Steelers Overcome Their Anemic Offense : AFC: Defense and special teams key first home victory against a Central Division team in nearly three years.

With an offense that has proved inept this season, the Pittsburgh Steelers turned to their defense and special teams for touchdowns Sunday night against the Houston Oilers.

David Johnson returned an interception 26 yards and Rod Woodson returned a punt 52 yards for touchdowns as the Steelers beat the Oilers, 20-9, for their first home victory against a Central Division opponent in nearly three years.

The Steelers (1-1), whose offense has not produced a touchdown this season, had not won against a division team at Three Rivers Stadium since beating Cincinnati, 23-20, on Oct. 25, 1987.

Oiler quarterback Warren Moon completed 24 of 48 passes for 284 yards, but he threw four interceptions as Houston, thwarted by turnovers for the second consecutive week, lost at Pittsburgh for the first time since 1986.

Moon has thrown six interceptions in two games after throwing seven in his previous 350 pass attempts.

“We still haven’t scored points, but the defense bailed us out again,” Pittsburgh running back Tim Worley said. “But you can’t expect them to do that every week. The offense has great practices, but then I don’t know what happens in the games.”

The Oilers (0-2), who outgained the Steelers, 309-123, have seen four of their turnovers returned for touchdowns--three in a 47-27 loss to Atlanta and former Coach Jerry Glanville.

Gary Anderson added 31 and 27-yard field goals for the Steelers, who were coming off a 13-3 loss to Cleveland.

Johnson, subbing for the injured Delton Hall, intercepted Moon’s first pass of the game, which deflected off the hand of receiver Ernest Givins. Johnson bobbled the ball momentarily, then grabbed it and ran into the end zone untouched at 11:31 of the first quarter for the Steelers’ first touchdown of the season.

With 3:11 left in the game, Woodson went 52 yards down the left sideline for Pittsburgh’s first punt-return touchdown since Louis Lipps’ 71-yarder on Nov. 10, 1985, against Kansas City. The punt-return score was the first against Houston since 1978.