1994 Houston Oilers season

The 1994 Houston Oilers season was the 35th season overall the Oilers played and their 25th with the National Football League (NFL), and was part of the 1994 NFL season.[1]

1994 Houston Oilers season
Head coachJack Pardee (10 games)
Jeff Fisher (final 6 games)
General managerFloyd Reese
OwnerBud Adams
Home fieldHouston Astrodome
Results
Record2–14
Division place4th AFC Central
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Pro BowlersOL Bruce Matthews
CB Darryll Lewis

Despite finishing with a 12–4 record and a first-round bye the previous season, team owner Bud Adams made good on a threat to break up the team if they did not win the Super Bowl. The two biggest losses the Oilers suffered were the trading of Warren Moon, the team’s longtime starting quarterback, to the Minnesota Vikings and the departure of defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan, who was hired to coach the Arizona Cardinals. With Moon being replaced by career backup Cody Carlson and the defense left without its leader, the 1994 Oilers went into a tailspin despite returning several of their explosive offensive players such as Ernest Givins and Haywood Jeffires. The team started out with only one win in their first ten games, which led to head coach Jack Pardee being fired. When the season was over the Oilers stood at 2–14, tying their 1983 squad with the team’s fewest wins in a sixteen game season and the second-fewest overall, with the 1972, 1973, 1982 squads only winning once each season. The ten-game swing is the worst season-to-season drop in games won in NFL history, which would later be tied by the 2013 Houston Texans. Seven of their fourteen losses came by three points or fewer.

Although the Oilers finished with the worst record that season, they did not receive the #1 pick in the 1995 NFL Draft due to the entry of the expansion Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars into the league (under NFL rules, a new team is automatically granted the first pick in their first draft, unless they decide to give it up as the Panthers would do). However, the news was not all negative. With the high pick the Oilers chose Steve McNair, who would go on to become one of the franchise’s all-time great players, and after Pardee resigned his defensive coordinator Jeff Fisher was promoted to replace him. Fisher would go on to lead the franchise, which moved to Tennessee under his watch, for the remaining five games of the 1994 season and stay for the next sixteen seasons before he was fired following the 2010 season. In A Football Life: Houston 93 the narrator says of the 1994 season that:

1994 would be the first season with the salary cap, and owner Bud Adams followed through on his threat to dismantle the team

and

Guttered by the [salary] cap, the Oilers started 1–9 in 1994, Jack Pardee was fired along with Kevin Gilbride.

Offseason

After having imploded in the playoffs against Kansas City in the 1993 playoffs, the Oilers traded long-time quarterback Warren Moon to Minnesota, leaving Cody Carlson as the starter for the 1994 season.

NFL Draft
Main article: 1994 NFL Draft
1994 Houston Oilers draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
1 26 Henry Ford  Defensive tackle Arkansas
2 60 Jeremy Nunley  Defensive end Alabama
3 101 Malcolm Floyd  Wide receiver Fresno State
4 119 Mike Davis  Cornerback Cincinnati
4 129 Sean Jackson  Running back Florida State
5 157 Roderick Lewis  Tight end Arizona
5 161 Jim Reid  Offensive tackle Virginia
6 187 Lee Gissendaner  Wide receiver Northwestern
6 194 Barron Wortham  Linebacker UTEP
7 220 Lemanski Hall  Linebacker Alabama
      Made roster  

[2]

Personnel

Staff
1994 Houston Oilers staff
Front office
  • Owner/Chairman of the Board/President – Bud Adams
  • Executive Vice President/General Manager – Floyd Reese
  • Vice President of Player Personnel and Scouting – Mike Holovak

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

 Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches

  • Special Teams – Frank Novak

Strength and conditioning

  • Strength and Rehabilitation – Steve Watterson

Roster
1994 Houston Oilers roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

 Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

 Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

 Reserve lists


Practice squad



Rookies in italics

[3]

Regular season

Schedule
Week Date Opponent Result Record Game site NFL.com
recap
1 September 4 at Indianapolis Colts L 21–45 0–1 RCA Dome Recap
2 September 11 at Dallas Cowboys L 17–20 0–2 Texas Stadium Recap
3 September 18 Buffalo Bills L 7–15 0–3 Houston Astrodome Recap
4 September 25 Cincinnati Bengals W 20–13 1–3 Houston Astrodome Recap
5 October 3 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 14–30 1–4 Three Rivers Stadium Recap
6 Bye
7 October 13 Cleveland Browns L 8–11 1–5 Houston Astrodome Recap
8 October 24 at Philadelphia Eagles L 6–21 1–6 Veterans Stadium Recap
9 October 30 at Los Angeles Raiders L 14–17 1–7 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Recap
10 November 6 Pittsburgh Steelers L 9–12 1–8 Houston Astrodome Recap
11 November 13 at Cincinnati Bengals L 31–34 1–9 Riverfront Stadium Recap
12 November 21 New York Giants L 10–13 1–10 Houston Astrodome Recap
13 November 27 at Cleveland Browns L 10–34 1–11 Cleveland Stadium Recap
14 December 4 Arizona Cardinals L 12–30 1–12 Houston Astrodome Recap
15 December 11 Seattle Seahawks L 14–16 1–13 Houston Astrodome Recap
16 December 18 at Kansas City Chiefs L 9–31 1–14 Arrowhead Stadium Recap
17 December 24 New York Jets W 24–10 2–14 Houston Astrodome Recap

Game summaries

Week 14
1 234Total
• Cardinals 0 10020 30
Oilers 9 300 12
  • Date: December 4
  • Location: Astrodome, Houston, Texas
  • Game start: 4:00 p.m.
  • Game attendance: 39,821
  • Game weather: played indoors, domed stadium

[4]

This ninth successive defeat for the Oilers has the unusual distinction of being the most recent NFL game as of 2019 during which both teams scored a safety, and one of only eight since at least 1940.[5]

Week 17

Standings
AFC Central
W L T PCT PF PA STK
(1) Pittsburgh Steelers 12 4 0 .750 316 234 L1
(4) Cleveland Browns 11 5 0 .688 340 204 W1
Cincinnati Bengals 3 13 0 .188 276 406 W1
Houston Oilers 2 14 0 .125 226 352 W1
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gollark: I was going to have single-track rail lines in my tunnels, actually.
gollark: My existing tunnels are 4x3 stone brick ones.
gollark: I favour the staircasey design.
gollark: I'll need to look at the heat multiplier and stuff, but it might be possible to run ox on it.

References
  1. 1994 Houston Oilers
  2. "1994 Houston Oilers draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
  3. "1994 Houston Oilers starters, roster, and players". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
  4. Arizona Cardinals at Houston Oilers – December 4th, 1994. Retrieved 2018-Sep-10.
  5. Pro Football Reference; In a single game, from 1940 to 2017, requiring opp Safeties >= 1 and Safeties >= 1, sorted by ascending Date
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