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1997 Tennessee Oilers season
Head Coach Jeff Fisher
Home Field Liberty Bowl
Results
Record 8–8
Place 3rd AFC Central
Playoff Finish did not qualify
Timeline
Previous Season Next Season
1996 1998

The 1997 season was the Tennessee Oilers 38th season and their 28th in the NFL. The Oilers finished the season with 8 wins and 8 losses, and did not qualify for the playoffs. The head coach was Jeff Fisher, and the team played their home games at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. The 1997 season was the first season that the team was known as the Tennessee Oilers, following their move from Houston.

Offseason[]

NFL Draft[]

Pick # NFL Team Player Position College
18 Tennessee Oilers Kenny Holmes Defensive end Miami
46 Tennessee Oilers Joey Kent Wide Receiver Tennessee
75 Tennessee Oilers Denard Walker Cornerback Kent State
81 Tennessee Oilers Scott Sanderson Offensive Tackle Washington State
98 Tennessee Oilers Derrick Mason Wide Receiver Michigan State
107 Tennessee Oilers Pratt Lyons Defensive Lineman Troy State
143 Tennessee Oilers George McCullough Defensive Back Baylor
181 Tennessee Oilers Dennis Stallings Linebacker Illinois
216 Tennessee Oilers 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 Attendance
1 August 31, 1997 Oakland Raiders W 24–21 1–0 Liberty Bowl
30,171
2 September 7, 1997 at Miami Dolphins L 16–13 1–1 Pro Player Stadium
64,439
3 Bye week
4 September 21, 1997 Baltimore Ravens L 36–10 1–2 Liberty Bowl
17,737
5 September 28, 1997 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 37–24 1–3 Three Rivers Stadium
57,507
6 October 5, 1997 at Seattle Seahawks L 16–13 1–4 Kingdome
49,897
7 October 12, 1997 Cincinnati Bengals W 30–7 2–4 Liberty Bowl
17,071
8 October 19, 1997 Washington Redskins W 28–14 3–4 Liberty Bowl
31,042
9 October 26, 1997 at Arizona Cardinals W 41–14 4–4 Sun Devil Stadium
44,030
10 November 2, 1997 Jacksonville Jaguars L 30–24 4–5 Liberty Bowl
27,208
11 November 9, 1997 New York Giants W 10–6 5–5 Liberty Bowl
26,744
12 November 16, 1997 at Jacksonville Jaguars L 17–9 5–6 ALLTEL Stadium
70,070
13 November 23, 1997 Buffalo Bills W 31–14 6–6 Liberty Bowl
23,571
14 November 27, 1997 at Dallas Cowboys W 27–14 7–6 Texas Stadium
63,421
15 December 4, 1997 at Cincinnati Bengals L 41–14 7–7 Cinergy Field
49,086
16 December 14, 1997 at Baltimore Ravens L 21–19 7–8 Memorial Stadium
60,558
17 December 21, 1997 Pittsburgh Steelers W 16–6 8–8 Liberty Bowl
50,677

Standings[]

Template:1997 AFC Central standings

Awards and records[]

Milestones[]

References[]

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