1978 Houston Oilers: 10-6-0
Previous Season Next SeasonHome record: 5-3-0 (136 points scored, 147 allowed) Road record: 5-3-0 (147 points scored, 151 allowed) Head Coach: Bum Phillips 283 points scored (14th of 28 teams), 298 points allowed (18th) NFL Averages: 18.3 points/game (293.3 points/team) Team stats and rankings: ---------------- PASSING ---------------- ----------- RUSHING ---------- --- TOTAL --- Cmp Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Int Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Yards (Rank) Turnovers Offense: 201 373 2,338 (18) 5.99 16 17 603 2,476 ( 6) 4.1 19 4,814 (16) 38 Defense: 240 428 2,842 (24) 6.11 17 17 556 2,072 ( 9) 3.7 14 4,914 (17) 34
Team roster (starters in bold): # Player Pos GP Hgt Wgt Age Exp College 00 Ken Burrough WR 16 6'4 210 30 9 Texas Southern ? Alvin Maxson RB 1 5'11 205 26 5 Southern Methodist 7 Dan Pastorini QB 16 6'3 205 29 8 Santa Clara 12 Guido Merkens WR 12 6'1 200 23 R Sam Houston State 14 Gifford Nielsen QB 2 6'4 205 24 R Brigham Young 15 Al Johnson DB 7 6'0 200 28 6 Cincinnati 16 Toni Fritsch K 16 5'7 195 33 7 None 18 Cliff Parsley P 16 6'1 211 23 2 Oklahoma State 19 Willie Alexander DB 16 6'3 195 29 8 Alcorn State 20 Bill Currier DB 14 6'0 190 23 2 South Carolina 25 Kurt Knoff DB 16 6'2 188 24 2 Kansas 26 Rob Carpenter RB 11 6'1 214 23 2 Miami (Ohio) 27 Greg Stemrick DB 16 5'11 185 27 4 Colorado State 28 Anthony Davis RB 2 5'10 190 26 2 Southern California 31 Brian Duncan RB 5 6'0 201 26 3 Southern Methodist 33 J.C. Wilson DB 16 6'0 177 22 R Pittsburgh 34 Earl Campbell RB 15 5'11 224 23 R Texas 37 Mike Reinfeldt DB 16 6'2 195 25 3 Wisconsin-Milwaukee 38 C.L. Whittington DB 12 6'1 200 26 4 Prairie View A&M 39 Larry Poole RB 9 6'0 195 26 4 Kent State 42 Robert Woods WR 3 5'7 170 23 R Grambling 45 Tim Wilson RB 16 6'3 220 24 2 Maryland 46 Robert Turner RB 4 5'11 200 24 1 Oklahoma State 47 Ronnie Coleman RB 15 5'10 198 27 5 Alabama A&M 51 Ted Thompson LB 16 6'1 220 25 4 Southern Methodist 52 Robert Brazile LB 16 6'4 238 25 4 Jackson State 53 Art Stringer LB 7 6'1 223 24 2 Ball State 54 Gregg Bingham LB 16 6'1 230 27 6 Purdue 55 Carl Mauck C 16 6'4 250 31 10 Southern Illinois 57 Steve Kiner LB 16 6'0 225 31 8 Tennessee 58 David Carter C 16 6'2 225 24 2 Western Kentucky 59 Ted Washington LB 16 6'1 245 30 6 Mississippi Valley State 60 Ed Fisher OG 16 6'3 250 29 5 Arizona State 62 John Schuhmacher OG 11 6'3 275 23 R Southern California 63 Steve Baumgartner DE 16 6'7 275 27 6 Purdue 64 George Reihner OG 9 6'4 263 23 2 Penn State 65 Elvin Bethea DE 16 6'3 255 32 11 North Carolina A&T 67 Jimmy Dean DE 3 6'4 252 23 1 Texas A&M 69 Andy Dorris DE 16 6'4 240 27 6 New Mexico State 70 Conway Hayman OG 16 6'3 260 29 4 Delaware 71 Ken Kennard DT 16 6'2 245 24 2 Angelo State 73 Greg Sampson OT 16 6'6 270 28 7 Stanford 76 Morris Towns OT 16 6'4 275 24 2 Missouri 77 James Young DE 16 6'2 260 28 2 Texas Southern 78 Curley Culp DT 16 6'1 265 32 11 Arizona State 81 Johnnie Dirden WR 16 6'0 190 26 R Sam Houston State 82 Mike Renfro WR 14 6'0 184 23 R Texas Christian 84 Billy Johnson WR 5 5'9 170 26 5 Widener 86 Mike Barber TE 16 6'3 235 25 3 Louisiana Tech 87 Conrad Rucker TE 13 6'3 260 23 R Southern 88 Rich Caster WR 14 6'5 230 30 9 Jackson State
Per Per Passing Att Cmp Pct Yards Att Cmp TD TD% Int Int% Sack Loss Rating Dan Pastorini 368 199 54.1 2,473 6.72 12.4 16 4.3 17 4.6 15 123 70.4 Gifford Nielsen 4 2 50.0 0 0.00 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 2 12 56.3 Ken Burrough 1 0 0.0 0 0.00 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 39.6
Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD Ken Burrough 47 624 13.3 2 Mike Barber 32 513 16.0 3 Mike Renfro 26 339 13.0 2 Rich Caster 20 316 15.8 5 Ronnie Coleman 19 246 12.9 1 Rob Carpenter 17 150 8.8 0 Tim Wilson 15 91 6.1 1 Earl Campbell 12 48 4.0 0 Robert Woods 6 96 16.0 2 Conrad Rucker 2 38 19.0 0 Brian Duncan 2 0 0.0 0 Billy Johnson 1 10 10.0 0 Guido Merkens 1 6 6.0 0 Greg Sampson 1 -4 -4.0 0 | Rushing Att Yards Avg TD Earl Campbell 302 1,450 4.8 13 Tim Wilson 126 431 3.4 0 Rob Carpenter 82 348 4.2 5 Ronnie Coleman 61 188 3.1 1 Rich Caster 5 32 6.4 0 Mike Barber 2 14 7.0 0 Dan Pastorini 18 11 0.6 0 Mike Renfro 1 9 9.0 0 Robert Woods 2 4 2.0 0 Brian Duncan 1 0 0.0 0 Ken Burrough 3 -11 -3.7 0 |
Kickoff Returns Att Yards Avg TD Johnnie Dirden 32 780 24.4 0 Larry Poole 4 107 26.8 0 Anthony Davis 4 98 24.5 0 Billy Johnson 4 73 18.2 0 Robert Turner 4 69 17.2 0 Robert Woods 3 59 19.7 0 Ronnie Coleman 2 40 20.0 0 Brian Duncan 2 38 19.0 0 Tim Wilson 2 29 14.5 0 Rob Carpenter 1 11 11.0 0 | Punt Returns Att Yards Avg FC TD Ronnie Coleman 16 142 8.9 1 0 Guido Merkens 13 132 10.2 1 0 Robert Woods 9 82 9.1 0 0 Billy Johnson 8 60 7.5 0 0 Ted Thompson 0 0 ? 2 0 |
1978 Draft: NFL Rnd Ovr Pos Player Games College 1 1 RB Earl Campbell 115 Texas [pick acquired from TB] 3 73 QB Gifford Nielsen 55 Brigham Young 4 98 WR Mike Renfro 133 Texas Christian 6 154 TE Conrad Rucker 33 Southern 8 210 DB J.C. Wilson 84 Pittsburgh 9 239 DE Jim Mol Morningside 10 266 TE Steve Young Wake Forest 11 295 WR Willie Thicklen Alabama State 12 322 OG John Schumacher 69 USC
Traded draft picks: #1 to TB (Doug Williams), #2 to TB (Brett Moritz), #5 to SF via KC, CHI (Archie Reese), #7 to BUF (Steve Powell)
Transactions:
| 04-24-1978 | traded Jimmie Giles, Houston's #1 and #2 picks in the 1978 draft, and Houston's #3 and #5 picks in the 1979 draft to Buccaneers for Tampa's #1 pick in the 1978 draft |
| 04-26-1978 | traded an undisclosed 1979 draft pick to Chiefs for Jerrel Wilson |
| 04-30-1978 | traded Don Hardeman to Buccaneers for Anthony Davis |
| 07-22-1978 | Mike Weger retired |
| 08-11-1978 | traded Elbert Drungo to Bills for Buffalo's #6 pick in the 1979 draft |
| 08-17-1978 | traded Houston's #7 picks in the 1979 and 1980 drafts to Jets for Richard Caster |
| 08-24-1978 | placed Ernest Lee on injured reserve |
| 08-24-1978 | placed Richard Anderson on injured reserve |
| 08-29-1978 | placed Jim Mol on injured reserve |
| 09-08-1978 | placed Eddie Foster on injured reserve |
Playoff Results: Click on the date to view the game summary. Date Opponent Result 12/24/78 at Miami Dolphins W 17-9 12/31/78 at New England Patriots W 31-14 01/07/79 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 5-34
1978 Regular Season Game Log: Click on the date to view the game summary. Date Opponent Result Record 09/03/78 at Atlanta Falcons L 14-20 0-1-0 09/10/78 at Kansas City Chiefs W 20-17 1-1-0 09/17/78 vs San Francisco 49ers W 20-19 2-1-0 09/24/78 vs Los Angeles Rams L 6-10 2-2-0 10/01/78 at Cleveland Browns W 16-13 3-2-0 10/08/78 at Oakland Raiders L 17-21 3-3-0 10/15/78 vs Buffalo Bills W 17-10 4-3-0 10/23/78 at Pittsburgh Steelers W 24-17 5-3-0 10/29/78 at Cincinnati Bengals L 13-28 5-4-0 11/05/78 vs Cleveland Browns W 14-10 6-4-0 11/12/78 at New England Patriots W 26-23 7-4-0 11/20/78 vs Miami Dolphins W 35-30 8-4-0 11/26/78 vs Cincinnati Bengals W 17-10 9-4-0 12/03/78 vs Pittsburgh Steelers L 3-13 9-5-0 12/10/78 at New Orleans Saints W 17-12 10-5-0 12/17/78 vs San Diego Chargers L 24-45 10-6-0