1994 Houston Oilers season

1994 Houston Oilers season
Owner	Bud Adams
Head coach	Jack Pardee (10 games) Jeff Fisher (final 6 games)
General manager	Floyd Reese
Home field	Houston Astrodome
Results
Record	2–14
Division place	4th AFC Central
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	OL Bruce Matthews CB Darryll Lewis
Uniform
← 1993 Oilers seasons 1995 →

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]

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 was fired, 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 mutually agreed to part ways with the Titans 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[]

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 Head Coach – Jack Pardee Assistant Head Coach/Offense – Kevin Gilbride Offensive coaches Offensive Coordinator – Dick Coury Running Backs – Frank Novak Receivers – Charlie Baggett Offensive Line – Bob Young			Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator – Jeff Fisher Defensive Line – Jim Stanley Linebackers – Gregg Williams Defensive Backs – Tom Bettis Quality Control – Frank Bush Special teams coaches Special Teams – Frank Novak Strength and conditioning Strength and Rehabilitation – Steve Watterson

Roster[]

1994 Houston Oilers roster

	Quarterbacks 14 Cody Carlson  7 Bucky Richardson 11 Billy Joe Tolliver Running backs 33 Gary Brown 47 Le'Shai Maston HB 37 Todd McNair 32 Spencer Tillman 44 Lorenzo White Wide receivers 89 Reggie Brown 87 Pat Coleman 83 Malcolm Floyd 81 Ernest Givins 82 Travis Hannah 80 Haywood Jeffires 84 Webster Slaughter 88 Gary Wellman Tight ends 85 Pat Carter 49 Roderick Lewis 48 John Henry Mills HB		Offensive linemen 77 Kevin Donnalley G 55 John Flannery G 72 Brad Hopkins T 74 Bruce Matthews C 64 Erik Norgard G/C 70 Stan Thomas T 73 David Williams T Defensive linemen 79 Ray Childress DT 90 Kenny Davidson DE 92 Henry Ford DE 57 Lamar Lathon DE 78 Keith McCants DE 94 Glenn Montgomery DT 93 Jeremy Nunley DE 68 Tim Roberts DT 71 Mike Teeter DT/DE		Linebackers 56 Micheal Barrow OLB 59 Joe Bowden OLB 53 Brett Faryniarz OLB 51 Lemanski Hall OLB 50 Eddie Robinson OLB 54 Al Smith MLB 52 Barron Wortham MLB Defensive backs 22 Tomur Barnes CB 23 Blaine Bishop SS 30 Mike Davis CB 28 Cris Dishman CB 24 Steve Jackson CB 29 Darryll Lewis CB 25 Bubba McDowell SS 26 Bo Orlando FS 31 Marcus Robertson FS Special teams 16 Rich Camarillo P  3 Al Del Greco K		Reserve lists Practice squad Rookies in italics

^[3]

Regular season[]

Schedule[]

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	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	Astrodome	Recap
4	September 25	Cincinnati Bengals	W 20–13	1–3	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	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 (OT)	1–8	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	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	Astrodome	Recap
15	December 11	Seattle Seahawks	L 14–16	1–13	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	Astrodome	Recap

Game summaries[]

Week 14[]

1 2 3 4 Total • Cardinals 0 10 0 20 30 Oilers 9 3 0 0 12 Date: December 4 Location: Astrodome, Houston, Texas Game start: 3:00 p.m. CST Game attendance: 39,821 Game weather: played indoors, domed stadium Referee: Red Cashion Television network: Fox

Scoring summary Q1 9:33 HOU Safety, Lamar Lathon tackled Jay Schroeder in end zone HOU 2–0 Q1 11:50 HOU Cris Dishman 36 yard interception return (Al Del Greco kick) HOU 9–0 Q2 2:59 ARI Larry Centers 1 yard rush (Greg Davis kick) HOU 9–7 Q2 10:45 ARI Greg Davis 25 yard field goal ARI 10–9 Q2 13:42 HOU Al Del Greco 34 yard field goal HOU 12–10 Q4 2:57 ARI Gary Clark 13 yard pass from Jay Schroeder (Ronald Moore run) ARI 18–12 Q4 ARI Greg Davis 23 yard field goal ARI 21–12 Q4 ARI Larry Centers 4 yard rush (Greg Davis kick) ARI 28–12 Q4 ARI Safety, Eric Swann tackled Billy Joe Tolliver in end zone ARI 30–12

^[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
view talk	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

References[]

External links[]

• 1994 Houston Oilers at Pro-Football-Reference.com