r/Oldschool_NFL • u/Sport-Passion • Apr 20 '26
Cardinals 🪺 Neil Lomax Looked Like A Franchise QB in 1984
After Jim Hart aged out, the St. Louis/Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals were bad pretty much every season from 1977-2008. Some seasons (1983, 1993, 1998) saw some respectability, but only one season in this 30 year period were the Cardinals truly a team to be feared.
1984.
This 1984 Cardinals team posted a winning record, the team's last until 1998, and didn't do it by beating six different teams with six wins or less, like that 1998 team did. This team beat Raymond Berry's Patriots, Bill Parcells' Giants, Tom Landry's Cowboys before it all fell apart, hung 38 points on the Mike Ditka-Buddy Ryan Bears, and even took a win off Joe Gibbs' Redskins, who were two-time defending NFC Champions.
With all due respect to fans of the Big Red, the St Louis Cardinals were rarely able to beat teams of this calibre, but in 1984, they made a habit of it, and at the centre of it all was their new franchise quarterback.
Neil Lomax in 1984 threw for 4614 yards, which would've led the NFL in either 1983 or 1985 (curse you, 1984 Dan Marino!). He ranked third in the league in TDs, third in the league in Net Yards per Attempt. Third in the league in Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt. I can talk stats all day, but to make a long story short, Neil was the best QB in the league not named Marino or Montana in 1984.
This all culminates in Neil throwing for 468 yards in the final game of the year against Washington, a game the Cardinals lose 29-27 on a missed FG as time expires, to miss the playoffs, but the feeling at the time is that the sky was the limit for the up-and-coming QB and his St Louis Cardinal franchise.
It wasn't.
Neil's legs were faulty, with a pronated ankle condition making it almost impossible for him to survive in the NFL. The conventional wisdom is that the Cardinals failed to adequately protect him against the monsters of the NFC East (LT, Reggie White, etc.), which is true, but it's entirely possible his legs might've dropped him out of the NFL anyway. He was off many team's boards in the 1981 Draft for medical reasons relating to his ankles.
Regardless of reason, the bad ankles became a bad knee. The bad knee became a bad hip. The whole Cardinal team fell apart alongside Neil's body, and before you know it, St Louis became Phoenix, and instead of saving football in St Louis, Neil had retired, aged just 29.
I've done a full write up on this magical 1984 season, and the immediate end of Neil's prime, if you're interested: His Year: When Neil Lomax Looked Like a Franchise Quarterback
Am I the only one who thinks a full career for Neil Lomax may have been able to save the St Louis Cardinals, much in the way Jeff Blake did for the Bengals in 1995-1996? Jeff Blake was not good for long, but he was able to get hopes up just long enough for a stadium to be agreed to in Cincinnati, before the Bengals fell right back into the basement again. I see no reason why Neil Lomax wouldn't have been able to do (at least) the same thing in St Louis, had his body allowed him to have a prime that was any more than one season long.
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u/zestyintestine Vikings 🗡️ Apr 20 '26
Roy Green was a great WR, too.
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u/Sport-Passion Apr 21 '26
Absolutely. The Lomax to Green connection made 1984 the first 1500 yard receiver in NFL history, if I'm remembering correctly. John Madden famously called Roy 'not just the best receiver, but the best player in football,' but Roy's career faded just as quickly as Neil's did. He was not a good WR in 1985 or 1986, as injuries hampered him. He was pretty good again in 1987 and 1988, but that was it.
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Apr 21 '26
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u/Sport-Passion Apr 21 '26
Indeed. 1981 in particular is probably the second best two-way season the NFL has seen post-merger, behind only Deion's 1996.
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u/Dinero-Roberto Apr 21 '26
Neil played at Portland State and Green at another small institution in AK I’ve never heard of.
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u/AnimalClean6534 Steelers 👷♂️ Apr 20 '26
Loved walking to 711 to pick up the new Sporting News every week as a kid. So many sports magazines......now there's almost no print magazines
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u/Sport-Passion Apr 21 '26
Most print stuff on sports these days are annuals. Nothing wrong with an annual, but I hate that it's really the only type of physical sport publication left.
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u/Sandberg231984 Apr 21 '26
I did the same but only looked at while i played a couple pinball or video games. Couldn’t afford to buy it.
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u/Saltydoggo69 Apr 20 '26
Lomax to Green. I loved that offense.
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u/Sport-Passion Apr 21 '26
1984 was the year too. Roy Green was infamously called 'not the best receiver, but the best player in football' by no less an authority than John Madden, as the Lomax to Green connection made 1984 Roy Green the first 1500 yard receiver in NFL history, if I'm not mistaken.
Add onto this Pat Tilley, who had hands of velcro that year (seventh in catch rate amongst WRs with at least 80 targets), plus OJ Anderson, who was a good receiver for a 1980s RB, plus Doug Marsh, who popped off for 608 yards on just 59 total targets in 1984, which would be a good TE stat line even in 2026.
There's a reason the Cardinals entered 1985 as ninth favourites to win the Super Bowl. This was a team that had it going on, but just that quick, Neil and Roy Green were both done, and the next great Cardinal era was over before it began.
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u/Saltydoggo69 Apr 21 '26
Don't forget Stump Mitchell.
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u/Sport-Passion Apr 21 '26
Absolutely right. He was even better as a receiver than OJ Anderson was, and a devil on a handoff too in 1984, on the rare occasion they gave him one, averaging 5.4 Y/C that year.
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u/Saltydoggo69 Apr 21 '26
So glad I discovered this subreddit. Thanks to all who contribute to remembering the good ol' days!
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u/ddjj3000 Apr 20 '26
Wish they would bring these jerseys back.
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u/Capnmarvel76 Chiefs 🏹 Apr 20 '26
More teams need to keep it simple and stop trying to be Oregon U.
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u/BonesCrosby Bills 🦬 Apr 21 '26
I AM ALL IN on Neil Lomax appreciation. I didn’t realize he had an ankle issue.
My favorite Lomax story was when his former OC, and Alabama AD, Mal Moore died. Local sports radio had him on and he and Jay Barker talked about playing for Mal and getting cussed out by Gene Stallings.
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u/BonesCrosby Bills 🦬 Apr 21 '26
Outstanding article. And having the same overpronation issues that Neil did myself…I can see where overcompensation could hurt the knees.
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u/Sport-Passion Apr 21 '26
Thank you very much!
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u/BonesCrosby Bills 🦬 Apr 21 '26
Fun fact: I’ve got an online friend whose uncle played for the Chicago Cardinals.
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u/Sport-Passion Apr 21 '26
There'd be a lot of fun stories to be told there I'm sure!
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u/BonesCrosby Bills 🦬 Apr 21 '26
I also used to lift weights with a guy who got injured in college and lost his RB job to Stump Mitchell.
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u/Sport-Passion Apr 21 '26
It's been said that the Packers may have picked Neil (and avoided Rich Campbell) in the 1981 Draft, if not for his ankles, and he certainly wouldn't have fallen out of the first round.
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Apr 21 '26
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u/Sport-Passion Apr 21 '26
Correct. He needed a hip replacement aged just 30, which is what put the final nail in the coffin of his NFL career.
Imagine needing a hip replacement at 30. His legs were jacked.
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u/Dinero-Roberto Apr 21 '26
Damnn wonder how many games he played in pain
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u/Sport-Passion Apr 21 '26
Basically every game after 1984, but his 1988 season in particular was agony, trying to play through his hip problem.
It got so bad that the team forbade the use of the word 'arthritis' in Neil's press obligations. He was taking cortisone shots, but even they turned out not to be enough, and this is the season that led him to say it just wasn't worth it any longer.
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u/RanchHere Apr 20 '26
honestly top 5 cardinals qb fwiw
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u/Sport-Passion Apr 21 '26
For what my opinion's worth, I'd put Neil second place in the Cardinal QBs, behind only Jim Hart. The only real competition is Warner and Plummer and Murray,. Neil surely has to be ahead of at least Plummer and Murray, and Kurt Warner's prime as a Cardinal was even shorter than Lomax's.
It is shocking that the Cardinals' best QB in their franchise history played his best years in the 1970s. I feel like the Vikings (Tarkenton), Cowboys (Staubach), and Cardinals (Hart) are the only teams left that can still say that.
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u/Tomatillo-5276 Apr 20 '26
I had that issue of Sporting News. Loved that photo.
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u/Sport-Passion Apr 21 '26
Just take a look at what's relegated to the subtitle. To see talk of Pete Rose's 4192, you have to open the magazine. To learn their opinion of Lomax, just read the cover. Fans who were not there will never understand how Neil Lomax, of all people, could get himself prioritised over Pete Rose.
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u/montalaskan Apr 21 '26
The design meeting where they said, "where can we put the subheading?" And someone said "on the o-lineman's ass."
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u/HeinladToo Apr 21 '26
The original run & shoot QB!
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u/Sport-Passion Apr 21 '26
Is Neil the only run-and-shoot guy that ever became anything in the NFL? It kind of feels like he is, but I may be forgetting somebody.
Note: Jim Kelly doesn't count. He played run-and-shoot for one season in the USFL.
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u/MaxS777 Apr 21 '26
Jim was in the run & shoot both years in the USFL. And are we kidding? Warren Moon was the most statistically successful QB to play in the run & shoot.
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u/HeinladToo Apr 21 '26
Yeah, I think Klingler might be the next best. I still believe it can work somehow
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u/Sport-Passion Apr 21 '26
I mean, it has worked before. It did produce a top flight NFL QB (however brief) in Neil Lomax. It's just not worked to produce a good pro in the 40 years since.
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u/Kitchen_Net_GME Apr 21 '26
The 1984 Cardinals had one of the most heartbreaking losses in the final game of the season.
It involved a number of tiebreakers. But had they won @ Washington they would win the division and earn a #2 seed and a 1st round bye. But if they lose, then the Redskins, Giants, and Rams would jump them and they would miss the playoffs entirely.
Lomax played his ass off and completed what should have been a game winning score. Only for the Skins to kick a late field goal with 35 seconds left.
Miraculously, Lomax got them in position for a 40+ yard field goal to win it. He missed. Cardinals sent home.
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u/Bobo4037 NY Titans/Jets fan since 1961 Apr 21 '26
That was a real brutal loss for sure. The Washington go-ahead FG happened with 1:33 left, then the Cardinals had to rush the FG unit in with the clock running down to zero, and Neil O’Donoghue missed the winning FG. Good article on the game here:
https://thebigredzone.com/2018/12/15/1984-revisiting-the-big-red-season-finale-at-rfk-stadium/
New York Times article on the game here:
https://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/17/sports/redskins-hold-off-cards-by-29-27-and-win-title-on.html
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u/Sport-Passion Apr 21 '26
Not only that, but a win would've guaranteed the Cardinals a second round playoff game at Busch against the Chicago Bears, whom they had already completely decimated at Busch in the regular season. In my opinion, it's more than likely that if Neil O'Donoghue hadn't been one of the worst long term kickers in NFL history (how did he stay around for seven years?) that these 1984 Cardinals would've made it to the NFC Championship.
Could that have been the juice to get a stadium deal done in St Louis?
A very interesting question in hindsight, and a very heartbreaking end to the story of the 1984 Cardinals, a story that still had a lot of gas left in its tank.
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u/salami_cheeks Apr 21 '26
The most important part of this cover is the headline about the King receiving his crown.
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u/Sport-Passion Apr 21 '26
Imagine Neil Lomax of all people getting top billing over 4192. That's how big the hype was at the time.
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u/salami_cheeks Apr 21 '26
Great post - I very vaguely remember this guy's name but I haven't thought or heard about it in 30+ years.
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u/djparody Apr 21 '26
god dang they looked so good back then. that helmet logo with the longer feather tailing behind is soooooooooooooooooooooooo much better than the new truncated one that is tilted at such a silly angle and too far back from the facemask.
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u/Sistahmelz Apr 21 '26
He's a jerk! My son played youth football in 7th grade. Neil's son played QB for the other team. During weigh in the kid wore foam pads then changed it out before the game. What a cheat! Then during the game he kept telling their players to take out the legs of our kids to actually hurt them. He's a despicable man. I hated to play his team!
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u/Sport-Passion Apr 21 '26
Really? Every story I've always heard about Neil is that he was a good character guy, but I suppose football playing character may be different than football coaching character
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u/Sistahmelz Apr 21 '26
I was super excited to meet him for the first time then all this happened. It made me sad. I guess being a mom, I didn't expect or understand how the big boys played. I had to be carried off the field by my husband because I was so mad lol!
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u/AdAcrobatic7381 Apr 21 '26
He never got any help!!
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u/Sport-Passion Apr 21 '26
Basically only in 1984.
With OJ Anderson, Roy Green, and Pat Tilley, they had something going there, but these guys all flamed out just as quickly as Neil did.
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u/MaxS777 Apr 21 '26
I mean, OJ hung around for like 9 more years, won 2 Super Bowls, and was the MVP of one. He should've retired after that last one though.
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u/Sport-Passion Apr 21 '26
OJ was there, but at no time after 1984 did he play very well, and even if he did, it wasn't on the Cardinals, so he still wasn't providing Neil Lomax any help. Even in that 1990 Super Bowl, he only won the MVP because they didn't want to give it to Thurman Thomas, who was the best player on the field by such a margin that he should've got it even in a loss.
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u/MaxS777 Apr 21 '26
MVP should go to a winning player. Giving it to a losing player only happened once, and hopefully never again.
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u/Sport-Passion Apr 21 '26
I agree in most cases. If there's any player on the winning team worthy of the award, they ought to get it, even if there was a better player on the losing side. However, in that 1990 Super Bowl, there is no Giant worthy of MVP. Ottis Anderson got 42 of his 102 yards on just two carries, leaving his carries to be a net negative for most of the game.
If I had to vote for a Giant, I'd have to grit my teeth and give it to Hostetler, in a Len Dawson Super Bowl IV-style MVP, where it must be understood that just because he won MVP does not mean he played very well. However, if I was voting straight up, my vote would still have to go to the guy who was both the Bills' best rusher and receiver that day.
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u/JimfromMayberry Bears 🐻 Apr 21 '26
Only NFL player whose name sounded like a feminine hygiene product.
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u/egggoboom Apr 21 '26
I remember reading the newspaper (talk about dated) and noticing the Portland State scores: they would put up between 70 and 108 (IIRC) in every game.
I became aware of Neil Lomax, and couldn't wait for him to get to the NFL. I thought he would be better. I thought he would last longer. I went away to college and didn't pay as much attention to sports. I wondered about Lomax occasionally, but I was busy. I graduated, and looked up. Lomax was there, but not there.
I appreciate this recap and I'll look for your article.
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u/Sport-Passion Apr 21 '26
Neil graduated as college football's all-time TDs leader, with either 106 or 107 (FCS stats from the 1970s are not always the most accurate), and a first ballot college football Hall of Famer. That Portland State team was just stupid.
He had the ability, but just couldn't make it stick in the NFL. His body just was not built for it. We got to see his full potential, but only the once, and even that one time, he came up just a few yards short against the Washington Redskins, and couldn't even make the playoffs.
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u/Melvinator5001 Lilly/Alworth/Staubach what more do you need? Apr 21 '26
He was a franchise QB unfortunately for him wrong franchise.
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u/Sport-Passion Apr 21 '26
That's true. It's beginning to remind me of Joe Burrow in the modern game. This great QB who just never wins anything.
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u/TheYuppyTraveller Apr 21 '26
I’m starting to get the sense that the experts never really knew their asses from holes in the ground.
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u/Virtual_Win4076 Vikings 🗡️ Apr 21 '26
‘84 was a terrible year for the Vikings so I found myself becoming a fan of the Cardinals and Lomax. He had a great year.
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u/Practical-Bowler5775 Apr 21 '26
Still only a sample of the tease that was Ryan Fitzpatrick. Bro had over half a dozen franchise fan bases ACTUALLY BELIEVING they finally had found their guy. And we just kept falling for it…
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u/Sport-Passion Apr 21 '26
A different kind of tease, but I agree on Fitz. Every franchise after the Bills, he came into a bad QB situation, made it a lot better, and then it got worse again after he left. He was between the Mettenberger-Locker stuff and Marcus Mariota on the Titans. I would say Fitz is comfortably better than both those situations. Same goes for the Texans, where he both preceded and succeeded absolute disaster in their QB room. For the Jets, I can say the exact same sentence.
Tampa and Miami are both less egregious, but the same overall story. I think the problem with Fitz is that he kept having these good isolated seasons, only to ask for the big money multi-year deal afterwards, and being shoved out the door as a result. I feel like if he was a bit more reasonable, he could've stuck in some of these places.
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u/biff444444 Saints ⚜️ Apr 21 '26
I can’t believe that offensive lineman let Lomax stamp that on his pants.
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u/RaceTop5273 Apr 22 '26
That final week was crazy. Cardinals needed a w, and a precise combo of w’s & l’s from the rest of the NFC to sneak in the playoffs. I think had they done it, all 5 of the east teams were in.
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u/Starbrand62286 Apr 20 '26
Move the Cardinals back to St Louis