Interesting post on the Cardinals board

[40yearfan]

SemperFiIWO
Junior Member
Member # 2455

posted 01-31-2004 06:38 PM
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You know it,BigRedCard!When the innovative San Diego State attack of Don Coryell blitzed the NFL in 1974 it was launched by Jimmy Hart protected by the Men of Steel,McMillan/Finnie and Young,Brahaney,Dobler,Diefdorf and Smith.
When you flavor the attack with "Mercury"Metcalf,"Tank"Otis and the ever dangerous "The Flash"Gray you get the "Cardiac Cards",the only Cardinal team to start a campaign with seven consecutive victories!The NFL didn't know what hit it and Coryell and Company were stars!NFL defenses could run but they could not hide from "The Terminator"Hart.
excuse the wording but when nostalgia takes over...For you team fans of the '80's juggernaut teams that attack was born in 1974.I will tip my hat to #15,he was a great one,too,but without Coryell/Hart there could not have been Hanifan/Lomax.And a couple more important points. The so-called great,Joe Gibbs,learned at Coryell's knee on that staff thru 1977 and,you must acknowledge the truth,Bill Bidwill,discovered unknown SD State innovator,Don Coryell and brought him into the NFL.Yes,indeed,as they called him then, QB "Baby Face"Hart struck fear into the hearts of the "Fearsome Foursome","Orange Crush","Purple People Eaters","The Electric Light Company","The Monsters of the Midway",and even Landry's prideful,"Doomsday Defense."

 

[40yearfan]

I didn't realize that Bill Bidwill brought Coryell into the NFL and that Joe Gibbs worked under Coryell.

According to what this guy has said on the Cards board, he was a Marine during WWII and has been a Cards fan all his life.

 

[JeffGollin]

you must acknowledge the truth,Bill Bidwill,discovered unknown SD State innovator,Don Coryell and brought him into the NFL.Yes,indeed,as they called him then, QB "Baby Face"Hart struck fear into the hearts...
Yup. Cards hired Coryell out of SD State and he brought Gibbs and other quality assistants with him.

And he had a high powered offense (but, ironically, Gibbs did not follow that model in Washington - opting instead to build his offense around a ground game featuring a big back - Riggins - running the counter-trey).

While Coryell's offense was considered "an eighth wonder" of the NFL world, he never got the chance to develop a comparable defense. (Cardinal football games under Don were typically "track meets.")

Not to say that Coryell didn't realize this. Among other things, his firing was a result of a dispute over draft picks (Coryell wanted to select LB Robin Cole. The front office opted for a one-eyed QB named Steve Piczarceiwicz). Front office won. End of the Coryell era in StL.

(In the interest of maintaining historic veracity - Maybe the nicknames mentioned were used locally in StL, but Cardinal players seldom were known for their nicknames - at least nationally. Terry Metcalf was not know as "Mercury" (Miami RB Mercury Morris already had that one). I don't recall Jim Otis being known as "Tank." (Ram FB Tank Younger - who played next to "Deacon Dan" Towler already owned that one). Jim Hart (though oft described as "having a baby face" was not known either as "Baby Face" Hart or "Terminator Hart to my knowledge.")

 

[cardsfan473]

Ahhh....

I remember those days, although, barely. I was only 2 years old durring the "big run", when the Cards were actually a good team.

In fact, my dad used to joke that I was the cause for the Cardinal downfall. As I got older, and could actually realise what was going on and became a Cards fan, the team got worse.

He said before I came along, the team was decent... Well, there may be some truth to it. I'm going on 31 years old, and would die to have the kind of team we had in the early 70's. I've not witnessed it in my "rememberal lifetime'. I want to be watching the Cardinals in the Superbowl, not talking about the draft already.

At least it is the off-season. It's the best time of the year for us Cards fans.

 

[pinnacle]

for whatever goofy reason....the Cardinals drafted two qbs out of missouri when they were in St. Louis: Steve Piczarceiwicz and Woods (cannot remember his last name). Neither were that good...especially not where they were picked. I only remember Woods because his mother is Harriett? Woods - I think that is her first name -a nd she was a big politician in St. Louis (or something like that). Both were awful picks (although piczarceiwicz was worse because it was in the 1st round). They were almost as bad as the Kelly Stouffer pick. I have no idea what they were thinking on these three picks....the two mizzou qbs were obviously local...but huge reaches. After Plummer...I would guess the cards will stay away from local players for a long time..especially at qb. Not that plummer was a bad pick - but his local hero status and big contract prevented them from starting someone else...

 

[abcard]

I started following cards about that time and don't remember them using nicknames.I remember Bob Young and his brother were powerlifting champs and of course everybody saying you never wanted to get into a pile-up with Conrad Dobler.

 

[TRW]

Jim Hart was a really, really good QB. He is one of my favorite all time QB's! Not a bad career for a non-drafted free agent!

That era is one reason I'm a Cards fan today. They were sure fun to watch and, if not for the playoff system back then, they would have made the post season a couple of times.

Coryell was a great offensive minded head coach. Too bad he never got a good defense going.

 

[Duckjake]

Interesting note: Coryell's 2nd team, the one that won the Cards first division title, gave up fewer points than any Cardinal team, 218, since 1956. The 15.6 ppg allowed is the lowest average by a Cardinal team in the last 45 years.

1973 26
1974 15.6
1975 19.7 (37 Turnovers 22/15)
1976 19.1 (39 turnovers 19int 20 f recovered)
1977 20.5 (14.5 sacks from their DT's!)

Not bad for a guy who didn't have any defense.

Compare those with the great defensive minds of Vince and Dave:

1996 24.8
1997 23.7
1998 23.6
1999 26.3
2000 27.7

Of course rule changes have made scoring easier and back then a "high powered offense" meant one that ran sweeps instead of dives, but Coryell's teams have always gotten a bad rap when it came to D.


BTW: Does anyone remember what happened with Ahmad Rashad and why he left the Cardinals?

 

[Russ Smith]

Originally posted by 40yearfan
I didn't realize that Bill Bidwill brought Coryell into the NFL and that Joe Gibbs worked under Coryell.

According to what this guy has said on the Cards board, he was a Marine during WWII and has been a Cards fan all his life.

I have a signed team picture from 75 or 76 (coryell signed it) and gibbs is indeed part of the staff.

Coryell drafted Metcalf from Long Beach State because he coached against him in college(at San Diego STate). He said Metcalf nearly single handedly beat him with among other players a quick kick, and he never forgot it.

 

[Russ Smith]

Originally posted by Duckjake

BTW: Does anyone remember what happened with Ahmad Rashad and why he left the Cardinals?

Ahmad never played for us, now Bobby Moore did (-:

No idea why he left, one of the few things I'm not old enough to remember about the Cards of that era !

 

[Duckjake]

Originally posted by Russ Smith
Ahmad never played for us, now Bobby Moore did (-:

No idea why he left, one of the few things I'm not old enough to remember about the Cards of that era !

I always thought it was funny that the Cards media guide shows they drafted "Bobby Moore" but list him as "Ahmad Rashad" in the recap of the 1973 season.

 

[vikesfan]

He was traded to Minnesota. Why they did that though I don't know.

 

[danny l]

Pinnacle, I have to agree with you about Pisarcawitz, he was always gunshy, even in college. But Woods was a good college QB that led Dan Devine's Tigers to an Orange Bowl victory over Alabama. As I recall, he hurt his shoulder in training camp and never developed after that. Don't consider the cardinals drafting MU players as strictly PR. Cardinals of that era who contributed greatly to Cardinal success include Johnny Roland, Mel Grey ( holder of the Cardinal record for most games with a reception, and Roger Werhli (sp)-recently inducted into the college hall of fame as a CB and kick returner. ( By the way Werhli was Roger Staubach's #1 nemesis, intercepting him more than any other player over his career).

 

[BigRed]

Originally posted by vikesfan
He was traded to Minnesota. Why they did that though I don't know.

He was traded for a QB that I don't think ever played a game. I can't recall his name but I can look it up.

 

[Shuesters2]

Originally posted by Russ Smith
Ahmad never played for us, now Bobby Moore did (-:

No idea why he left, one of the few things I'm not old enough to remember about the Cards of that era !

Bobby Moore,

The way back machine sez he was traded to the Bills for a QB named Dennis Shaw. (I think he was from San Diego St and a contender for ROY.) Anyway once Shaw hit St Louis he faded quick. Could be wrong, that was many beers ago.

Shuesters