1983 St. Louis Cardinals (NFL) season

The 1983 St. Louis Cardinals season was the 64th season the team was in the National Football League. The Cardinals won eight games, including victories over both participants in that year's AFC Championship Game, the Raiders and Seahawks.^[1] However, the team also lost in meetings over both participants of the 1983 NFC Championship Game, the 49ers and the Redskins. Despite their winning record, the team failed to reach the playoffs.

1983 St. Louis Cardinals season
Owner	Bill Bidwill
Head coach	Jim Hanifan
Home stadium	Busch Stadium
Results
Record	8–7–1
Division place	3rd NFC East
Playoffs	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	WR Roy Green P Carl Birdsong
← 1982 Cardinals seasons 1984 →

The Cardinals had a winning record, despite being outscored by a total of 54 points during the regular season. In fact, St. Louis’ 428 points surrendered was, to that point, the most points given up by a team with a winning record in NFL history; it is still second-most all time.^[2][3]

Personnel

Staff

1983 St. Louis Cardinals staff

Front office President – Bill Bidwill Director of Pro Personnel – Larry Wilson Director of Player Personnel – George Boone Head coaches Head Coach – Jim Hanifan Special Assistant to the Head Coach – Leon McLaughlin Offensive coaches Offensive Coordinator – Rod Dowhower Offensive Backfield – Dick Jamieson Receivers – Emmitt Thomas Offensive Line – Tom Lovat

Defensive coaches Assistant Head Coach/Defense – Floyd Peters Defensive Coordinator – Tom Bettis Linebackers – Rudy Feldman Defensive Assistant – Chuck Banker Special teams coaches Special Teams – Chuck Banker Strength and conditioning Flexibility and Strength – Don Brown

Roster

1983 St. Louis Cardinals roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 17 Jim Hart 16 Rusty Lisch 15 Neil Lomax Running backs (RB) 32 Ottis Anderson 31 Earl Ferrell 39 Willard Harrell 40 Randy Love 30 Stump Mitchell Wide receivers (WR) 82 Steve Bird 81 Roy Green 85 Danny Pittman 84 Mike Shumann 83 Pat Tilley Tight ends (TE) 89 Greg LaFleur 87 Doug Marsh 87 Eddie McGill

Offensive linemen (OL) 61 Dan Audick G 71 Joe Bostic G 64 Randy Clark C 72 Dan Dierdorf C 70 Art Plunkett T 63 Tootie Robbins T 56 Carlos Scott C/G 67 Luis Sharpe T 68 Terry Stieve G Defensive linemen (DL) 60 Al Baker DE 69 Rush Brown DT 73 Mark Duda DT 65 David Galloway DT 75 Curtis Greer DE 78 Elois Grooms DT 76 Stafford Mays DT/DE

Linebackers (LB) 58 Dave Ahrens MLB 51 Kurt Allerman MLB 52 Charles Baker OLB 59 Paul Davis OLB 54 E. J. Junior OLB 57 Chet Parlavecchio OLB 55 Bill Whitaker OLB Defensive backs (DB) 46 Victor Heflin CB 47 Cedric Mack CB 38 Lee Nelson SS 23 Benny Perrin FS 26 George Schmitt FS 46 Leonard Smith SS 44 Wayne Smith CB 48 Lionel Washington CB Special teams (ST) 18 Carl Birdsong P 11 Neil O'Donoghue K

Reserve 66 Ramsey Dardar DT (IR) 35 Jeff Griffin CB (IR) 50 Bob Harris LB (IR) 53 Craig Shaffer LB (IR) 24 Wayne Morris RB (IR) Rookies in italics

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 4	at New Orleans Saints	L 17–28	0–1	Louisiana Superdome	60,430
2	September 11	Dallas Cowboys	L 17–34	0–2	Busch Memorial Stadium	48,532
3	September 18	San Francisco 49ers	L 27–42	0–3	Busch Memorial Stadium	38,132
4	September 25	at Philadelphia Eagles	W 14–11	1–3	Veterans Stadium	64,465
5	October 2	at Kansas City Chiefs	L 14–38	1–4	Arrowhead Stadium	58,975
6	October 9	Washington Redskins	L 14–38	1–5	Busch Memorial Stadium	42,698
7	October 16	at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	W 34–27	2–5	Tampa Stadium	48,224
8	October 24	New York Giants	T 20–20	2–5–1	Busch Memorial Stadium	45,630
9	October 30	Minnesota Vikings	W 41–31	3–5–1	Busch Memorial Stadium	42,575
10	November 6	at Washington Redskins	L 7–45	3–6–1	RFK Stadium	51,380
11	November 13	Seattle Seahawks	W 33–28	4–6–1	Busch Memorial Stadium	33,280
12	November 20	San Diego Chargers	W 44–14	5–6–1	Busch Memorial Stadium	40,644
13	November 24	at Dallas Cowboys	L 17–35	5–7–1	Texas Stadium	60,974
14	December 4	at New York Giants	W 10–6	6–7–1	Giants Stadium	25,156
15	December 11	at Los Angeles Raiders	W 34–24	7–7–1	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	32,111
16	December 18	Philadelphia Eagles	W 31–7	8–7–1	Busch Memorial Stadium	21,902
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

NFC East
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Washington Redskins(1)	14	2	0	.875	7–1	10–2	541	332	W9
Dallas Cowboys(4)	12	4	0	.750	7–1	10–2	479	360	L2
St. Louis Cardinals	8	7	1	.531	3–4–1	5–6–1	374	428	W3
Philadelphia Eagles	5	11	0	.313	1–7	4–10	233	322	L2
New York Giants	3	12	1	.219	1–6–1	3–8–1	267	347	L4

Notes