It was December 16, 1984 and RFK Stadium was rocking. The St Louis Cardinals and Washington Redskins were facing off on the last regular season game of the year…a game that was for all the marbles. The winner would be crowned NFC East Champions while the loser faced being eliminated from the playoffs all together.
The Redskins entered the game having won 5 out of the last 6 games to position themselves for the NFC East crown. The Redskins were also coming off a huge 30-28 victory at Dallas a week earlier that had further muddled the NFC East picture. Washington stood at 10-5 while the Cowboys and Cardinals were 9-6 heading into the last week of the season. Thus the win or possibly go home scenarios. There was additional drama as well…Art Monk came into the contest needing 7 receptions to break the NFL season record for receptions of 101.
Game recap and video after the jump.
The Redskins came out firing with a pair of Joe Theismann to Art Monk TD passes to jump out to a 13-0 lead. The Redskins would lead 23-7 at halftime after a John Riggins 5 yard TD run and a short FG by Mark Moseley. The Skins appeared to be in great shape to lock up the division but this game would become a nail biter in the 2nd half.
Neil Lomax would hook up twice with Roy Green for touchdowns in the 2nd half. Neil O’Donoghue would add 2 FG’s as well while all the Redskins could muster was another Moseley FG. The Redskins found themselves trailing 27-26 in the waning minutes of the game. The Redskins mounted 1 final drive that stalled out and brought on Moseley to kick the go ahead FG. The kick was true and the Redskins took the lead 29-27 with 1:42 to play. Of course this wild and crazy game wasn’t over yet. Lomax led the Cardinals down the field and had his team in position to win on the final play of the game. But, O’Donoghue missed from 50 and the Redskins were the NFC East Champions.
Monk broke the record and finished the day with 11 receptions for 136 yards and 2 TD’s. Calvin Muhammad also went over the century mark with 110 yards on 5 catches. Theismann threw for 298 yards and 2 TD’s with 1 INT. John Riggins was held to 76 yards on 27 carries and a TD.
The Redskins had very few stars on defense. Lomax racked up 468 yards and 2 TD’s passing. Ottis Anderson caught 12 balls out of the backfield for 124 yards while Roy Green had a spectacular 8 receptions for 196 yards and 2 TD’s. The Redskins were able to sack Lomax 3 times with the late Perry Brooks, Monte Coleman and Dexter Manley getting to him. Darrell Green had a pretty rough day but did have an interception.
The 84’ Redskins would have a bye week before facing the Chicago Bears at home in the NFC Divisional Playoff. The Skins would suffer their first ever home playoff loss at RFK, losing 23-19 and ending their hopes of a 3rd straight Super Bowl appearance.
Cheers and Hail
2 recs | 11 comments
RFK just had character.
They really need to build a new stadium in that parking lot with 79,000 seats that pays homage. FedEx needs to go.
brettpedigo - September 16, 2011
I've been trying forever to make friends with an architect
So he’d be willing to do a mock design of a state of the art RFK stadium which we could promote on this site. It’s not going so well.
Kevin Ewoldt - September 16, 2011
tear...
WOW, that takes me back to being a boy, just getting interested in football, rooting for my new favorite team. It feels just like yesterday, all those great players. And what a venue. That is what football needs to be again.
Does anyone know where I can find game footage like this? Is there a website that replays whole games?
jgibbsfan1 - September 16, 2011
HOW
Did people know where the first down marker was? Or how much time was left? Or the scores/fantasy points of the other games?…..primitive.
jellis113 - September 16, 2011
I remember watching games before all that. U didn’t know at the time. Its going to be like in 10 years from now when players in live action have incremental #s over their head for fantasy
Kevin Ewoldt - September 17, 2011 via mobile
First down marker?
Shoot, if you were not paying attention you would not know what down it was or how much time was left. You would sometime have to wait until some one scored or for the game to go to commercial to see the score. I remember when they first put that box up in the corner with the score. It was revolutionary and a great advancement.
PAinfUL - September 18, 2011
Great job as always Doug
I love these
Ken Meringolo - September 16, 2011
This has all the makings of a trap game
Our team is coming off a big division win in the season opener. Optimism is up there, people think this will be an easier game than against the Giants. And most importantly, Dallas is next week, so you know Shanny is itching to game plan for that one. He knows the importance of division games. I hope this isn’t a case where we sleep on the Cardinals. Next week is big, but every game is big for a rebuilding team like ours.
27-17 Redskins. Hail yeah!
willster - September 17, 2011
Monte frickin Coleman
God I miss that dude. I know Darrell Green played the longest for us, but it always seemed like Monte did. He was like the Forest Gump of the Redskins. I’m pretty sure I saw a clip one time of Sammy Baugh playing next to Monte Coleman.
Maybe LoRAx could be our next Monte Coleman.
CJHutch - September 17, 2011 via mobile
Thanks Mr. Pickle
The Redskins are going to destroy the Cardinals.
hambonejackson - September 17, 2011
I miss playing the Cards twice a year.
Stupid realignment.
Reedskin - September 18, 2011
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