1981 Houston Oilers season

Last updated

1981 Houston Oilers season
Owner Bud Adams
General manager Ladd Herzeg
Head coach Ed Biles
Home stadium Houston Astrodome
Results
Record7–9
Division place3rd AFC Central
PlayoffsDid not qualify
Pro Bowlers T Leon Gray
RB Earl Campbell
LB Robert Brazile
KR Carl Roaches
All-Pros LB Robert Brazile (2nd team)

The 1981 Houston Oilers season was the franchise's 22nd overall and the 12th in the National Football League (NFL). Bum Phillips was fired as head coach during the offseason for failing to reach the Super Bowl, and replaced by Ed Biles. However, the Oilers defensive problems would catch up with them as they finished with a disappointing 7–9 record, as Earl Campbell fought through injuries to rush for 1,376 yards. After a fast 4–2 start, Houston would struggle in the second half, going 3–7 in their final 10 games, including a critical loss to the New Orleans Saints, who finished 4–12 in 1981.

Contents

Offseason

NFL draft

1981 Houston Oilers draft
RoundPickPlayerPositionCollegeNotes
379 Mike Holston   Wide receiver Morgan State
4106 Nick Eyre   Offensive tackle BYU
5133 Delbert Fowler   Linebacker West Virginia
6159 Bill Kay   Defensive back Purdue
7193Don Washington Defensive back Texas A&M–Kingsville
8217 Willie Tullis  Defensive back Troy
9243 Avon Riley  Linebacker UCLA
10270Larry Jones  Running back Colorado State
11297Claude Matthews  Guard Auburn
12324 Bill Capece   Placekicker Florida State
      Made roster  

[1]

Personnel

Staff

1981 Houston Oilers staff

Front office

  • Owner/Chairman of the Board/President – Bud Adams
  • Executive Vice President/General Manager – Ladd Herzeg

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches



Roster

1981 Houston Oilers roster
Quarterbacks (QB)

Running backs (RB)

Wide receivers (WR)

Tight ends (TE)

 Offensive linemen (OL)

Defensive linemen (DL)

 Linebackers (LB)

Defensive backs (DB)

Special teams (ST)

Reserve


Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

A ticket for an October 26, 1981 game between the Oilers and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Houston Oilers at Pittsburgh Steelers 1981-10-26 (ticket).jpg
A ticket for an October 26, 1981 game between the Oilers and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
WeekDateOpponentResultRecordGame siteNFL.com
recap
1September 6at Los Angeles Rams W 27–201–0 Anaheim Stadium Recap
2September 13at Cleveland Browns W 9–32–0 Cleveland Stadium Recap
3September 20 Miami Dolphins L 10–162–1 Astrodome Recap
4September 27at New York Jets L 17–332–2 Shea Stadium Recap
5October 4 Cincinnati Bengals W 17–103–2 Astrodome Recap
6October 11 Seattle Seahawks W 35–174–2 Astrodome Recap
7October 18at New England Patriots L 10–384–3 Schaefer Stadium Recap
8October 26at Pittsburgh Steelers L 13–264–4 Three Rivers Stadium Recap
9November 1at Cincinnati Bengals L 21–344–5 Riverfront Stadium Recap
10November 8 Oakland Raiders W 17–165–5 Astrodome Recap
11November 15at Kansas City Chiefs L 10–235–6 Arrowhead Stadium Recap
12November 22 New Orleans Saints L 24–275–7 Astrodome Recap
13November 29 Atlanta Falcons L 27–315–8 Astrodome Recap
14December 3 Cleveland Browns W 17–136–8 Astrodome Recap
15December 13at San Francisco 49ers L 6–286–9 Candlestick Park Recap
16December 20 Pittsburgh Steelers W 21–207–9 Astrodome Recap
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

AFC Central
WLTPCTDIVCONFPFPASTK
Cincinnati Bengals (1)1240.7504–210–2421304W2
Pittsburgh Steelers 880.5003–35–7356297L3
Houston Oilers 790.4384–26–6281355W1
Cleveland Browns 5110.3131–52–10276375L5

References

  1. ↑ "1981 Houston Oilers draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved October 22, 2014.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.