1974 Houston Oilers season

1974 Houston Oilers season
1974 Houston Oilers season
Owner	Bud Adams
General manager	Sid Gillman
Head coach	Sid Gillman
Home field	Houston Astrodome
Results
Record	7–7
Division place	2nd AFC Central
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
	← 1973; Oilers seasons; 1975 →;

The 1974 Houston Oilers season was the 15th season overall and fifth with the National Football League. The Oilers improved upon their previous season's 1–13 record, winning seven games.^[1] Despite the improvement, they failed to qualify for the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season.

Offseason

NFL draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	College
1974 Houston Oilers draft
4	79	Steve Manstedt	Linebacker	Nebraska
Made roster * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

^[2]

Roster

**1974 Houston Oilers roster**
Quarterbacks (QB) 10 Lynn Dickey 11 James Foote 7 Dan Pastorini Running backs (RB) 12 George Amundson 36 Bob Gresham 24 Willie Rodgers 23 Vic Washington 41 Terry Wells 44 Fred Willis Wide receivers (WR) 00 Ken Burrough 84 Billy Johnson 20 Billy Parks Tight ends (TE) 82 Mack Alston 83 Jerry Broadnax		Offensive linemen (OL) 63 Ronnie Carroll G 75 Elbert Drungo T 69 Solomon Freelon G 68 Brian Goodman G 72 Kevin Hunt T 61 Harris Jones G 73 Greg Sampson T 64 Ron Saul G 77 Sid Smith C Defensive linemen (DL) 65 Elvin Bethea DE 78 Curley Culp DT 70 Ed Fisher DE 71 Bubba McCollum DT 85 Tody Smith DE 79 Jim White DE		Linebackers (LB) 54 Gregg Bingham ILB 55 Ralph Cindrich 76 Al Cowlings DT 58 Marvin Davis 57 Steve Kiner OLB 59 Ted Washington OLB Defensive backs (DB) 19 Willie Alexander CB 48 Bob Atkins FS 15 Al Johnson DB 22 Zeke Moore CB 45 Jeff Severson SS 38 C. L. Whittington FS Special teams 4 David Beverly P 2 Skip Butler K				Reserve 53 Ron Lou C (IR) 24 Mike Montgomery WR (IR) Rookies in italics

Schedule

Preseason

Due to a player's strike affecting the 1974 preseason, the Oilers, like the rest of the NFL, played the preseason using an all-rookie roster. The strike was resolved prior to the start of the regular season.

On July 16, the Oilers played a preseason game vs the minor league San Antonio Toros, marking the last time an NFL team would play a game against a minor league team.^[3] (In 1969, the Atlanta Falcons rookies would play the minor league Alabama Hawks and in 1972 the New York Jets rookies would play the minor league Long Island Chiefs)^[4]

Regular season

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance	Recap
1	September 15	San Diego Chargers	W 21–14	1–0	Astrodome	25,317	Recap
2	September 22	at Cleveland Browns	L 7–20	1–1	Cleveland Municipal Stadium	55,242	Recap
3	September 29	Kansas City Chiefs	L 7–17	1–2	Astrodome	28,538	Recap
4	October 6	Pittsburgh Steelers	L 7–13	1–3	Astrodome	30,049	Recap
5	October 13	at Minnesota Vikings	L 10–51	1–4	Metropolitan Stadium	48,006	Recap
6	October 20	St. Louis Cardinals	L 27–31	1–5	Astrodome	26,371	Recap
7	October 27	at Cincinnati Bengals	W 34–21	2–5	Riverfront Stadium	55,434	Recap
8	November 3	at New York Jets	W 27–22	3–5	Shea Stadium	47,218	Recap
9	November 10	at Buffalo Bills	W 21–9	4–5	Rich Stadium	79,144	Recap
10	November 17	Cincinnati Bengals	W 20–3	5–5	Astrodome	44,054	Recap
11	November 24	Dallas Cowboys	L 0–10	5–6	Astrodome	49,775	Recap
12	December 1	at Pittsburgh Steelers	W 13–10	6–6	Three Rivers Stadium	41,195	Recap
13	December 8	at Denver Broncos	L 37–14	6–7	Mile High Stadium	46,942	Recap
14	December 15	Cleveland Browns	W 28–24	7–7	Astrodome	33,299	Recap
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	10	3	1	.750	4–2	7–3–1	305	189	W2
Houston Oilers	7	7	0	.500	4–2	7–4	236	282	W1
Cincinnati Bengals	7	7	0	.500	3–3	5–6	283	259	L3
Cleveland Browns	4	10	0	.286	1–5	3–8	251	344	L2

Season summary

Week 1 vs Chargers

Week One: San Diego Chargers (0–0) at Houston Oilers (0–0)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Chargers	0	7	7	0	14
Oilers	14	0	0	7	21

at Houston Astrodome, Houston, Texas

Date: September 15
Game time: 1:00 p.m. CST
Game weather: Indoors (dome)
Game attendance: 25,317
Referee: Pat Haggerty
Box Score

Game information

First quarter

HOU – George Amundson 1-yard run (Skip Butler kick). Oilers 7–0. Drive:
HOU – George Amundson 8-yard pass from Lynn Dickey (Skip Butler kick). Oilers 14–0. Drive:

Second quarter

SD – Glen Bonner 3-yard run (Dennis Partee kick). Oilers 14–7. Drive:

Third quarter

SD – Gary Garrison 29-yard pass from Dan Fouts (Dennis Partee kick). Tie 14–14. Drive:

Fourth quarter

HOU – George Amundson 3-yard run (Skip Butler kick). Oilers 21–14. Drive:

Top passers

SD – Dan Fouts – 13/20, 209 yards, TD, 2 INT
HOU – Lynn Dickey – 19/26, 195 yards, TD, INT

Top rushers

SD – Cid Edwards – 16 rushes, 100 yards
HOU – Ronnie Coleman – 21 rushes, 123 yards

Top receivers

SD – Gary Garrison – 4 receptions, 80 yards, TD
HOU – George Amundson – 5 receptions, 51 yards

References

^ 1974 Houston Oilers
^ "1974 Houston Oilers draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 12, 2014.
^ Today in SA history (July 16)
^ "Packer Excels at Quarterback as Jets Top L.I. Chiefs, 29‐3". The New York Times. July 30, 1972.

This article relating to an American football season is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] 1974 Houston Oilers

[2] "1974 Houston Oilers draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 12, 2014.

[3] Today in SA history (July 16)

[4] "Packer Excels at Quarterback as Jets Top L.I. Chiefs, 29‐3". The New York Times. July 30, 1972.

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