NFC WC Playoff: '75 Cards defeat '77 Boys 26-17

The regular season saw both teams split their head to head games, so this one looked to be a very close matchup. Add to it the 20+ year friendly rivalry between head coaches and we had the makings of a great one. Going into the game Dallas was worried about it's turnovers. While Tony Dorsett can be an exceptionally explosive back he also has trouble keeping a handle on the ball in crunch time. St. Louis had a huge concern over Dallas' vertical game, specifically the two Pearsons (Drew & Preston).

The hometown Cards struck first after both teams traded punts twice. Starting on their own 36 St. Louis got started when Jim Hart hit Mel Gray with a 33 yard play action strike, which was compounded by Dallas' Charlie Waters taking a personal foul penalty to tack on an additonal 15 yards. In one play the Cards moved 48 yards and had a 1st and 10 on Dallas' 18 yard line. Four plays later Hart hit all purpose back Terry Metcalf for a 5 yard TD strike to post a 7-0 lead.

Showing why he is the king of handling pressure Roger Staubach drove his team down the field to tie the score 4 minutes later. After hitting Dorsett and Drew Pearson for 17 and 23 yards strikes respectively Roger the Dodger surprised the Cards with a reverse call to Pearson who galloped 33 yards around end to paydirt to tie the game up.

Both teams again exchanged punts. The Cardinals started up on their own 19. Thinking run the Cowboys keyed on Metcalf and again Hart made them pay with a 36 yard strike to the often overlooked Ike Harris. On the next play he hit Gray for a 45 yard deep ball to put the Cards up 14-7. On the ensuing kickoff Butch Johnson fumbled the ball and Ken Reaves of STL recovered it on Dallas' 42. With a short field to work with Hart began moving his troops and going for the jugular. The two big plays in this drive were a 12 yard strike to Gray on a gutsy 4th and 2 call from Dallas' 34 and a huge 22 yard off tackle TD run by Metcalf.

With the score now 21-7 Dallas looked to be desperate. Looks can be deceiving. When you have a weapon like Tony Dorsett at your disposal you can score from anywhere, which is exactly what occurred. With the ball 1st and 10 on their own 28 Dallas ran a perfectly executed trap play that sprung TD for a TD. Just like that a 21-7 lead was now cut to 21-14 as Dorsett glided to a 72 yard romp into the endzone.

St. Louis looked ready to implode themselves as the normally sure handed Jim Otis ran 18 yards on a screen play only to cough off the ball on his own 45. The ensuing pile up saw Cowboy safely Cliff Harris come up with the pig skin. St. Louis was in big trouble.

Unfortunately for the Cowboys they were not able to capitalize on Otis' big blunder. Three successive plays netted a total of 3 yards and Danny White was forced to come on and punt. St. Louis escaped a situation that could have been disastrous.

Dallas had one final chance to score before the half was over. Staubach, the master of the 2 minute drill drove his team from his own 9 to the Cardinal 28 only to see an Efrem Herrera FG attempt blocked by Ron Yankowksi as time expired. Another golden opportunity wasted.

The second half opened with both teams trading punts and St. Louis content to play field position football. After a Jeff West 51 yard punt that pinned the Cowboys on their own 4 the turning point of the game occurred. Looking to trap the Cardinals in a run defense the Cowboys looked to go deep to a double covered Drew Pearson. Mark Arneson shed his block and blindsided Staubach in the end zone to record a two point safety. It was a minor miracle that Staubach even held on to the ball. This made the score 23-14 with half the time gone in the 3rd quarter.

Both teams were now in grind it out mode. St. Louis might have gone into a shell a bit too early, but it's also not prudent to air the ball out in a playoff game when you have a 9 point lead. Dallas finally put together a nice drive that culminated in a FG to cut the St. Louis lead to 6 with over 14 minutes left to play in the game. Dallas had 3 huge plays in this drive that started from their own 2 yard line. After 2 incomplete passes Staubach completed a 3rd and 10 pass for 15 yards to TE Billy Joe Dupree, who was facing single coverage. This gave Dallas some breathing room as well as keeping the drive alive. The other two big big plays were the 35 yard flare pass run by Robert Newhouse and the 45 yard long pass to Drew Pearson who wasn't double covered for the first time all afternoon. The key on that play however was the touchdown saving tackle by Roger Wehrli, who knocked Pearson out on the 1. This would prove huge as the Cardinals dug in to the poly turf and pushed Dallas back 3 yards to force the FG.

Next came Dallas' turn to pull a great defensive play. After Metcalf returned a Danny White punt 26 yards to the Cowboy 35 the Cardinals decided to go for it all and air one out to Gray to put the final nail in the coffin. Charlie Waters stepped in front of Hart's errant throw to pick off the ball and keep the Lone Star State's playoff hopes alive. Unfortunately the Cowboys were able to only get 1 first down and a 3 and out and were forced to punt again to Metcalf who called for a fair catch on his own 20.

With 8:28 left to go in the game the Cardinals needed to protect the ball and take time off the clock, which is exactly what they did. A ten play drive that lasted almost 6 minutes and encompassed 68 yards was just what the doctor ordered. With 2:46 left to play in the game Jim Bakken kicked a 29 yarder to bump the lead back to 9 (26-17).

Dallas now had their back up against the wall. A whole year's worth of struggling now came down to just under 3 minutes to play and a 9 point deficit. Starting on their own 33 the Cowboys had no hysterics left. 4 straight incomplete passes by Staubach fell harmlessly to the poly turf surface at Busch Memorial Stadium as the Cowboys turned the ball over on downs. Needing just one first down to put it away the Cardinals almost gave the Cowboys new life when Jim Otis fumbled for the second time this afternoon. Luckily for the Cards the "instigator" Conrad Dobler fell on it and the first down was recorded. Dallas was forced to burn it's time outs on ensuing safe runs by Metcalf and Jim Hart took 2 knees to end it. St. Louis moves on to play the Rams in the LA Coliseum next week and Dallas returns home to ponder a season that might have been.