1981 Houston Oilers Statistics
National Football League (NFL)
Team Record: 7-9
Finishing 3rd in the NFL's Central Division of the American Football Conference
Coach: Ed Biles (7-9)
Location: Houston, Texas
1981 Houston Oilers RosterTeam Record: 7-9
Finishing 3rd in the NFL's Central Division of the American Football Conference
Coach: Ed Biles (7-9)
Location: Houston, Texas
1981 Houston Oilers Results
The Houston Oilers of the National Football League ended the 1981 season with a record of 7 wins and 9 losses, finishing third in the NFL's Central Division of the American Football Conference.
The Oilers scored 281 points, but the defensive squad yielded 355. Ken Stabler threw for 1,988 yards. Ken Burrough topped all receivers, hauling in 40 passes for 668 yards. Mike Renfro and Dave Casper provided receiving help also.
Earl Campbell ran for a team-leading 1,376 yards for Houston.
Greg Stemrick and Carter Hartwig each picked off 3 errant tosses from the opposition.
Ed Biles coached the team.
Click on column headings to sort.
Passing:
| Player | Att | Comp | Comp % | Yds | Yds/Att | TDs | TD % | Ints | Int % | Long | Sacked | Yds Lost | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ken Stabler | 285 | 165 | 57.9 | 1988 | 7.0 | 14 | 4.9 | 18 | 6.3 | 71 | 29 | 254 | 69.5 |
| Gifford Nielsen | 93 | 60 | 64.5 | 709 | 7.6 | 5 | 5.4 | 3 | 3.2 | 44 | 8 | 61 | 92.1 |
| John Reaves | 61 | 31 | 50.8 | 379 | 6.2 | 2 | 3.3 | 2 | 3.3 | 51 | 3 | 27 | 67.6 |
| Cliff Parsley | 2 | 2 | 100.0 | 43 | 21.5 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 118.8 |
| Totals | 441 | 258 | 58.5 | 3119 | 7.1 | 21 | 4.8 | 23 | 5.2 | 71 | 40 | 342 |
Rushing:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earl Campbell | 361 | 1376 | 3.8 | 43 | 10 |
| Adger Armstrong | 31 | 146 | 4.7 | 18 | 0 |
| Ronnie Coleman | 21 | 91 | 4.3 | 30 | 1 |
| Rob Carpenter | 18 | 74 | 4.1 | 20 | 0 |
| Tim Wilson | 13 | 35 | 2.7 | 7 | 0 |
| John Reaves | 6 | 13 | 2.2 | 13 | 0 |
| Gifford Nielsen | 6 | 2 | 0.3 | 4 | 0 |
| Ken Stabler | 10 | -3 | -0.3 | 4 | 0 |
| Totals | 466 | 1734 | 3.7 | 43 | 11 |
Receiving:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ken Burrough | 40 | 668 | 16.7 | 71 | 7 |
| Mike Renfro | 39 | 451 | 11.6 | 43 | 1 |
| Earl Campbell | 36 | 156 | 4.3 | 17 | 0 |
| Dave Casper | 33 | 572 | 17.3 | 52 | 8 |
| Adger Armstrong | 29 | 278 | 9.6 | 48 | 1 |
| Mike Holston | 27 | 427 | 15.8 | 50 | 2 |
| Ronnie Coleman | 19 | 211 | 11.1 | 24 | 0 |
| Mike Barber | 13 | 190 | 14.6 | 35 | 1 |
| Rob Carpenter | 13 | 80 | 6.2 | 33 | 1 |
| Tim Wilson | 5 | 33 | 6.6 | 11 | 0 |
| Tim Smith | 2 | 37 | 18.5 | 25 | 0 |
| Billy Brooks | 2 | 16 | 8.0 | 16 | 0 |
| Totals | 258 | 3119 | 12.1 | 71 | 21 |
Kicking:
Punting:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cliff Parsley | 79 | 3137 | 39.7 | 62 |
| Totals | 79 | 3137 | 39.7 | 62 |
Punt Returns:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carl Roaches | 39 | 296 | 7.6 | 40 | 0 |
| Willie Tullis | 2 | 29 | 14.5 | 16 | 0 |
| Totals | 41 | 325 | 7.9 | 40 | 0 |
Kick Returns:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Willie Tullis | 32 | 779 | 24.3 | 95 | 1 |
| Carl Roaches | 28 | 769 | 27.5 | 96 | 1 |
| Avon Riley | 1 | 51 | 51.0 | 51 | 0 |
| Tim Wilson | 3 | 41 | 13.7 | 23 | 0 |
| Adger Armstrong | 3 | 36 | 12.0 | 18 | 0 |
| J.C. Wilson | 2 | 27 | 13.5 | 14 | 0 |
| Daryl Hunt | 3 | 19 | 6.3 | 11 | 0 |
| Totals | 72 | 1722 | 23.9 | 96 | 2 |
Interceptions:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greg Stemrick | 3 | 94 | 31.3 | 38 | 0 |
| Carter Hartwig | 3 | 78 | 26.0 | 36 | 0 |
| Bill Kay | 2 | 47 | 23.5 | 30 | 0 |
| Vernon Perry | 2 | 46 | 23.0 | 34 | 0 |
| Gregg Bingham | 2 | 20 | 10.0 | 17 | 0 |
| Mike Reinfeldt | 2 | 18 | 9.0 | 16 | 0 |
| Robert Brazile | 2 | 7 | 3.5 | 7 | 0 |
| Ted Washington | 1 | 19 | 19.0 | 19 | 0 |
| J.C. Wilson | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 |
| Totals | 18 | 330 | 18.3 | 38 | 0 |
Defense and Fumbles:
| Player | Tackle | Brup | Fum | FRec | FYds | FTD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Renfro | 2 | 2 | 12 | 0 | |||
| Mike Reinfeldt | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ken Stabler | 7 | 2 | -13 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Daryle Skaugstad | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Ken Burrough | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Earl Campbell | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||
| John Schuhmacher | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| David Carter | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Andy Dorris | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Vernon Perry | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Gregg Bingham | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ken Kennard | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Avon Riley | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Gifford Nielsen | 3 | 1 | -15 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Mike Stensrud | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Jesse Baker | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Carter Hartwig | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ronnie Coleman | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Adger Armstrong | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| J.C. Wilson | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Tim Wilson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Rob Carpenter | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| John Reaves | 2 | 0 | -2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 33 | 23 | -12 | 0 | 0 |
Total Scoring:
| Touchdowns | Other | Total | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Rush | Rec | Punt | Kick | MFG | Int | Fum | Other | FG | X/C | Single | 2Pt | Saf | Points |
| Toni Fritsch | 15 | 32 | 0 | 77 | ||||||||||
| Earl Campbell | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 60 | ||||||||
| Dave Casper | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48 | |||||||||
| Ken Burrough | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 42 | |||||||||
| Mike Holston | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |||||||||
| Mike Barber | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||||||||
| Mike Renfro | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||||||||
| Carl Roaches | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||||||||
| Rob Carpenter | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||||||||
| Adger Armstrong | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||||||
| Willie Tullis | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||||||||
| Ronnie Coleman | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||||||||
| Totals | 11 | 21 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 281 |
