American Football Wiki
1997 Tennessee Oilers season
Owner Bud Adams
Head Coach Jeff Fisher
General Manager Floyd Reese
Offensive Coordinator Les Steckel
Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams
Home Field Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium
Results
Record 8–8
Place 3rd AFC Central
Playoff Finish did not qualify
Uniform
Timeline
Previous Season Next Season
1996 (Houston) 1998

The 1997 Tennessee Oilers season was their 38th season overall and 28th in the National Football League (NFL). It was the team's first season in Memphis, Tennessee after moving from Houston, and they played at the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.

Led by head coach Jeff Fisher, the Oilers finished the season with 8 wins and 8 losses, and did not qualify for the playoffs. Despite defeating the Oakland Raiders 24–21 in their first game in their new city, they lost the next four games and would not recover.

Offseason[]

NFL Draft[]

Pick # Player Position College
18 Kenny Holmes Defensive end Miami
46 Joey Kent Wide Receiver Tennessee
75 Denard Walker Cornerback Kent State
81 Scott Sanderson Offensive Tackle Washington State
98 Derrick Mason Wide Receiver Michigan State
107 Pratt Lyons Defensive Lineman Troy State
143 George McCullough Defensive Back Baylor
181 Dennis Stallings Linebacker Illinois
216 Armon Williams Linebacker Arizona

Personnel[]

Staff[]

1997 Tennessee Oilers staff
Front Office
  • Owner/Chairman of the Board/President – Bud Adams
  • Executive Vice President/General Manager – Floyd Reese
  • Director of Player Personnel – Rich Snead
  • Director of College Scouting – Glenn Cumbee

Head Coaches

Offensive Coaches

  • Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks – Les Steckel
  • Running Backs – Sherman Smith
  • Wide Receivers – Alan Lowry
  • Offensive Line/Tight Ends – George Henshaw
  • Offensive Line – Mike Munchak
  • Offensive Assistant/Quality Control – Bart Andrus
 

Defensive Coaches

  • Defensive Coordinator – Gregg Williams
  • Defensive Line – Rex Norris
  • Linebackers – O'Neill Gilbert
  • Defensive Backs – Greg Brown
  • Defensive Assistant/Quality Control – Jerry Gray

Special Teams Coaches

  • Special Teams – Russ Purnell

Strength and Conditioning

  • Strength and Conditioning – Steve Watterson

Roster[]

1997 Tennessee Oilers roster
Quarterbacks

Running Backs

  • 22 Mike Archie
  • 27 Eddie George
  • 35 Spencer George
  • 33 Ronnie Harmon
  • 20 Rodney Thomas

Wide Receivers

  • 83 Isaac Byrd
  • 84 Willie Davis
  • 83 Malcolm Floyd
  • 21 Mel Gray
  • 86 Joey Kent
  • 82 Derrick Mason
  • 85 Derek Russell
  • 81 Chris Sanders

Tight Ends

  • 88 Roderick Lewis
  • 87 James McKeehan
  • 80 Michael Roan
  • 89 Frank Wycheck
Offensive Linemen
  • 77 Kevin Donnalley G
  • 72 Brad Hopkins T
  • 66 Jason Layman T
  • 74 Bruce Matthews G
  • 64 Erik Norgard G
  • 69 Jon Runyan T
  • 73 Scott Sanderson T
  • 53 Mark Stepnoski C

Defensive Linemen

  • Anthony Cook
  • Josh Evans
  • Henry Ford
  • Mike Halapin
  • Kenny Holmes
  • Pratt Lyons
  • Bryant Mix
  • James Roberson
  • Gary Walker
Linebackers
  • 58 Joe Bowden
  • 51 Lemanski Hall
  • 50 Terry Killens
  • 56 Lonnie Marts
  • 59 Dennis Stallings
  • 52 Barron Wortham

Defensive Backs

  • 23 Blaine Bishop S
  • Tomur Barnes
  • Anthony Dorsett
  • Steve Jackson
  • Roger Jones
  • Darryll Lewis
  • George McCullough
  • Rafael Robinson
  • Rayna Stewart
  • Denard Walker
  • Armon Williams

Special Teams

  • Reggie Roby
Reserve Lists

Practice Squad

Rookies in italics

Regular season[]

File:Tennesseeoilersinauguralpatch.png

Tennessee Oilers Inaugural Season Logo

The Oilers' new stadium would not be ready until 1999, however, and the largest stadium in Nashville at the time, Vanderbilt Stadium on the campus of Vanderbilt University, seated only 41,000. At first, Bud Adams rejected Vanderbilt Stadium even as a temporary facility and announced that the renamed Tennessee Oilers would play the next two seasons at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis. The team would be based in Nashville, commuting to Memphis only for games—in effect, consigning the Oilers to 32 road games for the next two years. Even though this arrangement was acceptable to the NFL and the Oilers at the time, few people in either Memphis or Nashville were pleased by it. Memphis had made numerous attempts to get an NFL team (including the Memphis Hound Dogs and the Memphis Grizzlies court case), and many people in the area wanted nothing to do with a team that would be lost in only two years—especially to longtime rival Nashville. Conversely, Nashvillians showed little inclination to drive over 200 miles (300 km) to see "their" team. As a result, attendance at the Liberty Bowl was disastrous: fewer than 18,000 fans came to the stadium to see the Oilers, a number smaller than the attendance figures the team was getting in Houston after they had announced the move, and smaller than the fan bases the USFL's Memphis Showboats and XFL's Memphis Maniax would draw to the same stadium (although this was larger than the attendance for the CFL's Memphis Mad Dogs).

Schedule[]

Week Date Opponent Result Record Location Att.
1 August 31 Oakland W 24–21 1–0 Liberty Bowl
30,171
2 September 7 at Miami L 16–13 1–1 Pro Player Stadium
64,439
3 Bye week
4 September 21 Baltimore L 36–10 1–2 Liberty Bowl
17,737
5 September 28 at Pittsburgh L 37–24 1–3 Three Rivers Stadium
57,507
6 October 5 at Seattle L 16–13 1–4 Kingdome
49,897
7 October 12 Cincinnati W 30-7 2-4 Liberty Bowl
17,071
8 October 19 Washington W 28–14 3–4 Liberty Bowl
31,042
9 October 26 at Arizona W 41–14 4–4 Sun Devil Stadium
44,030
10 November 2 Jacksonville L 30–24 4–5 Liberty Bowl
27,208
11 November 9 NY Giants W 10–6 5–5 Liberty Bowl
26,744
12 November 16 at Jacksonville L 17–9 5–6 ALLTEL Stadium
70,070
13 November 23 Buffalo W 31–14 6–6 Liberty Bowl
23,571
14 November 27 at Dallas W 27–14 7–6 Texas Stadium
63,421
15 December 4 at Cincinnati L 41–14 7–7 Cinergy Field
49,086
16 December 14 at Baltimore L 21–19 7–8 Memorial Stadium
60,558
17 December 21 Pittsburgh W 16–6 8–8 Liberty Bowl
50,677

Standings[]

Template:1997 AFC Central standings

Awards and records[]

Milestones[]

External Links[]