June 28 , 2001
Chapter 13:
Pardee Time!
by Bob Hulsey
HoustonProFootball.com
One could spend hours discussing Bud Adams’ philosophy about head coaches. Rarely did the man he put in charge have previous NFL head coaching experience. Prior to 1990, Frank “Pop” Ivy was the only man to lead a team at the highest professional level before leading the Oilers. Sammy Baugh and Sid Gillman had AFL head coaching experience before Bud brought them aboard. Wally Lemm came back to Houston after a stint with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Bill Peterson came from the college ranks while Hugh Campbell came from the USFL and the CFL.
But the mainstay of Houston head coaching candidates would be defensive coordinators. Lemm started a trend in 1961 that would later include Ed Hughes, Bum Phillips, Ed Biles, Chuck Studley, Jerry Glanville and Jeff Fisher — all Oiler defensive coordinators who were later promoted to head coach. Finally, with Glanville’s departure in 1989, Adams turned to a guy who qualified on all counts.
Only Gillman could match the coaching experience of Jack Pardee, whom Bud introduced as his new head coach on January 9, 1990. A survivor of melanoma cancer, Pardee had also survived head coaching stints in the WFL, NFL, USFL, and at the University of Houston.
Pardee was hailed as a man for all seasons. He was a defensive player and then a defensive coach who learned to embrace an offense some found offensive and others found highly offensive. He took the Run and Shoot scheme that he’d learned in the USFL to college where the Cougars ran up big scores on teams unequipped to handle the four-wideout attack. He made a first round pick of David Klingler and a Heisman Trophy winner out of Andre Ware — two quarterbacks who, as it turned out, could not duplicate their success in the pros.
Now Pardee wanted to give the offense it’s ultimate test: the National Football League.
Other NFL offenses had adapted parts of the Run and Shoot, particularly in third down situations, but none had taken the hard core step of running it full-time as Houston intended to do under Pardee (meaning no fullbacks or tight ends would dot an Oiler roster).
Already blessed with Drew Hill, Ernest Givins and Haywood Jeffires as receivers, Warren Moon under center, and several All-Pros along the offensive line, Pardee could not have picked a better unit to give the Run and Shoot a fair trail.The results were classic Columbia Blue: spectacular, yet underwhelming.
Pardee got no help from the schedule makers in his debut season. His first test would come right out of the gate in week 1 against Glanville’s Atlanta Falcons, and for Jerry, this was clearly personal. Glanville blitzed early and often, forcing six turnovers that translated into a 47-27 Atlanta win. Glanville dedicated the game ball to SMU’s Forrest Gregg, whose team lost 95-21 to Pardee’s Cougars the previous season. The Oiler offense struggled again the next week in a 20-9 loss at Pittsburgh, which used six defensive backs to blanket the receivers. Early, it looked like the Run and Shoot was flunking its test.
Wins over lackluster Indianapolis and San Diego cooled the critics temporarily. With the champion San Francisco 49ers in town, Houston led almost the entire game but the Niners won, 24-21, when Cris Dishman missed a strip of John Taylor that turned into the winning points.
The Oilers were 2-3 and the offense had yet to gel. They clobbered Sam Wyche and Cincinnati, 48-17, as Moon tossed five touchdown passes. But after dumping the Saints, the Oilers dropped close games to the Jets and the Rams. An overtime loss in Seattle would also hurt.
Houston then belted Cleveland twice and dominated playoff-bound Buffalo and Kansas City to jump back into the playoff hunt. The Kansas City win was memorable for Moon’s incredible 527-yd passing performance, second-best in NFL history at the time. Little remembered were how an obvious 25-yard catch by Jeffires was ruled out of bounds on a bad call and how Moon ran out the last eight plays without throwing a pass or the record might have been his.
It was his last golden moment of the year. The Bengals got revenge, 40-20, in Cincinnati and Moon would hit his hand on a helmet, dislocating his thumb.
Cody Carlson came in and helped engineer a 34-14 victory over Pittsburgh in the season finale. That win put the 9-7 Oilers into the playoffs (kicking the 9-7 Steelers out of the playoffs) and set up a return trip to Cincinnati to face the 9-7 Bengals in the first round of the post-season. The Oilers had a false sense of security that they’d be okay with “Commander Cody” at quarterback. Instead, the offense went flatter than a bad souffle and the Bengals routed the Oilers again, 41-14. Carlson threw for just 165 yards, most of it after Cincinnati had built a 34-0 cushion. It was another familiar early exit for Bud’s boys.
In spite of the 9-8 record, Pardee could take satisfaction that his offense worked as advertised. Moon led the league in pass attempts (584), completions (362), yards (4,689) and touchdowns (33). Hill and Jeffires both passed the 1,000-yard mark in receiving yards while Givins fell just shy, though led the team with nine scores and two more in the playoffs. With no fullback or tight end, the Oilers struggled in goal-line situations, but had become better than expected as a ball-control offense. They often dominated the time of possession.
The 1991 season would be one of the most memorable in the team’s history — both for what they did and didn’t do. It began with a deep draft of mostly support players. Five of the draftees and seven of the veterans missed all or part of training camp in holdouts. DL Lee Williams, another guy demanding more money, was picked up for a first round draft choice. The Oilers, once all were in the fold, were as deep and talented as ever.
They broke out of the gate with a 41-17 demolition of the Los Angeles Raiders, a team that played in the AFC Championship Game the previous season. They would win six of their next seven, including two blowouts over Cincinnati and a 42-14 massacre of Denver.
Houston’s offense was rewriting the team record book and pacing the AFC. But praise from the rest of the league was slow in coming. Despite the stats, many claimed it was the gimmick offense, not the players themselves, who were responsible for the big numbers.
“If we weren’t outstanding receivers, we wouldn’t have the ability to step up and have great games,” responded the 59 Givins. “Until you do it, don’t knock us. We’re happy because of what we’ve accomplished, don’t get us wrong. But give us what we deserve. That’s all we ask.”
The only NFL team with a better record than Houston was the undefeated Washington Redskins, who the Oilers met in week 10. In a tough, defensive duel, the visiting Oilers scored late to pull into a 13-13 tie. When Washington fumbled the next kickoff, the Oilers lined up for a game-winning field goal.
It was the perfect moment for Ian Howfield, the son of an NFL sidewinder who was tending bar in Oklahoma before calling the Oilers for a tryout and winning the placekicking job. He had been good on 13 of 17 chances that season, but he shanked number 18. The Redskins won in overtime, 16-13, and a tearful Howfield was cut the next day. His replacement was Al Del Greco, a journeyman kicker for seven seasons.
The hated Dallas Cowboys were next and, in a wild affair where Cowboy special teams set up three scores, Del Greco found himself in the exact spot Howfield had a week earlier. It was 23-23 when the Oilers lined up for a game-winning field goal in the final minute of play. And Del Greco missed too. He might have also been cut but Lady Luck offered a second chance. When Dallas drove deep into Houston territory in overtime, it looked like a replay of the previous week, but Emmitt Smith fumbled at the Oiler 15-yard line and Houston recovered. Not willing to give Del Greco another chance, the Oilers drove down to the Cowboy goal. After almost fumbling away the game, Pardee put Del Greco back in and he was carried off the hero in a 26-23 victory.
Houston dropped two of their next three games and only one of their final three games would be at home. That was against the Steelers and, surprisingly, the Oilers made it look easy in a 31-6 drubbing that wrapped up Houston’s first-ever outright AFC Central Division title. Linebacker Johnny Meads echoed the feelings of a lot of Oiler fans.
“After struggling through all the bad years, today is the most satisfying moment of my career,” gushed Meads. “This is the end of a long, long struggle.”
And they played like it was the end too. Lucky to escape snowy Cleveland with a 17-14 win, the Oilers were uninspired in losing the season finale to the Giants, 24-20. The loss cost them a first round bye and home field for the second round of the playoffs.
New York’s other team, the Jets, ended up Houstons first round opponent. Although overmatched, the Jets kept the game close. Givins caught two touchdowns to put Houston ahead at the half, 14-10. A 53-yarder by Del Greco was the only scoring in the second half as the Oilers coasted through a 17-10 victory.
The second round playoff game was against a Denver team Houston had blown out during the regular season. And while “Stagger Lee” was not in the playbook for this latest postseason trip to Denver, the Oilers had plenty of tricks up their sleeves.
Early on, the contest was much like their previous meeting at the Astrodome. Moon came out red hot in the beginning, slicing through the Denver defense like a surgeon. Touchdown passes to Jeffires and Hill had the Oilers up, 14-0, before the seats were warm. The Broncos responded with a touchdown but flubbed the extra point.
Houston marched at will again, with Curtis Duncan snaring the touchdown pass. Moon tried for the knockout punch but was intercepted deep in Denver territory. The Broncos recovered with a long drive that closed the gap to 21-13 at intermission.
The two clubs traded field goals in the second half (Del Greco missed another short attempt and Jeffires dropped a sure touchdown) before Broncos quarterback John Elway led a furious fourth-quarter drive. Converting twice on third down and once on fourth down, Denver pushed it into the end zone. The extra point left the Broncos one point short at 24-23. There was less than seven minutes remaining.
Moon sparked a drive that moved the ball to Denver’s 34 with a first down. The Oilers were poised to put the game on ice and move to their first AFC Championship Game. But consecutive Houston penalties pushed the ball back, forcing a punt. An opportunity had been wasted but the Oilers breathed easier when Greg Montgomery’s punt hopped out of bounds at the Bronco two-yard line.
Elway had marched his team 98 yards in playoff pressure once before but even Denver faithful had trouble believing he could do it again. He’d have to pull this off with no timeouts. The Oilers dug in for one last stand. They needed one more stop.
Elway was stuck with a fourth down and six at his own 28 with under a minute-and-a-half remaining. He darted away from a grasping lineman and scampered seven yards for a first down. Next, Elway faced a fourth-and-ten at his own 35 and less than a minute left.
Finding nobody open and the pocket collapsing, Elway again stepped up and ran to his left. Downfield, Richard Johnson moved in to keep Elway from making another game-saving scramble. It was a fatal mistake. Johnson’s man, receiver Vance Johnson, was now uncovered and Elway calmly hit him as he streaked alone down the sideline. The 44-yard play gave Denver new life at the Houston 21 and left the Oilers sucking oxygen all over the field.
As if to give Oiler fans one final tease, Denver bobbled the snap on their last-second field goal attempt. But the holder steadied it just in time for the kick to squeeze through the uprights. Having been dominated in the first half and trailing the entire game, even the Broncos found it hard to grasp that they had actually won, 26-24.
For Houston fans, the script was entirely believable. Here was a club that had made the playoffs for five straight years; the only team in the league to do so, and yet had so little to show for it. They led the conference in offense, placed second in defense, had a receiver (Jeffires) who caught 100 passes, another (Hill) who snared 90, had eight players named to the Pro Bowl team, had one of the league’s best punters and outstanding linemen on both sides of the ball but still couldn’t reach the conference championship game, much less the Super Bowl. The Oilers finally claimed a division crown but the taste was bittersweet after such a shocking ending.
Jaded Houston fans might have considered the Denver loss the Oilers’ ultimate choke job. They were wrong.
Bob Hulsey has a journalism degree from the University of Texas at Austin. He has worked in print and radio covering sports throughout Texas since 1976. He presently works for a telecommunications company in Austin.
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