Its great to hear Warren is going to the HOF. I loved him as an Oiler, as a Viking and as a Seahawk. Those great days of the run and shoot in the Astrodome were incredible but Warren still had enough talent to put together some great seasons later on in the Metrodome and even one great one in the Kingdome. A well deserved honor in my opinion.
DG was a teeny, tiny redskin CB. that eagle game was ugly; they teed off all night on our little receivers. as for who hit him... don't remember - take your pick: seth joyner, jerome brown, reggie white, clyde simmons, eric allen, william thomas...
None of the wideouts you named are better than Andre Johnson or Eric Moulds. The O-Line was good but Moon would take the Texans skill positon players over the Oilers. Lorenzo White was an average back in the NFL. I would take DD over him anyday of the week and so would Moon
Supposedly, according to McClain, the Astros owner would not allow tailgaiting. The way McClain tells it, it sounds like Uncle Drayton had as much to do with the Oilers leaving as Bud did. Appearently the Oilers had a terrible deal with the Stros, with the Stros taking a decent amount of the proceeds from concessions, parking, ect...
The thing to remember about those late 80s/early 90s Oilers teams was that the Oilers hit some great QBs in the playoffs, and circumstances seemed to disfavor the Oilers in clutch situations. 1990-1991:Warren Moon injured when he was speared vs. Minnesota; Cody Carlson QBs the 61-7 beatdown Cincinatti laid on the Oilers. 1991-1992: The Oilers have a lead in Mile High in the last 2:30 against John Elway...you know the rest of the story. Just like the other 47 other teams that Elway lead comebacks against. 1992-1993: The Game Which Must Not Be Mentioned. 1993-1994: Joe freaking Montana. 'Nuff said. In other words, despite Moon's best efforts, the Oilers were just plain-snakebitten (mixed in with a healthy dash of choking in the '92 playoffs.). All that being said...I'll be holding back a tear when WM gives his HOF commencement speech.
As oppose to being inconsistent? just kidding. Okay, Good for Warren Moon. I loved him as an Oiler. Football rivaled basketball as my favorite sport when I was younger. I never been to an Oilers game though, which kinda sucks. I haven't been to a Texans game yet. I plan on going to one or two this year, or maybe next year. It's good to see him go to the Hall of Fame as a first ballot hall of famer. I never thought Warren Moon got any run as an elite quarterback. I hate to do this, but four pages, and not one mention of the dude being African American. I am proud of all of you guys.
While the system may have inflated some of his stats... it also negated a lot of the chances for this team to have real playoff success, and thus keeping Moon from reaching the Marino/Elway/Montana level. If only Mike Martz had been around back then, he could have implemented an offense that still utilizes all the WR's, and the astroturf, but also implements the threat of a pass-catching RB (besides just the dinky screen pass) and a solid blocking TE. Seirously... what would this team do with a lead? Pass, pass, pass. There was no RB back there to chew up clock, and if the team did happen to bring in an extra blocker, it would have been painfully obvious that they were going to run the ball. The only way they were ever going to win any of those playoff games was if their defense pitched a shutout... and with facing those teams/QB's, you could never take that for granted. Moon was awesome... he had a cannon for an arm, but he was tremendously accurate. I was worried that the voters would keep him out because of the lack of team-success... but I'm glad they saw through that. It wasn't Moon's fault at all.
they didn't need to pitch a shutout. they needed to hold buffalo to 34. they needed to protect a 12 point lead with 4 minutes in Denver. not exactly asking them to be the '85 Bears!
Yea, you're right... bad choice of words. I meant to say something to the effect of : "The defense needed to simply play a complete game." The Denver and "not to be mentioned" games were collapses because the defense either went into prevent mode way too early, or they were beat by a QB who was just better (Elway). You may even be able to say that they were fatigued due to the offense's inability to run out clock due to the continued insistance on passing... which also led to many interceptions. I think the "fatigue" factor was more evident in the Kansas City game... Buddy Ryan put together a fantastic defense, that kept the team in the game, but KC was pretty prepared for the run and shoot (especially after getting stomped by it earlier in the season, and multiple times through the years)... and the offense never got truly rolling that game (moon spent more time on the carpet than any other playoff/regular season game). The defense eventually succumbed to Montana... Buddy Ryan probably figured they could have had the 85 Bears defense and STILL lost, because of the gimmicky offense.
yeah...if i remember right, our offense in the KC game was like it was far too often during the run-and-shoot years. they'd come out firing like crazy in the beginning...then it would slow down...to a stop, ultimately...and they'd look to the defense to protect their lead.
Actually, after doing a little retrospective analysis on the 1993 Oilers, I found they were more the abberation than the "typical Oilers" teams that blew it the previous years. That team featured the strongest defense they ever had... but likely also featured the most conservative offense they ever had as well (despite having the run and shoot still intact). Gary Brown probably had something to do with that... but the team never scored 40 points (or more) at all for the entire season. (and we all know that was a staple of R&S offenses that had it going... they never let up). No game provided a better example of the fact that the defense was the team's strongest asset than the game at San Fran on Christmas Night... they won 10-7 to preserve the winning streak... a unheard of score/result for the Moon-era Oilers In many ways, I was most optimistic about this Oilers team because of their big-time defense, and ability to run the ball with Brown. As for the playoff game, they actually played very conservative early... sustaining really long first quarter drives to take a 10-0 halftime lead. But, their inability to cash in on opportunities, or muster anything against the KC defense until late (including multiple turnovers), eventually led to a defensive breakdown (KC scored 21 in the 4th quarter... u don't see that happen to a Buddy Ryan defense very often). I'll actually give Montana and Schottenheimer some credit for that game... Marty coached his defense up like he never had before against Moon (remember the 527 yards passing game?), and Joe led his team in the clutch like he always does. Sure, the run and shoot was never built for playoff-style football... but KC won that game more than the Oilers lost it (not so for the previous years).
Really? Cause I remember Munchak getting hurt during that game and the offensive line falling apart as a result, ruining any game plan because Moon was on the carpet or hurried for the rest of the game. In just about every other R&S playoff game, the offense put a solid number of points (or more) on the board. If you looked at our PPG in the playoffs I bet it would back that assertion up.
What i remember from that game was the pass Montana threw to win the game...it looked like it went right through the defenders arm into the recivers...if i am not mistaken it was Chris Dishman
The amazing thing I remember about that game was that Moon had chances in the 4th quarter to pad that number and set an all-time record, and instead we played conservatively and handed it off to the RB.
Makes you wonder how we scored 20 points against them. I remember that last ever drive by the R&S as a thing of beauty, bringing us back to within 1 point before Montana put the game away with his heroics.
Actually, they asked Moon if he wanted to break the record... and he said it wasn't neccessary. I don't even think he finished the game (as they had a comfortable lead late). I vaguely remember John McLain telling a story that recapped this whole thing... maybe somebody didn't want him to break the record... I dunno, the whole thing is fuzzy.
You also have to consider the fact that the Rockets were about to break through that year (and captivate the city)... that definitely helped to diminish the interest in the often-failing Oilers, and helped contribute to push Bud out the door (among other things). Thus, if you hate the Texans... blame the Rockets... get it?
I guess that doesn't surprise me. He always seemed like a low-key kinda dude. He never really craved the attention that holding a record like that would have gotten him.
