bert Jones fumble that rolled 22 yards downfield, was picked up by Charlie Davis and returned to the Colts 35-yard line. Jim Bakken kicked a 22-yard field a few plays later to give the Cards a 7-point cushion with 2:34 left in the game.
• However, the Colts weren’t done yet. Jones drove the offense to the Cardinal 29-yard line before cornerback Ken Reaves picked off a pass at the 10-yard line with just 1:24 left in the game. The Colts were beaten.

“We did the job when we had to have it done,” Don Coryell said. “Why not go down to the wire close? Maybe that’s how it’s meant to be. But believe me, it isn’t designed that way.”

The Big Red would beat the Giants the following week but fail to make the playoffs despite finishing with a 10-4 record.

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November 6, 1977: St. Louis Cardinals 27, Minnesota Vikings 7

The Cardinals rolled up 316 yards rushing and won their fourth game in a row in a dominating 27-7 win over a good Vikings team in Minneapolis. Box Score.

Wayne Morris rushed for 182 yards with 2 touchdowns and Terry Metcalf scored 2 TDs and combined for 130 yards in the victory.

“The entire offensive line got game balls,” said head coach Don Coryell. “This had to be one of the best games we’ve ever played as a team.”

“After the first offensive series, we knew we could run our game plan and we knew we could win with it,” said Conrad Dobler. “No matter what we did, it was going well.”

“We were running all day long, man,” Metcalf said. “Seemed like everything we did was right. I guess confidence has something to do with it. That’s the difference between this team and the one that lost up here in the playoffs (1974).

The Big Red defense also got in on the action limiting Minnesota to just 237 yards of offense, and picking off Fran Tarkenton three times—one each by Roger Wehrli, Lee Nelson, and Mike Sensibaugh.

“I think they took us lightly,” strong safety Ken Reaves said. “Then, by the time they realized they shouldn’t take us lightly, it was too late.”

The Big Red would win their next two games, but lose their last four to finish with a 7-7 record. The Coryell era would become history.

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November 14, 1977: St. Louis Cardinals 24, Dallas Cowboys 17

The Cardiac Cards erased a 14-3 second-half deficit and won their fifth game in a row by beating undefeated Dallas 24-17 on Monday Night Football. It was their first victory ever at Texas Stadium. Box Score.

After a poorly played first half, the Big Red offense began to take flight in the third quarter.

• Wayne Morris scored on a one-yard TD run to cut the lead to 14-10. The key play was a 43-yard pass interference penalty against the Cowboys that moved the ball from the Big Red 5-yard line to midfield.
• One of the biggest plays came with about nine minutes remaining in the game when the Big Red goal-line defense forced Dallas to settle for a field goal. Instead of an 11-point lead, the Cowboys had to settle for a seven-point lead, 17-10.
• Just over a minute after Efren Herrera’s field goal, Jim Hart hit Mel Gray with a 49-yard touchdown pass and the game was tied. Before the game, the gimpy Gray wasn’t even sure he would play at all. “He (Coryell) was thinking about keeping me out the first half and using me in the second,” Gray said. “We talked about it and I said I’d like to play the first and see if I could keep going.” He did, and the game was tied 17-17 with 7:44 remaining.
• On the next Dallas series, Roger Staubach was sacked twice by Ron Yankowski which led to a Cowboys punt. “I was planning on probably being a backup this season,” Yankowski said after the game. “Funny how things work out.”
• After Pat Tilley returned the punt to the Dallas 37-yard line, Jim Otis ran for a couple of first downs, Terry Metcalf took a draw play to the Cowboy 3-yard line, then Hart hit Jackie Smith for a touchdown with only 3:10 left for a 24-17 lead.
• The Cowboys weren’t done. Staubach went to work on rookie cornerback Carl Allen who was just inserted into his first game because of starter Lee Nelson’s ejection. But Allen responded by first breaking up a pass for Drew Pearson and then, with 1:57 left in the game, intercepting a pass that had been tipped by linebacker Eric Williams. Game over.

Terry Metcalf was seen in the Big Red locker room after the game wearing a bright red shirt that read, “Cowboys Eat Bird Shit.” Coryell looked at the running back, laughed, and said, “Hey we’ve got to play them again (in the playoffs—perhaps). Don’t get ’em too mad.”

Then Coryell laughed some more and said “Oh what the heck. Let ’em get mad.”

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There could easily have been another five or six games added to this list. Honorable Mention goes to the division-clinching 1974 win over the Giants, the 1975 “Phantom Catch” win over the Redskins, the 1976 home wins over San Francisco and Dallas, and the 1978 season finale win over Atlanta.