1977 Houston Oilers season

1977 Houston Oilers season
Owner	Bud Adams
General manager	Bum Phillips
Head coach	Bum Phillips
Home field	Houston Astrodome
Results
Record	8–6
Division place	2nd AFC Central
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	DT Elvin Bethea DL Curley Culp LB Robert Brazile
AP All-Pros	LB Robert Brazile (1st team) PR/KR Billy "White Shoes" Johnson (1st team) DL Curley Culp (2nd team) WR Ken Burrough (2nd team)

The 1977 Houston Oilers season was the 18th season overall and eighth with the National Football League (NFL). The Oilers won three of their first four games, which was capped by a 27–10 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Astrodome. However, injuries would hamper the Oilers chances as they lost five of their next six games. The team improved upon their previous season's output of 5–9, winning eight games,[1] but failed to qualify for the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season.

Offseason

NFL draft

Main article: 1977 NFL draft

1977 Houston Oilers draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	11	Morris Towns	Offensive tackle	Missouri
2	38	George Reihner	Offensive guard	Penn State
3	66	Tim Wilson	Running back	Maryland
3	70	Jimmie Giles *	Tight end	Alcorn State
3	84	Rob Carpenter	Running back	Miami (OH)
4	98	Warren Anderson	Wide receiver	West Virginia State
6	148	Gary Woolford	Cornerback	Florida State
6	165	David Carter	Center	Western Kentucky
8	198	Steve Davis	Wide receiver	Georgia
8	205	Eddie Foster	Wide receiver	Houston
9	232	Bill Currier	Safety	South Carolina
10	262	Harvey Hull	Linebacker	Mississippi State
11	289	Al Romano	Linebacker	Pittsburgh
12	316	Ove Johansson	Kicker	Abilene Christian
Made roster    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

[2]

Roster

1977 Houston Oilers roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 11 Tom Duniven 21 John Hadl  7 Dan Pastorini Running backs (RB) 26 Rob Carpenter FB 47 Ronnie Coleman 30 Don Hardeman 31 Mike Voight 45 Tim Wilson FB Wide receivers (WR) 83 Warren Anderson 00 Ken Burrough 89 Eddie Foster 84 Billy Johnson Tight ends (TE) 86 Mike Barber 88 Jimmie Giles

Offensive linemen (OL) 75 Elbert Drungo G 60 Ed Fisher G 70 Conway Hayman G 72 Kevin Hunt T 55 Carl Mauck C 64 George Reihner G 73 Greg Sampson T 76 Morris Towns T Defensive linemen (DL) 65 Elvin Bethea DE 78 Curley Culp NT 69 Andy Dorris DE 71 Ken Kennard NT 77 James Young DE

Linebackers (LB) 63 Steve Baumgartner OLB 54 Gregg Bingham ILB 52 Robert Brazile OLB 57 Steve Kiner OLB 51 Ted Thompson ILB 59 Ted Washington OLB Defensive backs (DB) 19 Willie Alexander CB/FS 20 Bill Currier FS 15 Al Johnson DB 25 Kurt Knoff SS 37 Mike Reinfeldt FS 29 Rich Sowells CB 39 Art Stringer 28 Mike Weger SS Special teams 16 Toni Fritsch K 18 Cliff Parsley P

Reserve 67 Jimmy Dean DE (IR) -- Harvey Hull LB (IR) -- Bobby Simon T (IR) 38 C. L. Whittington FS (IR) -- Gary Woolford FS (IR) Rookies in italics

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 18	New York Jets	W 20–0	1–0	Astrodome	39,488
2	September 25	at Green Bay Packers	W 16–10	2–0	Lambeau Field	55,071
3	October 2	at Miami Dolphins	L 7–27	2–1	Miami Orange Bowl	49,619
4	October 9	Pittsburgh Steelers	W 27–10	3–1	Astrodome	49,226
5	October 16	Cleveland Browns	L 23–24	3–2	Astrodome	47,888
6	October 23	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 10–27	3–3	Three Rivers Stadium	48,517
7	October 30	at Cincinnati Bengals	L 10–13	3–4	Riverfront Stadium	53,194
8	November 6	Chicago Bears	W 47–0	4–4	Astrodome	47,226
9	November 13	at Oakland Raiders	L 29–34	4–5	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	53,667
10	November 20	at Seattle Seahawks	W 22–10	5–5	Kingdome	61,519
11	November 27	Kansas City Chiefs	W 34–20	6–5	Astrodome	42,934
12	December 4	Denver Broncos	L 14–24	6–6	Astrodome	46,875
13	December 11	at Cleveland Browns	W 19–15	7–6	Cleveland Municipal Stadium	30,898
14	December 18	Cincinnati Bengals	W 21–16	8–6	Astrodome	46,212
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

AFC Central
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Pittsburgh Steelers^(3)	9	5	0	.643	4–2	7–5	276	243	W1
Houston Oilers	8	6	0	.571	3–3	6–6	299	230	W2
Cincinnati Bengals	8	6	0	.571	3–3	6–5	238	235	L1
Cleveland Browns	6	8	0	.429	2–4	5–7	269	267	L4

References

1. 1977 Houston Oilers
2. "1977 Houston Oilers draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 11, 2014.

External links

• 1977 Houston Oilers at Pro-Football-Reference.com