1992 Houston Oilers season

The 1992 Houston Oilers season was the team's 33rd season and their 23rd in the National Football League (NFL).

1992 Houston Oilers season
Head coachJack Pardee
General managerMike Holovak
OwnerBud Adams
Home fieldHouston Astrodome
Results
Record10–6
Division place2nd AFC Central
Playoff finishLost Wild Card Playoffs (Bills) 38–41 (OT)

The Oilers reached the playoffs for the 6th consecutive season, which was the longest such streak in the NFL at the time. (They would extend that to seven straight playoff appearances the following season). During their 1992 season, Houston finished the season 10-6, good enough for 2nd place in the AFC Central. However, in the postseason, the Oilers would fall on the losing end of what would become one of the most substantial come from behind victories in NFL history, dropping a 35-3 lead in the Wild Card game against Buffalo to lose by a score of 41-38. As noted, the Buffalo Bills victory in this game is deemed the greatest comeback in NFL history (regular or postseason) and is referred to as "The Comeback" (or by then-Oiler fans, "The Choke").

Offseason

NFL Draft
Main article: 1992 NFL Draft
1992 Houston Oilers draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
2 50 Eddie Robinson  Linebacker Alabama State
3 77 Corey Harris  Wide receiver Vanderbilt
4 108 Mike Mooney  Offensive tackle Georgia Tech
5 133 Joe Bowden  Linebacker Oklahoma
5 135 Tony Brown  Defensive back Fresno State
5 136 Tim Roberts  Defensive tackle Southern Miss
6 162 Mario Bailey  Wide receiver Washington
7 189 Elbert Turner  Wide receiver Illinois
8 220 Bucky Richardson  Quarterback Texas A&M
9 247 Bernard Dafney  Offensive tackle Tennessee
10 274 Dion Johnson  Wide receiver East Carolina
11 301 Anthony Davis  Linebacker Utah
12 332 Joe Wood  Placekicker Air Force
      Made roster  

[1]

Personnel

Staff
1992 Houston Oilers staff
Front office

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

 Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches

  • Special Teams – Richard Smith

Strength and conditioning

  • Strength and Rehabilitation – Steve Watterson

Roster
1992 Houston Oilers roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

  • Vacant
 Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

 Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

 Reserve lists


Practice squad



Rookies in italics

[2]

Regular season

Schedule
Week Date Opponent Result Attendance
1 September 6, 1992 Pittsburgh Steelers L 29–24
63,713
2 September 13, 1992 at Indianapolis Colts W 20–10
44,851
3 September 20, 1992 Kansas City Chiefs W 23–20
60,955
4 September 27, 1992 San Diego Chargers W 27–0
57,491
5 Bye
6 October 11, 1992 at Cincinnati Bengals W 38–24
54,254
7 October 18, 1992 at Denver Broncos L 27–21
74,827
8 October 25, 1992 Cincinnati Bengals W 26–10
58,701
9 November 1, 1992 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 21–20
58,074
10 November 8, 1992 Cleveland Browns L 24–14
57,348
11 November 15, 1992 at Minnesota Vikings W 17–13
56,726
12 November 22, 1992 at Miami Dolphins L 19–16
63,597
13 November 26, 1992 at Detroit Lions W 24–21
73,711
14 December 7, 1992 Chicago Bears W 24–7
62,193
15 December 13, 1992 Green Bay Packers L 16–14
57,285
16 December 20, 1992 at Cleveland Browns W 17–14
59,898
17 December 27, 1992 Buffalo Bills W 27–3
61,742

Game Summaries

Week One vs. Steelers

Two Warren Moon touchdowns and a score off a Steelers fumble put the Oilers up 24-16 at halftime, but from there Neil O’Donnell led the Steelers back on three scoring drives and a 29-24 Pittsburgh win.

Week Two at Colts

Warren Moon added two more touchdowns while Jack Trudeau and Tom Tupa couldn’t reach 140 passing yards in a 20-10 Oilers win.

Week Three vs. Chiefs

Two years after throwing for 527 yards in a 27-10 win Moon was intercepted twice and held to 279 yards but led the Oilers from down 13-3 to lead in the fourth 20-13. From there future Oiler Todd McNair tied the game, but Al Del Greco won it 23-20 in overtime on a 39-yard field goal.

Week Four vs. Chargers

Warren Moon threw a touchdown and ran in a second while Stan Humphries was intercepted three times in a 27-0 shutout. It would be the franchise’s final win over the Chargers until 2013.

Bye Week

Week Six at Bengals

The Oilers had won their previous two matchups (both 1991) with the Bengals by a combined score of 65-10 but memory of Cincinnati’s 41-14 playoff win in 1990 was still fresh as the Oilers raced to a 24-0 lead, Warren Moon threw five touchdowns, and Houston won 38-24.

Week Seven at Broncos

The Oilers returned to the site of a 26-24 playoff meltdown the previous season. The game lead changed five times as the Oilers took a 21-20 lead but the Broncos won 27-21.

Week Eight vs. Bengals

Houston authored another season sweep as Moon threw for 342 yards and two scores while Norman Esiason had a touchdown but gave up a safety when he was run out his own end zone.

Week Nine at Steelers

Moon led the Oilers to two field goal drives as the Steelers led 7-6 at halftime. Moon had to give way to Cody Carlson, who threw a touchdown then saw a fumble-return score and a 20-7 Houston lead. But from there two Neil O’Donnell touchdowns rallied Pittsburgh to a 21-20 win.

Week Ten vs. Browns

Moon again started and again Carlson came in, this time with the Oilers down 17-0, and his two touchdowns weren’t enough in a 24-14 Browns win.

Week Eleven at Vikings

Future Vikings quarterback Moon rallied Houston from down 10-3 on a touchdown to Ernest Givins and a drive ending in a field goal and the 17-13 Houston win.

Week Twelve at Dolphins

The Oilers under Jack Pardee had blown leads with noticeable frequency and it happened again after leading 13-3 in the second quarter. The Oilers were held scoreless in the fourth in losing 19-16.

Week Thirteen at Lions

With Warren Moon now out with injury until the end of the season Cody Carlson started and the game lead changed five times in the second half. Lorenzo White’s score was the winner in the 24-21 contest.

Week Fourteen vs. Bears

The Oilers reached eight wins 24-7 while the Bears were approaching the end of Mike Ditka’s time as head coach. The opposing quarterbacks Carlson and Peter Tom Willis combined for just 363 yards passing.

Week Fifteen vs. Packers

Two Cody Carlson interceptions and two Oilers fumbles hurt Houston in a 16-14 loss to the Packers despite holding Green Bay to less than 230 yards.

Week Sixteen at Browns

Carlson rallied the Oilers from down 14-3, overcoming two interceptions to toss two touchdowns and win 17-14. The Oilers defense picked off Bernie Kosar three times.

Week Seventeen vs. Bills

After a Steve Christie field goal the Bills were crushed by 27 straight Oilers points. Jim Kelly was knocked out of the game and for Buffalo’s ensuing playoff game. Cody Carlson had a touchdown then gave way to Warren Moon who had a touchdown and despite completing less than half his passes (6 of 13) had a higher passer rating (91.8 to Carlson’s 73.4); Bills quarterbacks had only a 27 passer rating.

Standings
AFC Central
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
(1) Pittsburgh Steelers 11 5 0 .688 5–1 10–2 299 225 W1
(5) Houston Oilers 10 6 0 .625 3–3 7–5 352 258 W2
Cleveland Browns 7 9 0 .438 3–3 5–7 272 275 L3
Cincinnati Bengals 5 11 0 .313 1–5 4–8 274 364 L1

Playoffs

AFC Wildcard
Main article: The Comeback (American football)

The Oilers held a 35–3 lead on the Buffalo Bills. Bills backup quarterback Frank Reich led the Bills on a 38–3 run in the second half and overtime against the Oilers defense en route to a 41–38 overtime victory. The game is the largest comeback in NFL history, regular or postseason. Houston, whose 1992 team some believed gave them their best chance to win the Super Bowl, made several sweeping changes in the offseason.

Defensive coordinator Jim Eddy was fired shortly after the game. Oilers cornerback Cris Dishman called it "the biggest choke in history,"[3]

According to statistics site Football Outsiders, who does play-by-play analyses of each team each season, the Oilers were the best team in the AFC at the end of the 1992 season. "So if you are a Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans fan," says the site, "who agonizes over the Frank Reich comeback game blowing your franchise's best shot at a Super Bowl title, well, here's another opportunity to feel sad."[4]

Scoring summary

1 2 3 4OT Total
Oilers 7 21 7 30 38
Bills 3 0 28 73 41
  • HOU – Jeffires 3-yard pass from Moon (Del Greco kick) 7–0 HOU
  • BUF – FG Christie 36-yards 7–3 HOU
  • HOU – Slaughter 7-yard pass from Moon (Del Greco kick) 14–3 HOU
  • HOU – Duncan 26-yard pass from Moon (Del Greco kick) 21–3 HOU
  • HOU – Jeffires 27-yard pass from Moon (Del Greco kick) 28–3 HOU
  • HOU – McDowell 58-yard interception return (Del Greco kick) 35–3 HOU
  • BUF – K. Davis 1-yard run (Christie kick) 35–10 HOU
  • BUF – Beebe 38-yard pass from Reich (Christie kick) 35–17 HOU
  • BUF – Reed 26-yard pass from Reich (Christie kick) 35–24 HOU
  • BUF – Reed 18-yard pass from Reich (Christie kick) 35–31 HOU
  • BUF – Reed 17-yard pass from Reich (Christie kick) 38–35 BUF
  • HOU – FG Del Greco 26-yards 38–38 tie
  • BUF – FG Christie 32-yards 41–38 BUF

Awards and records
gollark: Wait a minute, that's undefined behavior, so is it just using that as an excuse to make my program do literally nothing?
gollark: ++exec -L c-gcc```cint main(int apiohazard, char* *apioform) { char buf[1024]; printf("out: %s", buf); return 0;}```
gollark: Um.
gollark: ++exec -L c-gcc```cint main(int apiohazard, char* *apioform) { char buf[1024]; printf("out: %s", buf); return 3333;}```
gollark: Did it just print *nothing*?

References
  1. "1992 Houston Oilers draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
  2. "1992 Houston Oilers starters, roster, and players". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
  3. JOHN McCLAIN, "WE CHOKED'/Oilers squander 32-point lead in historic 41–38 loss to Bills"|Houston Chronicle, January 4, 1993|Retrieved January 8, 2012
  4. Football Outsiders: 1992 DVOA Ratings and Commentary
  5. NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York, NY, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p. 450
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.