Oilers Get Special Victory Over the Cardinals, 20-10

Placing special emphasis on the special teams paid off for the Houston Oilers.

The Oilers turned two blocked punts into 10 points and distracted Neil O’Donoghue into missing three field goals Sunday in a 20-10 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Houston (3-5) won for the second straight time after five straight losses, while the Cardinals (3-5) lost their fourth straight game.

“We tell our punt return team that it can change the game quicker than any unit,” Oilers’ defensive coordinator Jerry Glanville said. “We set up different (punt) blocks for each team.”

St. Louis led, 10-3, in the second quarter when Rod Kush blocked Carl Birdsong’s punt and the Oilers took possession at the Cardinal 27. Minutes later, Tony Zendejas kicked a 38-yard field goal.

After Warren Moon hit Drew Hill with a 37-yard touchdown pass to give the Oilers a 13-10 lead, Frank Bush blocked another Birdsong punt. Mike Akiu, a rookie wide receiver from Hawaii, picked up the ball and returned it 12 yards for his first NFL touchdown.

Both Bush and Kush went untouched as they broke through to block the punts.

“The guy who was supposed to block me blocked down,” Bush said. “When I saw him block down I delayed and stepped over him.”

Said Kush: “Nobody picked me up. Anybody could have done it. When you go in untouched you just have to swerve a little.”

The frustration of the blocked punts was matched by the three misses by O’Donoghue on attempts of 28, 42 and 33 yards.

“We’ve got great field-goal pressure,” Glanville said. “We overload and do a lot of technical things. We come after them pretty good. It’s obvious we get kickers to miss who don’t miss against other teams.”

Quarterback Neil Lomax, who completed 21 of 40 passes for 274 yards, hit Pat Tilley with a 12-yard pass to complete a 56-yard drive on the Cardinals’ first possession. O’Donoghue made it 10-0 with a 30-yard field goal.

With 12:29 left in the fourth quarter, Moon hit Hill with a touchdown pass. Hill caught 6 passes for 132 yards. Moon completed 14 of 30 passes for 187 yards.

Stump Mitchell gained 140 yards in 19 carries for St. Louis.