1992 Houston Oilers season

1992 Houston Oilers season
Owner	Bud Adams
Head coach	Jack Pardee
General manager	Mike Holovak
Home field	Houston Astrodome
Results
Record	10–6
Division place	2nd AFC Central
Playoff finish	Lost Wild Card Playoffs (at Bills) 38–41 (OT)
Uniform
← 1991 Oilers seasons 1993 →

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

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[]

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 Owner/Chairman of the Board/President – Bud Adams Executive Vice President/General Manager – Mike Holovak Assistant General Manager – Floyd Reese Head coaches Head Coach – Jack Pardee Offensive coaches Offensive Coordinator – Kevin Gilbride Running Backs – Frank Novak Receivers – Chris Palmer Offensive Line – Bob Young Assistant Offensive Line – Richard Smith			Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator – Jim Eddy Defensive Line – Jim Stanley Linebackers – Frank Bush Defensive Backs – Pat Thomas Quality Control – Gregg Williams Special teams coaches Special Teams – Richard Smith Strength and conditioning Strength and Rehabilitation – Steve Watterson

Roster[]

1992 Houston Oilers roster

	Quarterbacks 14 Cody Carlson  6 Mike Elkins  1 Warren Moon  7 Bucky Richardson Running backs 33 Gary Brown 32 Spencer Tillman 44 Lorenzo White Wide receivers 87 Pat Coleman 80 Curtis Duncan 81 Ernest Givins 86 Corey Harris 83 Leonard Harris 84 Haywood Jeffires 85 Drew Hill 86 Damon Mays 89 Webster Slaughter 88 Gary Wellman Tight ends Vacant		Offensive linemen 66 Doug Dawson G 77 Kevin Donnalley T 55 John Flannery G/C 78 Don Maggs T 74 Bruce Matthews C 63 Mike Munchak G 64 Erik Norgard G/C 73 David Williams T Defensive linemen 76 Jeff Alm DT 79 Ray Childress DT 95 William Fuller DE 96 Sean Jones DE 94 Glenn Montgomery DT 72 Willis Peguese DE 68 Tim Roberts DT 99 Doug Smith DT 71 Craig Veasey DE		Linebackers 59 Joe Bowden MLB 93 Rick Graf OLB 56 Scott Kozak OLB 57 Lamar Lathon OLB 91 Johnny Meads OLB 50 Eddie Robinson OLB 53 Eugene Seale MLB 54 Al Smith MLB Defensive backs 22 Tony Brown CB 28 Cris Dishman CB 38 Mike Dumas S 21 Jerry Gray CB 24 Steve Jackson CB 23 Richard Johnson CB 29 Darryll Lewis CB 25 Bubba McDowell SS 26 Bo Orlando FS 31 Marcus Robertson FS Special teams  3 Al Del Greco K  9 Greg Montgomery P		Reserve lists Practice squad Mike Gisler G Rookies in italics

^[2]

Regular season[]

Schedule[]

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

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

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 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
view talk	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[]

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	4	OT	Total
Oilers	7	21	7	3	0	38
Bills	3	0	28	7	3	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[]

• Haywood Jeffires, Pro Bowl Selection
• Haywood Jeffires, All Pro Selection
• Warren Moon, AFC Passing Leader (Passer Rating 89.3)^[5]
• Warren Moon, Pro Bowl Selection
• Lorenzo White, Pro Bowl Selection

References[]

External links[]

• 1992 Houston Oilers at Pro-Football-Reference.com

• Week 16: Oilers Beat Clock, Browns : AFC: Houston scores two touchdowns in final three minutes to win at Cleveland, 17-14, Los Angeles Times (Associated Press), Dec. 21, 1992.