His No. 76 was plastered on their helmets, and Jeff Alm also was never far from the Houston Oilers' hearts.
The Oilers responded to a week of adversity and sadness following Alm's suicide death for a 26-17 victory Sunday over the Pittsburgh Steelers that they dedicated to their late teammate."The whole nation was watching to see how we would respond," wide receiver Ernest Givins said. "We went out and played hard and won."
Alm, a fourth-year reserve lineman, took his life Tuesday after being involved in an auto accident that killed a childhood friend. He was to have returned to the Oilers' lineup from a leg injury Sunday.
It was a game many Oilers probably didn't want to play, but were determined to play exactly the way Alm would have wanted.
"At times, I found myself reflecting back on it and all the sadness of it, but at the same time, you have to do your job," defensive end Sean Jones said. "You can't let it affect what you have to do. This is a very mature football team. This team handles adversity well, and it has an incredible ability to focus."
The Oilers will send the game ball to Alm's parents.
"We really wanted to win for Jeff," quarterback Warren Moon said. "It was a very tough week for us, a very emotional week."
And a very emotional day, especially after Alm's picture was flashed on the scoreboard as both teams stood at attention prior to the national anthem.
Moon said the Oilers were down emotionally for much of the week, but began refocusing on the game last Friday. The win was the Oilers' ninth in a row and clinched their second AFC Central title in three seasons.
"The organization did a great job of handling it. They brought some clergymen and counselors in to put it in perspective," Moon said. "They kept us from asking, `Why, why, why?' They said there's nothing you can do about it, it's done and you have to remember Jeff as we knew him."
The Oilers knew Alm as an emotionally driven, charged-up, intense player who could laugh one minute and glare the next. He accepted no less than 100 percent on every play, a characteristic the Oilers adopted to a man against Pittsburgh.
Houston, which hadn't won in Three Rivers Stadium since 1989, surged to a 14-0 lead early in the fourth quarter to end Pittsburgh's three-year home winning streak against division opponents.
"It's a little bittersweet for me," Ray Childress said. "I lost a real good friend. Jeff's been laid to rest and that's the way I want to leave it. I don't think talking about Jeff helps anybody. I just hope he's in a better place."