They've Got a Winner

It is not quite accurate to say that the St. Louis Cardinals look bad on paper. They look awful. They rank 13th out of the 15 teams in the National Football League in total offense, 13th in passing, and 15th in punting. They do not have a man among the league's top ten pass receivers, and they have only one among the top ten rushers: $300,000 Bonus Rookie Johnny Roland, who is No. 9. Their quarterback, Charley Johnson, stands No. 7 among N.F.L. passers, and, against the Chicago Bears last week, he completed four out of 16 tosses for 47 yds. The only thing in which the St. Louis team leads the league is, well, leading the league. Despite Johnson's four for 16, they beat the Bears 24-17 -- running their record to six victories, one loss and a tie, taking over possession of first place in the N.F.L.'s Eastern Conference.

To the Manner Born. It was a typical St. Louis victory: "Lucky, awfully lucky," in the words of Cards Owner Charles ("Stormy") Bidwill Jr. All the Cardinals' wins this year have been cliffhangers. The team has had to come from behind so often (in combined first-half scores, the Cards trail all opponents 68-80) that St. Louisans have taken to calling them the "Cardiac Cards." One fellow professes never to lose faith. "What would you expect with a name like mine?" asks Charley Winner.

Winner, 41, is in his first year as St. Louis' head coach, but he was to the manner born -- so to speak -- since he is the son-in-law of Weeb Ewbank, coach of the American Football League's New York Jets. Weeb is an accomplished coiner of aphorisms, which Charley is fond of quoting. His favorite: "Statistics are for losers."

Not all the Cards' statistics are so bearish, of course. Halfback Roland, 23, is the N.F.L.'s No. 1 punt returner at 14.2 yds. per runback. He is a talented passer as well as rusher; against the New York Giants last month he hit Flanker Bobby Joe Conrad with a perfect 40-yarder for a TD. Over the season, Quarterback Johnson, 27, has connected on a respectable 53% of his passes; a cool, methodical signal caller, he invests his spare time at Washington University writing a dissertation on plastics for a Ph.D. in chemical engineering.

Out with the Big Boys. Another ace Card, Larry Wilson, 28, spends his spare time in bed. Says his wife: "Considering how I have to nurse him all week, I wonder how he's willing to go out on a Sunday and play with those big guys."

A 190-lb. six-footer with a long jaw and a penchant for exposing it, Safetyman Wilson is the defensive captain, cheer leader ("He's an inspirational player," says Winner), and key man in a blitz happy defense that is the main reason the Cards lead the league.

St. Louis has allowed only six TD passes all season, while intercepting 15 enemy aerials. Wilson has made eight of those interceptions, including three last week against the Bears. The first set up a St. Louis touchdown; the second he ran back 29 yds. for another TD; the third stopped a last-ditch Chicago drive. Wilson also got knocked dizzy in the third quarter, wound up the game with a gashed and bruised right hand. "Mike Ditka [6 ft. 3 in., 230 Ibs.] stepped on it," shrugged Wilson, who regards injuries as badges of honor. "If a man comes out of a game without a bruise or a scrape," he says, "he shouldn't have been out there. Football means hitting--and I enjoy hitting people."

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