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1987 Houston Oilers season
Owner Bud Adams
Head Coach Jerry Glanville
Home Field Astrodome
Results
Record 9–6
Place 2nd AFC Central
Playoff Finish Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs (at Broncos) 10-34
Timeline
Previous Season Next Season
1986 1988

The 1987 season Houston Oilers season was the team's 28th overall and the 18th in the National Football League. The Oilers came into the season looking to improve on their 5–11 record from 1986, and make the playoffs for the first time since 1980.

Season summary[]

The 1987 NFL season was affected by a players strike that took place in week 3 of the season, which canceled all week 3 games. As a result, the Oilers canceled their was-to-be week 3 game against the Los Angeles Raiders. The Oilers began the season 3–1, their best start to a season since 1980. After the Oilers lost at home to the Patriots 21–7 in week 5, the Oilers defeated the Atlanta Falcons and Cincinnati Bengals to give them a 5–2 start to the season. After the Oilers lost to the 49ers on the road, they beat the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road, 23–3, for their first win in Pittsburgh since 1978. The Oilers would then play 2 disastrous games against the Cleveland Browns and the Indianapolis Colts, as they allowed 40+ points in each game, losing 40–7 to Cleveland at home and losing 51–27 to the Colts in Indianapolis. The Oilers would defeat the San Diego Chargers the next week, rebounding from those 2 bad losses. The Oilers would clinch a playoff spot in the seasons final week with a 21–17 win over Cincinnati, thus ending their 6-year playoff drought. In the playoffs, they defeated the Seattle Seahawks 23–20 in overtime on a Tony Zendejas field goal. However, the next week, they lost to the Broncos 34–10 in the Divisional Round, ending their season.

Offseason[]

NFL Draft[]

Pick # Player Position College
3 Alonzo Highsmith Running Back Miami (FL)
20 Haywood Jeffires Wide Receiver North Carolina State

Personnel[]

Staff[]

1987 Houston Oilers final staff
Front Office
  • Owner/Chairman of the Board/President – Bud Adams
  • Executive Vice President/General Manager – Ladd Herzeg

Head Coaches

Offensive Coaches

  • Quarterbacks – June Jones
  • Running Backs – Dick Jamieson
  • Receivers – Milt Jackson
  • Tight Ends – Miller McCalmon
  • Offensive Line – Kim Helton
  Defensive Coaches
  • Defensive Line – Doug Shively
  • Linebackers – Floyd Reese
  • Secondary – Tom Bettis

Special Teams Coaches

  • Special Teams – Miller McCalmon

Strength and Conditioning

  • Strength and Rehabilitation – Steve Watterson

NFL replacement players[]

After the league decided to use replacement players during the NFLPA strike, the following team was assembled:

Roster[]

1987 Houston Oilers roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

  • 82 Willie Drewrey
  • 80 Curtis Duncan
  • 81 Ernest Givins
  • 85 Drew Hill
  • 84 Haywood Jeffires

Tight ends

  • 88 Mark Gehring
  • 89 Jeff Parks
  • 87 Jamie Williams
Offensive linemen
  • 77 Bruce Davis T
  • 72 Kent Hill G
  • 74 Bruce Matthews G
  • 63 Mike Munchak G
  • 52 Jay Pennison C
  • 70 Dean Steinkuhler T

Defensive linemen

  • 71 Richard Byrd DE
  • 79 Ray Childress DT
  • 95 William Fuller DE
  • 64 Joe Dixon DT
  • 99 Doug Smith DT
Linebackers
  • 92 Tom Briehl
  • 51 Eric Fairs
  • 59 John Grimsley OLB
  • 57 Walter Johnson
  • 91 Johnny Meads OLB
  • 53 Eugene Seale MLB

Defensive backs

  • 29 Patrick Allen CB
  • 25 Keith Bostic SS
  • 24 Steve Brown CB
  • 31 Jeff Donaldson S
  • 22 Kenny Johnson
  • 23 Richard Johnson CB
  • 28 Allen Lyday
  • 26 Audray McMillian

Special teams

  •  8 Jeff Gossett P
  •  7 Tony Zendejas K
Reserve lists
  • ## Neal Dellocono LB (IR) Injury icon 2
  • 78 Don Maggs T (IR) Injury icon 2

Practice/Taxi Squad



Rookies in italics

Regular season[]

Schedule[]

Week Date Opponent Result Attendance
1 September 13 Los Angeles Rams W 20–16
33,186
2 September 20 at Buffalo L 34–30
56,534
September 27 Los Angeles Raiders canceled
3 October 4 at Denver W 40–10
38,494
4 October 11 at Cleveland W 15–10
38,927
5 October 18 New England L 21–7
26,294
6 October 25 Atlanta W 37–33
29,062
7 November 1 at Cincinnati W 31–29
52,700
8 November 8 at San Francisco L 27–20
59,740
9 November 15 at Pittsburgh W 23–3
56,177
10 November 22 Cleveland L 40–7
51,161
11 November 29 at Indianapolis Colts L 51–27
54,999
12 December 6 San Diego W 33–18
31,714
13 December 13 at New Orleans L 24–10
68,257
14 December 20 Pittsburgh W 24–16
38,683
15 December 27 Cincinnati W 21–17
49,775

Standings[]

1987 AFC Central standings
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA Streak
Cleveland Browns(2) 10 5 0 .667 5–1 8–3 390 239 W3
Houston Oilers(4) 9 6 0 .600 5–1 7–4 345 349 W2
Pittsburgh Steelers 8 7 0 .533 2–4 6–5 285 299 L2
Cincinnati Bengals 4 11 0 .267 0–6 3–9 285 370 L3

Playoffs[]

AFC Wild Card[]

Houston Oilers 23, Seattle Seahawks 20 (OT)
1 2 3 4 Total
Seahawks 7 3 3 7 20
Oilers 3 10 7 0 23

at Astrodome, Houston, Texas

  • Game time: 3:00 p.m. CST
  • Game attendance: 50,519
  • Referee: Bob McElwee
  • TV announcers (NBC): Marv Albert and Joe Namath

Oilers kicker Tony Zendejas won the game with a 42-yard field goal 8:05 into overtime. Although Houston outgained Seattle with 427 total offensive yards to 250, the game remained close until the very end.

AFC Divisional Playoff[]

Denver Broncos 34, Houston Oilers 10
1 2 3 4 Total
Oilers 0 3 0 7 10
Broncos 14 10 3 7 34

at Mile High Stadium, Denver, Colorado

Awards and records[]

  • Keith Bostic, NFL Leader, Interceptions, (6) – Tied with two others for league lead

Milestones[]

References[]

External links[]

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