Oct. 25, 1964 - The Cowboys rode the passing of Don Meredith to a 31‐13 victory over St. Louis today, knocking the Cardinals out of a first‐place tie in the Eastern Conference of the NFL.
The Cardinals dropped into second place behind the Browns, who beat the Giants, 42‐20.
Meredith, who threw for 192 yards on 12 completions in 19 attempts, led two first‐half drives for touchdowns that proved decisive.
Late in the first period, Meredith tossed 36 yards to Frank Clarke, who was caught from behind on the St. Louis 4. Don Perkins went over from the 2.
Racing the clock in the final moments of the half, Meredith completed five passes for 73 yards. Three of the tosses were to Clarke, including an 18‐yarder for the score with 37 seconds remaining.
St. Louis’s inability to hang onto the ball and the Cowboy defense thwarted the Cardinals until Charley Johnson passed 3 yards to Sonny Randle with a minute left in the game. Before that, the Cardinals had to settle for Jim Bakken’s 14th and 15th field goals of the season, breaking the Cardinals record of 13.
Fumbles by John David Crow (pictured #44) and Willis Crenshaw spoiled two St. Louis chances inside the Dallas 30 in the first half. Crenshaw’s fumble gave the Cowboys the ball for their march at the end of the half.
Chuck Howley gave Dallas another chance by intercepting one of Johnson’s tosses. He returned 36 yards to the St. Louis 21, setting up Amos Marsh's 10-yard touchdown run in the fourth period. Marsh later went 24 yards for another score.
Sonny Randle suffered a shoulder separation and was expected to be sidelined for the rest of the season. He was taken to Barnes Hospital where he will undergo surgery tomorrow.
“We didn’t use many formations,” Dallas coach Tom Landry said after today’s game, “because we wanted to reduce the chances of errors. We had given up the ball on fumbles and interceptions much too often in previous games this year, and we had to simplify our offense against the blitz the Cardinals always throw at you.”
Said Cardinal coach Wally Lemm: “We dropped too many passes. We should have had a dozen more completions. The crowd got on Charley Johnson, but he can’t throw the ball and catch it, too.”

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