Moon Has 398 Yards, but Oilers Lose, 24-13

Detroit fullback James Jones, who has been described as a mountain that runs, hopes the Lions’ NFL victory Sunday over the Houston Oilers will have an avalanche effect on his team.

Jones ran for 76 yards and 2 touchdowns as the Lions won, 24-13, despite a career-high 398 yards passing by Oilers’ quarterback Warren Moon.

“It was a pretty well-played game at times,” said Jones, who has scored 7 of the Lions’ 10 touchdowns in 1986. “We won and that’s what counts.

“I’m hoping this game will start an avalanche effect. Maybe we’ll get the feeling that, ‘Hey, this feels good.’ Maybe we can get rolling and win 6 or 7 in a row.”

The Lions (2-3) snapped a three-game losing streak while the Oilers (1-4) lost their fourth straight.

“That quarterback (Moon) has a great arm,” Detroit defensive coordinator Wayne Fontes said. “We blitzed him, and he threw a couple passes sidearm.”

Moon completed 21 of 38 attempts, including 5 for 155 yards to wide receiver Ernest Givins and an 81-yard touchdown play to Drew Hill--but he was intercepted 3 times.

“The stats say we had a good game, but the score says we lost,” Moon said. “Our backs are to the wall, now, with the Chicago Bears coming in (next Sunday). We have no easy games left.”

Jones, who carried the ball 22 times, scored on a pair of one-yard dives, and Eric Hipple teamed with Herman Hunter for an 18-yard scoring pass play--all in the second quarter.

“A whole lot of things went our way,” Detroit Coach Darryl Rogers said. “A couple penalties really helped us.”

The Oilers sandwiched field goals of 25 and 19 yards by Tony Zendejas around Moon’s bomb to Hill as the Lions led 21-13 at halftime.

A 48-yard field goal by Detroit’s Eddie Murray in the fourth quarter was the only scoring in the second half.

“We got very conservative and very dull in the fourth quarter because we wanted the clock to roll,” Rogers said.

Hipple, who was held to minus 5 yards passing in the first quarter by Houston’s AFC-leading defense, finished with 7 of 14 for 93 yards.

“A lot of people played a lot of good football, but the bottom line is we didn’t win,” Houston Coach Jerry Glanville said. “I think a lot of players showed great courage, spilled their guts, played as hard as they could play.

“Unfortunately, it’s not enough. You have to win the football game, which we didn’t do.”

The game drew 41,960 in the Silverdome. There were 7,275 no-shows.