Oilers, Chasing the Bengals, Run Over the Browns, 24-17

Although they are chasing the Cincinnati Bengals, the Houston Oilers have been haunted by the Cleveland Browns.

The Oilers put some demons to rest Monday night with a 24-17 victory over the Browns, who had beaten Houston seven straight times.

“This is one of the few teams that we hadn’t beaten since I’ve been here, and to do it on Monday night with a big crowd, you just couldn’t ask for much more,” said Houston quarterback Warren Moon, who started all of those losses.

The victory kept the Oilers (7-3) a game behind the Bengals in the American Football Conference Central race and dropped the Browns (6-4) into third place.

Houston chased Cleveland quarterback Bernie Kosar, 5-0 in his career against the Oilers, all over the Astrodome, and ran all over the Browns’ vaunted offense.

“They did a good job of getting pressure on us; their defense played very aggressive,” Kosar said. “That was the main thing. They put pressure on us and it caused us problems.”

The Oilers came out running at the Browns and finished with 148 yards rushing, led by Mike Rozier’s 76 yards in 23 carries.

“Tonight the trenches belonged to us,” Rozier said. “We were out there to play hard, and our offensive line did the job.

“We came out to run the ball, and the line blocked well all night.”

Moon hit Ernest Givins with an 8-yard touchdown pass and Rozier scored on a 3-yard run in the third quarter, giving the Oilers a 21-3 lead.

Moon completed 11 of 17 passes for 182 yards.

But the Browns came back with a 20-yard double reverse by Reggie Langhorne for a touchdown and a 4-yard touchdown pass from Kosar to tight end Ozzie Newsome with 7:26 left. The reception was the 600th of Newsome’s National Football League career.

After Cleveland drew within 21-17, Moon completed a 42-yard pass play to Leonard Harris, who caught the ball between defenders Mark Harper and Brian Washington and was tackled at the Browns’ 35.

The reception set up Tony Zendejas’ 47-yard field goal with 1:44 left.

“I was proud the way we came back,” Cleveland Coach Marty Schottenheimer said. “I felt we had the opportunity to win the game, but Houston made the plays when they had to.”

Alonzo Highsmith’s first touchdown of the season, a 1-yard run in the second quarter, gave the Oilers a 7-3 lead in a defense-dominated first half.

Moon hit passes of 22 yards to Givins and 24 yards to Drew Hill, and then the Oilers ran six straight times with Highsmith scoring from 1.

Kosar, who finished 16 of 33 for 219 yards, made passes of 16 yards to Langhorne and 15 yards to Earnest Byner in the first quarter to set up Matt Bahr’s 40-yard field goal.

Cleveland reached Houston’s 6-yard line late in the second quarter, but Tim Manoa was dropped for a 4-yard loss on a pass completion and Kosar’s final pass into the end zone was incomplete as time expired.

The first half ended with Houston Coach Jerry Glanville confronting two officials after time expired. Glanville thought the Browns had 12 players on the field for the final play. Glanville was flagged for coming on to the field, but the penalty was withdrawn because time had expired in the half.

Houston rushed for 148 yards in 40 attempts, enabling the Oilers to hold the ball for nearly 36 minutes, 12 more than Cleveland, which ran the ball only 16 times.