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 1980s (sorted by year). Agree? Disagree? Leave your thoughts in the comment section.

September 28, 1980: St. Louis Cardinals 24, Philadelphia Eagles 14

O.J. Anderson rushed for 151 yards and scored two touchdowns as the Cards knocked off previously unbeaten Philadelphia 24-14 at Busch Stadium. Box Score.

It was the Cardinals first win of the season (1-3) and the first in new head coach Jim Hanifan’s career.

“He cried when Dan Dierdorf gave him the game ball,” said Roger Wehrli.

“I was not prepared for an 0-3 start,” said Hanifan. “As a head coach you say, ‘Dammit, there must be something I’m not doing right. There’s something I’ve overlooked.’”

“We’re happy we won, we’re happy for ourselves,” said Dierdorf. “More than that, though, we’re happy for Jim. It hasn’t been easy on him.”

“I’m not sure that any of us fully appreciated what he’s been through,” quarterback Jim Hart said.

The Cardinals had heard all week that the Eagles were the best team in the league. They had outscored their opponents 104-16 in the first three games and Ron Jaworski had thrown eight touchdown passes and only two interceptions.

But the Big Red defense picked off Jaworski three times, including a first quarter 70-yard pick-6 by cornerback Carl Allen which put the home team up 7-0.

“I think that (Allen’s interception) set the temp of the game,” defensive end Bob Pollard said. “Carl hadn’t been playing that much, and for him to come in and make the big play was a big lift.”

“Any time you play against a team that’s supposed to be the best, it brings out the best in you,” said defensive back Tim Collier, who had three tackles, and a fourth quarter end zone interception.

“We hit today,” said linebacker Eric Williams. “We had a total team effort. We stopped them and we put points on the board. Everything went right for us today.”

Meanwhile, Anderson broke Jim Otis’ club record by notching his ninth 100-yard rushing performance. His third quarter TD run gave the Cardinals a 17-7 lead and his fourth quarter 37-yard touchdown put the game away. The run came on a fourth and one and Anderson explained that he almost blew the play.

“Jim (Hart) audibled the play and I thought, ‘Oh no, I can’t remember whether it’s a pitch out or a handoff,’” Anderson admitted. But he made the adjustment by just sticking the ball in my gut. When I saw the linebacker had the angle on me, I cut. Then I saw the trailer, so I cut again. And that’s a win for us.”

“Maybe he didn’t pick it (the audible) up,” said a grinning Hart., “but it was a fantastic run. One of the best I’ve ever seen. He got away from two linebackers and ran through an arm tackle. Fantastic.”

“That TD was all Anderson, all him,” Eagles defensive end Claude Humphrey said.

“It’s sweet,” said Hanifan who was clutching his game ball. “The real big thing for all of this, by doing what we did today, it should give us the confidence to go on from here.”

“That’s Cardinal football,” said Big Red offensive lineman Tom Banks, “what you saw out there today.”

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September 20, 1981: St. Louis Cardinals 40, Washington Redskins 30

After missing most of the first two games of the season with a knee injury, Jim Hart returned and led the Big Red to their first win of the season in a 40-30 shootout over the Washington Redskins. Box Score.

Playing without Mel Gray and Pat Tilley, Hart threw for 226 yards and three touchdowns—one each to Roy Green, Dave Stief, and rookie tight end Greg LaFleur.

“The receivers did a very good job,” said the 37-year-old signal caller.

Making his first NFL start at wide receiver, Green caught a 58-yard TD from Hart and later grabbed a 35-yard pass that set up a Neil O’Donoghue field goal. To top it off, he also intercepted Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann on the last drive of the game becoming the first player to catch a touchdown and intercept a pass in a game since 1957.

“It’s going to be a sad day for me when Mel (Gray) comes back,” said Green, “because then they’ll only let me play defense.”

Head coach Jim Hanifan disagreed. “(Green) will continue to play offense. I don’t see any reason to get him out of there.”

The Cardinals also got a boost from another unexpected source when Stump Mitchell returned a second quarter punt 50 yards for a touchdown to give the Cardinals a 19-10 lead.

“I’m proud of this one,” said Mitchell, “because we won. I feel I can turn a game around and the reason I can do it is because I believe I can.”

Unfortunately, the Cardinals would lose in Washington a few weeks later by three touchdowns and finish the season with a 7-9 record.

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October 4, 1981: St. Louis Cardinals 20, Dallas Cowboys 17

Neil O’Donoghue’s 37-yard field goal with 21 seconds remaining gave the Cardinals their first win over Dallas since 1977. Box Score.

“I started following this rivalry a long time ago,” said rookie linebacker E.J. Junior. “It was back when they called the Cardinals Cardiacs. I was very aware that we hadn’t beaten them in a long time, but I knew that we could if we kept at it.”

Jim Hart threw for 199 yards and a touchdown—a spectacular one-handed catch by Roy Green. “It was one of the greatest catches I’ve ever seen in my life,” head coach Jim Hanifan said. “I don’t know how he did it. That Roy Green is something else.”

“Hart’s ability to cut us up like a surgeon the last two minutes is what turned the tide,” Cowboys safety Charlie Waters said. “He was confident. He’s cagey the way you expect a veteran quarterback to be.”

“I know you have to lose a game now and then,” Cowboys star running back Tony Dorsett said, “but I can’t believe we lost to St. Louis, because, in my opinion, the Cardinals just don’t belong on the same field with us.”

The Cardinals had lost so many close games to Dallas in the past—including a one-point loss at Busch Stadium in O.J. Anderson’s debut in 1979—that you couldn’t blame the players and fans for feeling a bit uneasy until Stafford Mays sacked Danny White with no time left on the clock.

“We’d beaten them before on the field,” Anderson said. “We’d beaten them everywhere but on the scoreboard. Somehow, some way, somewhere, though, they’d always manage to escape.”

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December 16, 1982: St. Louis Cardinals 24, New York Giants 21

Neil Lomax’s eight-yard touchdown pass to Roy Green with 27 seconds left in the game clinched the Cardinals first postseason appearance since 1975. Box Score.

“A miracle happened today,” said Lomax, who was booed as he took the field for the game-winning drive. “I sat back there and looked over the field. Then, there was Roy, wide open.”

“He dropped it right over the linebacker so I could keep my feet in-bounds,” Green said. “But if you think that was a perfect shot, you should have seen the one to (Willard) Harrell.”

Green was referring to a 36-yard completion down the middle that Lomax threw to the streaking Big Red utility back that gave the Big Red a first down at the New York eight-yard line with 34 seconds left to play.

“That catch meant an awful lot to me,” said Harrell. “This is the first time in eight years in the league that I’m going to the playoffs. I was in the right place at the right time.”

“We have receivers who won’t give up, an offensive line who won’t give up, and a young quarterback who won’t give up,” said Lomax. “We now have confidence that we can win in any situation.”

This was the last home game for Big Red cornerback Roger Werhli and the future Hall of Famer went out with a bang. The 14-year veteran gave the Cardinals a 7-0 first-quarter lead when he dashed to the endzone on an 18-yard fake field goal attempt.

“It took a lot of guts to call the play,” Wehrli said. “We had a pretty sure field goal there, but Coach (Hanifan) thought we needed some momentum going, and that got it going. It’s a great feeling to go out with your last time in the stadium. The fans have always been really good to me, and I was happy to be able to do something like that in St. Louis.”

Asked if the glory days of the past had returned to Busch Stadium, Hanifan said, “This is a completely different group of guys. But I’ll tell you this, these kids really do believe in one another and keep on fighting.”

“This is for the young guys,” said veteran offensive lineman Dan Dierdorf who was very much a part of the Cardiac Card days. “This is for the Joe Bostics and the Neil Lomaxes, and the O.J. Andersons. This is their team.”

The Cardinals could have earned home-field advantage in the playoffs with a victory the following week in Washington, but they fell 28-0 and then later fell to the Green Bay Packers in the first round of the postseason.

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November 13, 1983: St. Louis Cardinals 33, Seattle Seahawks 28

Neil Lomax completed 21-27 passes for 256 yards and four first-half touchdowns—all to Roy Green in the Cards 33-28 upset of a very good Seattle Seahawks team at Busch Stadium. Box Score.

“I’ve had better days, but never a better half,” Lomax said. “It reminded me of my college days, “throwing the ball, people being there and scoring a lot.”

“I’ve had days maybe where I had better numbers,” said Green who finished with six catches for 130 yards. “I think last year against Dallas I had something like 170 yards, but we lost the game. This would have to be my most memorable day so far because we won the game.”

Green’s biggest catch of the day may have been thrown by center Randy Clark, not Lomax. On fourth-and-one from the St. Louis 42 with 4:35 left to play, Green took the snap on a fake punt and burst off right tackle for six yards and a first down that effectively ended Seattle’s chances for a comeback.

“I’d say that play definitely was as important as the four touchdowns,” said Green. “It took some more time off the clock, and any time they move the chains, then it’s a big play.”

Seattle head coach Chuck Knox said he could see the fake coming from a mile away, but they couldn’t stop it. “Everybody in the stands knew it was coming,” Knox said. “We knew it was coming, our special teams coach was screaming from the sidelines to watch for the fake. We just didn’t stop it.”

“We felt like we had it,” Jim Hanifan said. “We felt it was a better shot than going for it with our fourth down short yardage personnel. If it hadn’t gone, though, then you guys would have been all over my butt,” Hanifan laughed.

The play did work though, and then Big Red defensive tackle iced the game by sacking Seattle quarterback Dave Krieg in the end zone for a safety with 11 seconds left for the final margin of victory.

Green and Seahawks wide receiver Steve Largent combined for seven touchdowns and 285 receiving yards in the contest.

The win was the Cardinals third in their last five games and gave them a 4-6-1 record.

“We feel like if we can win all the rest of our games and go 9-6-1 then we’ve got a good shot at making the playoffs,” said Green.

Unfortunately, the Big Red would lose one of those remaining games and miss the postseason with an 8-7-1 record.

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December 11, 1983: St. Louis Cardinals 34, Los Angeles Raiders 24

In one of their most impressive wins of the decade, the Cardinals stormed from behind to knock off the eventual Super Bowl Champion Los Angeles Raiders 34-24 at the L.A. Coliseum. Box Score.

“I don’t know how the other guys feel, but it made my season,” rookie Big Red cornerback Lionel Washington said. “Any time you can go out there and beat a team like the Raiders, it tells you something good about yourself and your team.”

“We proved today that we can play with anybody and beat a good team,” said quarterback Neil Lomax who completed 17-24 passes for 227 yards and two touchdowns. “I felt very good back there and very comfortable. I’m improving and working hard, and this is a team of the future. I feel like I’m at the best of my game.”

The Cardinals fell behind early in this game but came back from 17-0 and 24-7 deficits. They exploded on offense and dominated on defense, holding the Raiders to just 86 yards in the final 30 minutes.

The biggest play of the game came late in the first half. O.J. Anderson, who rushed for 119 yards, had just scored to cut the Raiders lead to 24-13. L.A. quarterback Jim Plunkett decided not to sit on the lead and dropped back to pass with 18 seconds left. Big Red defensive end Al “Bubba” Baker knocked the ball from Plunkett’s arm and Elois Grooms scooped it up and dashed 40 yards for another Cardinals touchdown. The Big Red went to the locker room trailing by only four points.

“That gave us a little bit of a lease on life,” said Grooms of his big play. “It gave our defense a big boost. And then our offense took over. We took the lead, and then began to dictate which way the game was going to go.”

The Cardinals came out in the second half and scored on their first drive—a Wayne Morris three-yard TD run. Then the defense went to work. They sacked Plunkett four times and picked off three passes, all in the second half.

“We finally got our stuff together,” Washington said, “and the defensive line helped us out with a good pass rush. They were in Plunkett the whole second half.”

“Maybe this is a  blessing in disguise,” said Raiders running back Marcus Allen. “I think, because of this loss, we’re going to be hungry now.” (Allen was right. The Raiders would not lose another game on their way to a Super Bowl championship).

Despite their impressive win, the Cardinals were eliminated from the playoffs earlier in the day when San Francisco and New Orleans both won their games.

“It’s a damn shame because that’s why we’re in this game,” said Hanifan. “But, hey, we have our own people and ourselves to fault for that. The encouraging thing was we came back in this ballgame and beat a fine football team.”

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October 7, 1984: St. Louis Cardinals 31, Dallas Cowboys 20

Neil Lomax threw for 354 yards and three touchdowns, Roy Green had his finest day as a pro with eight catches for 189 yards and O.J. Anderson rushed for 110 yards as the Cardinals beat Dallas for only the second time in twelve tries, 31-20. Box Score.

“We’ve worked so hard on combating the blitz and Dallas has been our nemesis as far as that’s concerned,” said Lomax who had his best regular season passing day. “They hurt us with all that the last two or three years when I was just a young quarterback. This time, I was hoping they would blitz. I was waiting for it. I feel I’m a little more mature now as a quarterback.”

The Cardinals held a 14-13 halftime lead and thoroughly outplayed Dallas in the second half. A Big Red defense that had struggled the previous three weeks turned in a solid performance. Cowboys quarterback Gary Hogeboom completed only 13 of 28 passes for 143 yards with two interceptions and was pulled for Danny White in the fourth quarter.

“We challenged our defensive players to show some courage, show confidence and take some shots,” said Big Red defensive coach Floyd Peters. “Right now, I’m proud as hell of the way they accepted that challenge.”

But it was the Cardinals offense that carried the day as they rolled up 477 yards total yards.

“I don’t want to seem cocky, but I think we can play better,” said Anderson. “Shoot, I’m so excited I can’t converse. You don’t beat Dallas every day, especially in their backyard.”

The Cards outscored the Cowboys 17-0 in the third quarter as Lomax hit Roy Green for two touchdowns. The first one came on a third-down situation against the Dallas blitz. Green caught a quick slant pass, broke a tackle, and dashed 70 yards for the touchdown.

The next one came on a Lomax audible as Green outran Everson Walls down the sideline and hauled in a 45-yard bomb to give the Cardinals a 31-13 lead.

“One thing I seem to have is a little extra speed when I need it,” said Green. “When I’m side-by-side with a guy, in reality, he’s beaten. Neil just threw it up there and I went after it.”

“The thing that troubled me was that we didn’t respect the Cardinals enough,” Dallas head coach Tom Landry said. “They came in with a 203 record and I think our players took them lightly. The Cardinals were ready to play. You could see that on that first drive when they knocked us around pretty good.”

“This is the biggest win ever for me,” offensive tackle Luis Sharpe said. “I’m really proud, especially of the guys on defense. If we had lost this game, team morale would have been shot… This was a great team effort.”

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October 14, 1984: St. Louis Cardinals 38, Chicago Bears 21

Neil Lomax passed for 271 yards and a touchdown and rushed for another as the Cardinals beat the Chicago Bears 38-21 at Busch Stadium. Box Score.

Lomax’s 9-yard fourth quarter TD run gave the Cards a 10-point cushion and the exuberant Big Red signal caller immediately got up and slammed the ball to the turf.

“I had to be emotional,” Lomax said with a smile. “Roy Green had been getting all the glory. I told him if I got a chance to score, I was going to spike the ball. He told me it looked like a white man’s spike.”

“It was ugly, wasn’t it?” said Green with a grin. “Most guys spike it straight down. Neil’s went out about eight yards and just slithered along the ground.”

Green caught six passes for 166 yards and O.J. Anderson scored two touchdowns in the victory.

“The Bears’ defense is as good as its reputation and more,” said Anderson, who gained 82 yards on 19 carries. “Chicago has one of the most physical defenses I’ve played against. I am worn out.”

After a big performance against Dallas the previous week, the Big Red defense delivered a knockout performance in the fourth quarter of this one. Leading by three points, with six minutes remaining, Niko Noga and Bob Harris crushed Bears punter Dave Finzer after he dropped a fourth down long snap. The ball was recovered by Clyde Duncan (yes, Clyde Duncan) on the Bears’ 10, and three plays later Lomax ran it in.

“As soon as I saw him drop the snap, I put on my engine and was gone,” the rookie Noga said. “Nobody hit me clear through.”

“That’s the best hit I’ve had in the National Football League,” Harris said.

On their next possession, Bears QB Jim McMahon threw a fourth down pass into the ground as he was pressured by Curtis Greer and Stafford Mays. A couple of minutes later, Willard Harrell iced the game with a one-yard TD run.

“Let’s give credit where credit is due,” said Lomax. “The defense earned a couple of those touchdowns with the blocked punt and stopping them on fourth down. Those are what we call easy sixes.”

“I don’t think we’ve played against a team with that many skill people at that many positions,” said Bears linebacker Al Harris. “I’ll tell you what—Lomax does as good a job as anybody I’ve seen dumping the ball off.”

The win improved the Cardinals record to 4-3 and after seven weeks of the 1984 season and Lomax and company had the number one offense in the NFC.

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October 21, 1984: St. Louis Cardinals 26, Washington Redskins 24

Neil Lomax threw for 361 yards and three touchdowns including two long ones to Roy Green as the Cards took over first place in the NFC East with a 26-24 win over Washington at Busch Stadium. Box Score.

“It’s a hell of a win,” said coach Jim Hanifan. “It’s quite an accomplishment for our team to display the type of character we saw out there today. The Redskins are a respected and admired team. We were down 21-10 at one point, and a lot of teams would have folded against this ball club. . . .  This is perhaps the biggest win since I have been here.”

The victory over a Redskins team that had played in the last two Super Bowls put the Cardinals at 5-3, their best midseason record since 1977.

“It’s a great feeling to win this game and prove we have a good team,” said Pat Tilley who caught two passes for 46 yards, including a 21-yarder that set up the game-winning field goal. “I’ll be honest. I’ve seen us win a couple of games and then fold in the years I’ve been here. I think we proved to everyone, certainly to me, that we have a good football team.”

The Big Red thoroughly outplayed Washington, and if not for a penalty that nullified a 50-yard Stump Mitchell punt return TD, a sure-TD pass to Pat Tilley that was overthrown, and the misadventures of Neil O’Donoghue, the scoreboard would have looked much different.

O’Donoghue missed a first-half 34-yard field goal attempt, an extra point that left the Big Red behind 24-23 in the fourth quarter, and a 40-yard attempt that would have given his team the lead with less than three minutes left to play before getting yet another chance to win the game with 5 seconds remaining.

“I felt my job was on the line on that last one,” said O’Donoghue. “I just knew I would get another chance after missing that last one. It would have been a tragedy to lose that game.”

Green caught six passes for 163 yards in the game. He scored the Big Red’s first touchdown, a 38-yarder from Lomax to give the Cardinals an early 7-0 lead. In the fourth quarter, Lomax and Green connected for an 83-yard bomb that should have tied the contest at 24.

“This is a different football team this year,” said Lomax. “When we need to score, we score.”

“I’ve got this thing with Neil,” Green said with a smile. “I tell him to decide where he thinks the ball should be thrown, then throw it a little farther.”

The Cardinals’ defense turned in their best performance of the season, holding the Redskins to 296 yards of offense and holding John Riggins to 98 yards on 31 carries. They also sacked Joe Theismann four times

“You’ve just witnessed our finest day as a defensive team,” said assistant head coach Floyd Peters. “They fought their butts off in the fourth quarter. We threw a lot of stuff at them, like a five-man line and some blitzes that we had to do to stop that big diesel truck (Riggins).”

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December 9, 1984: St. Louis Cardinals 31, New York Giants 21

In the biggest game of the 1984 season, Neil Lomax threw for 305 yards and three touchdowns and O.J. Anderson scored the go-ahead TD in the fourth quarter as the Cardinals defeated a good Giants team 31-21 in a hard-hitting game at Busch Stadium. Box Score. The win gave the Cardinals a 9-6 record, the same as the Giants, and set up a season finale showdown for the NFC East title the following week in Washington.

“We weren’t going to be denied today,” said Big Red running back Stump Mitchell whose 44-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter put the Cards ahead 14-7, “and we’re going up to Washington next week with the same attitude.”

The game was a stark contrast to the first meeting between the two teams a few weeks earlier in New York when the Big Red offense appeared helpless in a 16-10 loss.

“The approach was different and the attitude was different this time,” offensive coordinator Rod Dowhower said. “We wanted to involve all of our offensive people. We needed to get all of our weapons into the game. We didn’t want to sit back and wait for something to happen, we wanted to make something happen ourselves.”

The Cardinals offense rolled up 405 yards of total offense and Lomax completed passes to eight different receivers. Anderson rushed for 91 yards and caught 5 passes for 44 more. On his fourth quarter touchdown run, he outran Lawrence Taylore to the corner on the play.

“The Giants played it so aggressive today,” said Anderson. It was our job to play well and put the ball in the endzone and we succeeded.”

Mitchell turned in a brilliant all-around performance, figuring prominently in three of the Cardinals four touchdowns. He completed a 20-yard halfback option pass to Earl Ferrell that set up Lomax’s second quarter TD pass to Pat Tilley to tie the score at seven. On his 44-yard touchdown catch, he broke several tackles en route to the end zone.

“I was determined to get into the end zone,” said Mitchell. “I’m trying to make up for a couple of mistakes I’ve made lately. I knew I had to get into the end zone.”

Mitchell also returned a kickoff 56 yards to set up a 35-yard Lomax to Green touchdown which gave the Cardinals a 21-14 lead. According to Lomax, the fourth down play was originally designed to go to Mitchell, but he saw Green with a one-on-one match-up on the outside.

“There’s no way I’m going to pass that up,” Lomax said. “Teams have been taking Roy away so much lately. He just ran right by the guy and went to the post.”

“It was a perfect read by both our coaches and Roy and Neil,” head coach Jim Hanifan said.

The Big Red defense sacked Giants quarterback Phil Simms four times and linebacker Thomas Howard picked off two of the signal caller’s passes, one of which set up the Lomax to Mitchell touchdown. The Giants ran the ball effectively in the second half and the score was tied at 21 heading to the fourth quarter.

“You’ve got to give the Giants credit. They’re a pretty good team,” said assistant head coach Floyd Peters.

The physical, hard-hitting contest left some Giants players complaining about the play of the Big Red offensive line.

“That . . . 67, he’s not a nice person, he’s a  . . . ,” New York defensive end Casey Merrill said of Cardinals left tackle Luis Sharpe. “But you expect dirty play when you play St. Louis.”

“If he feels that way, good,” Sharpe said. “I won’t say anything bad about him. I’ll see him next year. Those guys are so spoiled. If they can’t get their sacks they’ve got to complain about cheap shots. We played well and gave Neil (Lomax) a lot of time to throw. We just think we played good aggressive football.”

The Cardinals lost to the Washington Redskins the following week and missed the playoffs.

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The 10 Greatest Big Red Games From the 1960s

The 10 Greatest Big Red Games From the 1970s

The Top 100 Cardinals Players of All-Time