What’s the best ever Houston Oilers squad?

[74_75_78_79_]

Considering the AFL was very new at the time, I’ll assume that no one will pick their actual title teams of ’60 or ’61. Perhaps their ’62 installment, that brought Hank & Len into OT, might actually be better than those two (correct me if wrong).

Looking at their entire history while they were named the Houston Oilers, safe enough to assume it comes down to an obvious two squads - the ’79 installment that beat Chargers at the Murph w/out key players then giving Steelers all they could handle in the AFCC (won at Dallas on Turkey Day) and the ’93 gang winning their last 11 of the regular season and widely considered the only team that year that would’ve given the ’Boys a game had they actually made SBXXVIII.

#34 vs Buddy Ball.

Gilbride’s O led by Warren Moon vs an also-stout Ed Biles defense (along with a...‘not too bad’ D-line coach).

Assuming that you all agree it’s down to those two...who wins?

Sure enough some of you may say the ’91 team that almost beat ‘Skins at RFK only to mysteriously barely beat Coz’s 8-8 Jets at home, then lose to Denver who they crushed regular season. Definitely a respectable suggestion, but IMO I’ll still say it’s down to those other two.

I, personally, will lean toward ’79! Yes, ‘vanilla’ offenses under Bum, but tough and full of fundamentals. Pardee a good coach, but Bum quite better; especially in the post-season, over-achieving at times.

[BD Sullivan]

The '79 team won a playoff game on the road with seemingly no chance; the '93 team dropped their only playoff game at home.

[Rupert Patrick]

The '79 team won a playoff game on the road with seemingly no chance; the '93 team dropped their only playoff game at home.

I consider the 1979 Oilers upset of the Chargers to be the biggest upset in pro football history. The fact that they beat the top seeded Chargers in San Diego without Earl Campbell or Ken Burrough or Dan Pastorini, with QB Gifford Nielsen and RB Rob Carpenter, who rushed for 67 yards, is mind-boggling. Rod Perry had one of the ten greatest postseason performances ever with four interceptions along with blocking a short field goal and returning it 57 yards. The FG block came late in the second quarter and turned a 10-0 San Diego lead to a 7-3 SD lead and changed the momentum of the game.

[SixtiesFan]

The '79 team won a playoff game on the road with seemingly no chance; the '93 team dropped their only playoff game at home.

I consider the 1979 Oilers upset of the Chargers to be the biggest upset in pro football history. The fact that they beat the top seeded Chargers in San Diego without Earl Campbell or Ken Burrough or Dan Pastorini, with QB Gifford Nielsen and RB Rob Carpenter, who rushed for 67 yards, is mind-boggling. Rod Perry had one of the ten greatest postseason performances ever with four interceptions along with blocking a short field goal and returning it 57 yards. The FG block came late in the second quarter and turned a 10-0 San Diego lead to a 7-3 SD lead and changed the momentum of the game.

Going into that game, in which he rushed for 67 yards in 18 carries, Rob Carpenter was on crutches. I think he had a bad ankle. It was considered a tremendous effort by Carpenter.

[Jay Z]

The '79 team won a playoff game on the road with seemingly no chance; the '93 team dropped their only playoff game at home.

I consider the 1979 Oilers upset of the Chargers to be the biggest upset in pro football history. The fact that they beat the top seeded Chargers in San Diego without Earl Campbell or Ken Burrough or Dan Pastorini, with QB Gifford Nielsen and RB Rob Carpenter, who rushed for 67 yards, is mind-boggling. Rod Perry had one of the ten greatest postseason performances ever with four interceptions along with blocking a short field goal and returning it 57 yards. The FG block came late in the second quarter and turned a 10-0 San Diego lead to a 7-3 SD lead and changed the momentum of the game.

As far as the Oilers-Chargers game, you're right that the FG block was really the key play of the game. I don't think the Oilers have a prayer in that game if the Chargers make that FG.

Looks like the line on that game was only 8 points. Personally, I would call SB 36 (Rams-Patriots) a bigger upset. Rams go into the game +2200 yards, Patriots are -500. 14 point spread, and a legitimate one. Rams-Vikings 1977. Vikings were barely a .500 team. Had a -17 turnover differential going in, and the Rams can't come up with a single TO in the mud.

In the Oilers-Chargers game, Carpenter was a capable replacement. Went off for 161 against the Eagles in the playoffs a couple of years later. The Chargers should have crowded the line, forced Nielsen to beat them. They seemed to go in with a vanilla approach. That was a mistake.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. The only statistically dominant team the Oilers ever had was 1961. Bum's teams played well in big games, but they were never week to week dominant at any point. Pardee's teams were statistically better, but crapped out in the playoffs. I'll vote for 1979 based on playoff performance.

[sheajets]

The '79 team won a playoff game on the road with seemingly no chance; the '93 team dropped their only playoff game at home.

I consider the 1979 Oilers upset of the Chargers to be the biggest upset in pro football history. The fact that they beat the top seeded Chargers in San Diego without Earl Campbell or Ken Burrough or Dan Pastorini, with QB Gifford Nielsen and RB Rob Carpenter, who rushed for 67 yards, is mind-boggling. Rod Perry had one of the ten greatest postseason performances ever with four interceptions along with blocking a short field goal and returning it 57 yards. The FG block came late in the second quarter and turned a 10-0 San Diego lead to a 7-3 SD lead and changed the momentum of the game.

This is true. And the Chargers that year were maybe even better than their 12-4 record. They looked like a 14-2, 15-1 type team. Best the franchise ever fielded. 3 of their 4 losses were by 7 points or less.

Fouts though was certainly not immune to throwing the big INT, and boy did he ever in that game. Over and over and over.

The Jets win in SD in 2010 reminded me of the 79 game. With the wretched Mark Sanchez under center.

[Bryan]

We had an old thread with a very in-depth discussion on that 1979 Chargers-Oilers game...here were my comments:

The Oilers also had the edge in "playoff experience". At the very least, the Chargers looked a bit tentative the entire game, perhaps due to their lack of postseason experience.

I think the Chargers turnovers were the key to the game. San Diego marched down the field on their opening possession and scored a TD...they could move the ball on Oilers all game long, but their possessions were eaten up by interceptions. Bob Klein was particularly terrible...he dropped a ton of passes and a couple of the INTs were throws that bounced off his hands. After watching the game (used to be on Youtube), I was not surprised to learn that the 1979 playoff was the final game of Klein's career. The Oilers seemed content to double up on the outside WRs and/or play both safeties deep and let Klein roam free in the middle. Perhaps if Winslow was healthy, the Oilers wouldn't have been able to do this. Much was made of the Oilers "stealing signals" (in reality, Fouts would line up under center with a 'cheat step' on passing plays), but I don't know how much that really helped. The Chargers made a lot of mistakes on their own.

Gifford Nielsen was immobile, indecisive, and had zero arm strength. The most amazing thing to me about the game is that Nielsen's final numbers actually looked decent (10-19-111-1-1). The only good pass he threw all game was the one to Renfro, which was a 10-yard slant turned into a 47-yard TD. The Chargers didn't play poorly on defense, but I thought they were too conservative. They should have forced the issue more by playing 8 in the box and stacking the LOS. They kind of let Houston run their regular offense. Carpenter, Wilson, and Clark were able to gain consistent yardage, and Nielsen wasn't sacked. I don't think its a stretch to say that Gifford Nielsen is the least-impressive QB to ever win a postseason game.

[Jay Z]

We had an old thread with a very in-depth discussion on that 1979 Chargers-Oilers game...here were my comments:

The Oilers also had the edge in "playoff experience". At the very least, the Chargers looked a bit tentative the entire game, perhaps due to their lack of postseason experience.

I think the Chargers turnovers were the key to the game. San Diego marched down the field on their opening possession and scored a TD...they could move the ball on Oilers all game long, but their possessions were eaten up by interceptions. Bob Klein was particularly terrible...he dropped a ton of passes and a couple of the INTs were throws that bounced off his hands. After watching the game (used to be on Youtube), I was not surprised to learn that the 1979 playoff was the final game of Klein's career. The Oilers seemed content to double up on the outside WRs and/or play both safeties deep and let Klein roam free in the middle. Perhaps if Winslow was healthy, the Oilers wouldn't have been able to do this. Much was made of the Oilers "stealing signals" (in reality, Fouts would line up under center with a 'cheat step' on passing plays), but I don't know how much that really helped. The Chargers made a lot of mistakes on their own.

Gifford Nielsen was immobile, indecisive, and had zero arm strength. The most amazing thing to me about the game is that Nielsen's final numbers actually looked decent (10-19-111-1-1). The only good pass he threw all game was the one to Renfro, which was a 10-yard slant turned into a 47-yard TD. The Chargers didn't play poorly on defense, but I thought they were too conservative. They should have forced the issue more by playing 8 in the box and stacking the LOS. They kind of let Houston run their regular offense. Carpenter, Wilson, and Clark were able to gain consistent yardage, and Nielsen wasn't sacked. I don't think its a stretch to say that Gifford Nielsen is the least-impressive QB to ever win a postseason game.

Keeping this focused on the Oilers, look what happened the next week. Campbell, Pastorini, and Burrough were all back. Burrough actually played a little bit against the Chargers, started against the Steelers but was never thrown to. Anyway, if I'm a defense, I'd rather take the chance of Pastorini beating me than Campbell. Don't know if the Steelers put 8 in the box, but they stopped Campbell. If it's Carpenter/Nielsen, same thing. Stop the run game. Even if Nielsen somehow hits a big play, you're a big scoring team, you get the ball back. Instead of letting the Oilers wind the clock, give you bad field position, make it a fewer possession game.

Now the Steelers had a better run D than the Chargers, so it may have been a better matchup for Pittsburgh. But you have to try.

[L.C. Greenwood]

We had an old thread with a very in-depth discussion on that 1979 Chargers-Oilers game...here were my comments:

The Oilers also had the edge in "playoff experience". At the very least, the Chargers looked a bit tentative the entire game, perhaps due to their lack of postseason experience.

I think the Chargers turnovers were the key to the game. San Diego marched down the field on their opening possession and scored a TD...they could move the ball on Oilers all game long, but their possessions were eaten up by interceptions. Bob Klein was particularly terrible...he dropped a ton of passes and a couple of the INTs were throws that bounced off his hands. After watching the game (used to be on Youtube), I was not surprised to learn that the 1979 playoff was the final game of Klein's career. The Oilers seemed content to double up on the outside WRs and/or play both safeties deep and let Klein roam free in the middle. Perhaps if Winslow was healthy, the Oilers wouldn't have been able to do this. Much was made of the Oilers "stealing signals" (in reality, Fouts would line up under center with a 'cheat step' on passing plays), but I don't know how much that really helped. The Chargers made a lot of mistakes on their own.

Gifford Nielsen was immobile, indecisive, and had zero arm strength. The most amazing thing to me about the game is that Nielsen's final numbers actually looked decent (10-19-111-1-1). The only good pass he threw all game was the one to Renfro, which was a 10-yard slant turned into a 47-yard TD. The Chargers didn't play poorly on defense, but I thought they were too conservative. They should have forced the issue more by playing 8 in the box and stacking the LOS. They kind of let Houston run their regular offense. Carpenter, Wilson, and Clark were able to gain consistent yardage, and Nielsen wasn't sacked. I don't think its a stretch to say that Gifford Nielsen is the least-impressive QB to ever win a postseason game.

We sometimes see in sports a natural letdown by the opponent when a great player is sidelined. Not so much overconfidence, but it was just different facing a good back like Carpenter instead of the usually unstoppable Campbell. A basketball parallel would be the NBA Finals decades ago, when Abdul-Jabbar was out. The expectation was Philadelphia would win, and send the series back to LA. The Lakers just moved Magic Johnson inside, and won the title in Phladelphia.

[Todd Pence]

Rod Perry had one of the ten greatest postseason performances ever with four interceptions along with blocking a short field goal and returning it 57 yards. The FG block came late in the second quarter and turned a 10-0 San Diego lead to a 7-3 SD lead and changed the momentum of the game.

I think you meant Vernon Perry. The following weekend, he continued his great postseason by taking an early pick-six of Terry Bradshaw's to the house, giving the Oilers a short-lived lead.