1973 Houston Oilers season

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1973 Houston Oilers season
OwnerBud Adams
Head coachBill Peterson and Sid Gillman
General managerSid Gillman
Home fieldHouston Astrodome
Results
Record1–13
Division place4th AFC Central
Playoff finishdid not qualify
Pro BowlersDE Elvin Bethea

The 1973 Houston Oilers season was their fourth season in the National Football League and their 14th in competition overall. The team matched their previous season’s output of 1–13,[1] and they missed the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season. Their eighteen consecutive losses after winning the third game in 1972 was an NFL record beaten only by the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1976 and 1977, the Detroit Lions from the last game of 2007 until the third game of 2009, and the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2020 to 2021.

Coach Bill Peterson left the team after an 0–5 start, and was replaced by coaching veteran Sid Gillman, who went 1–8 to finish the season. Peterson finished his NFL coaching career with a 1-18 record. The one win is the fewest for any head coach in NFL history. The Oilers’ offense struggled in 1973, ranking last in rushing yards (1388), second worst in yards per play (3.9), and third-worst in both total yards (3307) and first downs (tied at 193).[2]

The 1973 Oilers had one of the worst defenses of all time, statistically; they gave up 447 points during the season, the most ever for a 14-game season in the merger era (1970–1977).[3] Only three teams gave up more points in a 14-game season: the 1966 Giants, the 1963 Broncos, and the 1961 Raiders.[4] Their point-differential of −248 points was the worst in the league that year, and remains one of the ten worst in NFL history.[5] (The second-worst team, the Philadelphia Eagles, gave up 393 points, or 3.8 fewer points per game.) Houston also gave up a league-high 26 touchdown passes in 1973.

They are also the most recent franchise in the NFL to have back-to-back one-win seasons; in fact since 1974 not a single NFL franchise again suffered multiple one- or no-win seasons in a non-strike season, until the Cleveland Browns did so in 2016 and 2017.[6] Since the NFL developed a uniform schedule in 1936, the only other time a franchise has had back-to-back one-win seasons has been the 1949 and 1950 Baltimore Colts.

Offseason[]

NFL draft[]

Main article: 1973 NFL draft
1973 Houston Oilers draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
1 1 John Matuszak  Defensive end Tampa
1 14 George Amundson  Running back Iowa State
4 79 Gregg Bingham  Linebacker Purdue
5 105 Edesel Garrison  Wide receiver USC
6 131 Ron Mayo  Tight end Morgan State
7 157 Shelby Jordan  Tackle Washington University (St. Louis)
8 183 Joe Blahak  Defensive back Nebraska
9 209 Mark Williams  Kicker Rice
10 235 Darrell Vaughn  Defensive tackle Northern Colorado
11 261 Larry Eaglin  Defensive back Stephen F. Austin
12 287 Brad Lyman  Wide receiver UCLA
13 313 Willie Martin  Guard Northeastern State (Oklahoma)
14 339 Ron Lou  Center Arizona State
15 365 Roger Goree  Linebacker Baylor
16 391 Tim Dameron  Wide receiver East Carolina
17 417 Randy Braband  Linebacker Texas
      Made roster  

[7]

Roster[]

1973 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

Schedule[]

Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance
1 September 16 at New York Giants L 14–34 0–1 Yankee Stadium 57,979
2 September 23 at Cincinnati Bengals L 10–24 0–2 Riverfront Stadium 51,823
3 September 30 Pittsburgh Steelers L 7–36 0–3 Astrodome 39,331
4 October 7 Los Angeles Rams L 26–31 0–4 Astrodome 34,875
5 October 14 Denver Broncos L 20–48 0–5 Astrodome 32,801
6 October 21 at Cleveland Browns L 13–42 0–6 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 61,146
7 October 28 at Chicago Bears L 14–35 0–7 Soldier Field 43,755
8 November 4 at Baltimore Colts W 31–27 1–7 Memorial Stadium 52,707
9 November 11 Cleveland Browns L 13–23 1–8 Astrodome 37,230
10 November 18 at Kansas City Chiefs L 14–38 1–9 Arrowhead Stadium 68,444
11 November 25 New England Patriots L 0–32 1–10 Astrodome 27,344
12 December 2 Oakland Raiders L 6–17 1–11 Astrodome 25,801
13 December 9 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 7–33 1–12 Three Rivers Stadium 38,004
14 December 16 Cincinnati Bengals L 24–27 1–13 Astrodome 21,955

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries[]

Week 3[]

See also: 1973 Pittsburgh Steelers season
Pittsburgh Steelers (2–0) at Houston Oilers (0–2)
1 2 34Total
Steelers 3 3 131736
Oilers 0 7 007

at Astrodome, Houston, Texas

  • Date: September 30
  • Game time: 2:00 p.m.
  • Game weather: Indoors (dome)
  • Game attendance: 39,331
  • Referee: Jim Tunney
  • Pro-Football-Reference.com

Standings[]

AFC Central
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 W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Cincinnati Bengals 10 4 0 .714 4–2 8–3 286 231 W6
Pittsburgh Steelers 10 4 0 .714 4–2 7–4 347 210 W2
Cleveland Browns 7 5 2 .571 4–2 6–3–2 234 255 L2
Houston Oilers 1 13 0 .071 0–6 1–10 199 447 L6

References[]

  1. ^ 1973 Houston Oilers
  2. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com: 1973 NFL season
  3. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com: In a single season, from 1970 to 1977, in the regular season, sorted by descending Points Allowed
  4. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com: In a single season, from 1960 to 1977, in the regular season, sorted by descending Points Allowed
  5. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com: In a single season, from 1940 to 2011, in the regular season, sorted by ascending Points Differential
  6. ^ 100 Worst NFL Teams
  7. ^ "1973 Houston Oilers draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 12, 2014.
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