The Houston Oilers became downright defensive Sunday and it was a good thing for them that they did.
Normally the Oilers like to overwhelm their opponents with the often devastating right arm of quarterback Warren Moon. The Oilers spent a harrowing 30 minutes Sunday, however, doing little else but fighting off the New York Jets.And when the last assault was repelled, the Oilers had emerged with a 17-10 victory that pushed Houston into the second round of the NFL playoffs. Houston will travel to Denver next Saturday to take on a team the Oilers beat earlier in the season, 42-14.
Only three points were scored in the second half, those coming on a career-long, 53-yard field goal by Houston's Al Del Greco.
The Jets had plenty of chances to score in the second half, but came up empty despite having the ball in Houston territory on all four of their possessions. Three times New York had it inside the Oilers' 25 and twice inside the 10.
But each time Houston came up with the plays - twice from safety Bubba McDowell, once from safety Bo Orlando and once from cornerback Cris Dishman.
Despite the squandered opportunities, the Jets seemed happy to have had the experience after becoming only the third team in NFL history to make the playoffs with a break-even record.
"You have to like a football game like that," said Jets Coach Bruce Coslet. "It went down to the final ticks. We were still trying to fire it up and they were still trying to stop it. It was a fine effort on the part of both teams."
Houston's Warren Moon threw two touchdown passes to Ernest Givens in the first half and boosted the Oilers to a 14-10 halftime lead.
The Jets then took the second half kickoff and drive to the Houston 7-yard line, taking eight minutes off the clock. On 3rd-and-goal from that point, New York quarterback Ken O'Brien, after rolling to his left to avoid the rush, tried to throw a pass to tight end Mark Boyer.
Boyer was kneeling on the goal line waiting for the ball, but before it could get there, McDowell leaped in front of Boyer to make the interception.
Houston promptly marched to the Jets' 39-yard line and Del Greco came on to kick his long field goal to give the Oilers' a 10-point lead.
With almost the entire fourth quarter still to play, the Jets drove 77 yards to the Houston 3-yard line. But on fourth down, with the Jets needing just inches to pick up a first, Orlando stopped Freeman McNeil short of the marker.
New York got two more chances to send the game into overtime, one of them coming in the final five minutes when Moon fumbled the ball away at his own 26-yard line. But the Jets could not manage a first down with Dishman knocking an O'Brien pass down on fourth down and Houston took over with 3:32 to go.
Then, instead of running out the clock after picking up a first down, Houston's Lorenzo White ran out of bounds and gave the Jets a final opportunity from their own 20-yard line following a punt.
O'Brien drove the Jets to the Houston 48 in the game's final seconds, but his last, desperation passfor the end zone was again intercepted by McDowell.
Instead of simply falling down to end the game, McDowell ran upfield and lateraled the ball to Dishman, but the Oilers escaped that blunder without incident.
"I'm sorry for putting the Houston fans through that situation," McDowell said. "Next time I will just fall down.
"Our defense wanted to come in and established a hard-nosed effort. We wanted everybody hitting and running for the ball. During practice this week, Bo and I made a vow to ourselves to take control. He came up to me during the game and asked me if I remembered what we had said to each other.
"Bo made a big play when he jumped over a guy and hit McNeil. That was a tremendous effort."
Houston opened the game with an 80-yard, 16-play drive that ended with a 5-yard throw from Moon to Givens and the Jets tied it in the second period on a 10-yard pass from O'Brien to Al Toon that came after an Erik McMillian interception.
Moon's 20-yard touchdown throw to Givens in the second quarter gave Houston the lead for good, but New York climbed to within four at the half on a 46-yard field goal by Raul Allegre with four seconds to go in the second quarter.