Oct. 19, 1964 - What the football Cardinals lack in smooth functioning or consistency, they seem bound and determined to make up in individual effort — with pros like Joe Childress (pictured #35), Bobby Joe Conrad, Pat Fischer, and Mal Hammack setting the example.
That’s how they scratched a 38-24 victory from the jaws of what would have been a distasteful tie with the Washington Redskins at Busch Stadium yesterday afternoon.
The winning points went on the scoreboard with only 27 seconds left. Conrad scored on Charley Johnson’s third touchdown pass of the game, and Fischer intercepted a Sonny Jurgensen pass and returned 39 yards to score.
In a game that saw the Cardinals spot the Redskins 14 quick points and found both sides barren of even a successful third-down play in the third quarter, the Big Red came out of their difficulties smelling like a rose.
They remained tied with Cleveland for the Eastern Division lead. Each had a 4-1-1 record after the Browns managed to win by 20-16 over the Dallas Cowboys, the team the Cardinals must try to beat again at Busch Stadium next Sunday.
Quarterback Johnson, whose three TD passes gave him nine for the season and 53 for his career, broke another of Paul Christman’s career marks. Paul had 51 over five seasons.
But Charley would just as soon not have another game like the one yesterday. “I don’t want any more of this — three interceptions and a fumble,” Johnson said, recalling misplays that gave the Redskins the ball for their first two touchdowns and their tying field goal in the fourth quarter.
The 21,794 fans in Busch Stadium and the 1,954 who watched on closed circuit television at the Washington University field house would agree with Charley on that. But when the final showdown came, Johnson got help from those battle-tested veterans.
“This game started out like the one at Baltimore,” said St. Louis coach Wally Lemm. “I don’t know why we were flat. Maybe the team was worried about our injuries and was feeling a little sorry for itself. But our troubles in the third quarter grew out of our penalties.”
The coach was pleased with the work of both John David Crow and Willis Crenshaw — the veteran ball carrier replaced the rookie starter when the potential danger of mistakes grew greater. But the player who pleased Lemm most was Mal Hammack, subbing at linebacker throughout the game for the injured Marion Rushing.
“Mal played a great game for a man who has had so little time — about two weeks — at linebacker,” Lemm said. “He really hits.”
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