1997 Tennessee Oilers season
| 1997 Tennessee Oilers season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Jeff Fisher |
| Home field | Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium |
| Results | |
| Record | 8–8 |
| Division place | 3rd AFC Central |
| Playoff finish | did not qualify |
The 1997 season was the Tennessee Oilers 38th season and their 28th in the National Football League (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
| 1997 Tennessee Oilers draft | |||||
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | College | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 | Kenny Holmes | Defensive end | Miami (FL) | |
| 2 | 46 | Joey Kent | Wide receiver | Tennessee | |
| 3 | 75 | Denard Walker | Defensive back | LSU | |
| 3 | 81 | Scott Sanderson | Offensive tackle | Washington State | |
| 4 | 98 | Derrick Mason * | Wide receiver | Michigan State | |
| 4 | 107 | Pratt Lyons | Defensive end | Troy | |
| 5 | 143 | George McCullough | Defensive back | Baylor | |
| 6 | 181 | Dennis Stallings | Linebacker | Illinois | |
| 7 | 216 | Armon Williams | Defensive back | Arizona | |
| Made roster * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career | |||||
Personnel
Staff
| 1997 Tennessee Oilers staff | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Front office
Head coaches
Offensive coaches
|
Defensive coaches
Special teams coaches
Strength and conditioning
| |||||
Roster
Regular season
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 Memorial Stadium | |
| 2 | September 7, 1997 | at Miami Dolphins | L 16–13 | 1–1 | Pro Player Stadium | |
| 3 | Bye | |||||
| 4 | September 21, 1997 | Baltimore Ravens | L 36–10 | 1–2 | Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium | |
| 5 | September 28, 1997 | at Pittsburgh Steelers | L 37–24 | 1–3 | Three Rivers Stadium | |
| 6 | October 5, 1997 | at Seattle Seahawks | L 16–13 | 1–4 | Kingdome | |
| 7 | October 12, 1997 | Cincinnati Bengals | W 30–7 | 2–4 | Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium | |
| 8 | October 19, 1997 | Washington Redskins | W 28–14 | 3–4 | Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium | |
| 9 | October 26, 1997 | at Arizona Cardinals | W 41–14 | 4–4 | Sun Devil Stadium | |
| 10 | November 2, 1997 | Jacksonville Jaguars | L 30–24 | 4–5 | Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium | |
| 11 | November 9, 1997 | New York Giants | W 10–6 | 5–5 | Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium | |
| 12 | November 16, 1997 | at Jacksonville Jaguars | L 17–9 | 5–6 | Alltel Stadium | |
| 13 | November 23, 1997 | Buffalo Bills | W 31–14 | 6–6 | Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium | |
| 14 | November 27, 1997 | at Dallas Cowboys | W 27–14 | 7–6 | Texas Stadium | |
| 15 | December 4, 1997 | at Cincinnati Bengals | L 41–14 | 7–7 | Cinergy Field | |
| 16 | December 14, 1997 | at Baltimore Ravens | L 21–19 | 7–8 | Memorial Stadium | |
| 17 | December 21, 1997 | Pittsburgh Steelers | W 16–6 | 8–8 | Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium | |
Standings
| AFC Central | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | STK | |
| (2) Pittsburgh Steelers | 11 | 5 | 0 | .688 | 372 | 307 | L1 |
| (5) Jacksonville Jaguars | 11 | 5 | 0 | .688 | 394 | 318 | W2 |
| Tennessee Oilers | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 | 333 | 310 | W1 |
| Cincinnati Bengals | 7 | 9 | 0 | .438 | 355 | 405 | W3 |
| Baltimore Ravens | 6 | 9 | 1 | .406 | 326 | 345 | L1 |
References
- ↑ "1997 Tennessee Oilers draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
- ↑ "1997 Tennessee Oilers starters, roster, and players". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved October 28, 2014.