NOTEBOOK : Moon Defends Run-and-Shoot Shot Down by Rams

One touchdown, two field goals. Thirteen points.

Yet Warren Moon stood tall after the Houston Oilers’ 17-13 loss to the Rams Sunday, and said, “You can’t blame the loss on the offense.”

What Moon meant was: Don’t blame it on the run-and-shoot.

Blame it on the execution, not the system. The players, not the plan.

It was the system that took the heat Sunday after the Oilers drove inside the Rams’ 20 five times, only to come away with two field goals. Twice, Moon was intercepted and another pass was deflected by Bobby Humphery, sealing the Rams’ victory with 47 seconds left.

“Our problems were physical,” Moon said. “If a receiver slips or I don’t make the throw, you can’t shoot holes in the system because we can’t score inside the 20.”

The only Oiler touchdown came on the first drive of the game, on Moon’s 40-yard pass to Drew Hill.

Moon entered Sunday’s game first in the NFL in passing yardage, first in touchdown passes, first in attempts and first in completions.

Yet the lasting impression was one of ineffectiveness. He threw for 343 yards, completing 26 of 43 passes. But he also threw two interceptions--critical ones--and the Oilers fell to 4-5.

Moon had been intercepted 11 times but only once in his last 156 attempts before Sunday.

With the Oilers off next weekend, the memory of the latest miscues will be around a while.

“Tell me about it,” Moon said.

The run-and-shoot works like a dream where there is field aplenty on which to operate, and Houston’s receivers can spread the defense for Moon to pick apart.

But what about when there is 20 yards of grass--or less--to deal with? And what about when eight guys drop back to defend? Then the run-and-shoot becomes something else: Run? Shoot!

The Oilers can’t seem to run the ball for a score, and they can’t seem to throw it for one.

“I’m not going to mention it, since everybody else has,” said Ernest Givins, who with 1:07 to play allowed Moon’s third-and-goal pass to hit off his shoulder pads incomplete at the back of the end zone.

“You know it, and I know it,” Hill said. “Teams are dropping so many guys off in front of us, it makes it tough to throw down there.”

Moon tried, somewhat to his regret. There are passes he would like back.

“A couple,” Moon said. “The one to Curtis Duncan that Darryl Henley picked off, I’d like to have that one back.”

The one that Humphery stole in front of Haywood Jeffires in the end zone with 6:30 left?

“I know the one to Haywood, he did slip and fall,” Moon said. “I thought that was a pretty good ball. What can you say? It’s an interception. It goes down the same way.”

And his last pass of the day, intended for Allen Pinkett and knocked away by Humphery?

“He makes a great play to knock the ball away,” Moon said.

And once again, the Oilers’ offense--system, quarterback and receivers--fell short.

Sacks & Shoes Dept.: Alvin Wright homed in on Moon on third and five with just over a minute to play. Moon scrambled away, just getting off the incomplete pass to Givins. But he didn’t escape completely. After the play, Moon walked over to pick up his shoe and stocking.

For the third week in a row, the Rams failed to get off a punt in a crucial situation.

This time, punter Keith English had a fourth-quarter kick blocked by safety Bubba McDowell charging in from the left side.

The Oilers took over at the Ram 43-yard line, only to have Humphery intercept Moon’s pass in the end zone.

In the previous two weeks, English chose not to kick the ball and risk a block after his protection broke down.

“It’s different problems each time,” Robinson said Sunday. “People are going to rush us now that they find we’re a little bit panicked about it.”

English said he couldn’t analyze what was going wrong until he saw the game film.

“(The breakdowns) were different, and yet very much the same,” English said. “We’ve just got a bunch of young guys out there. We’re going to have to go look at the film and try to figure it out.”

How do you explain the Rams’ swing from horrible play to a good performance in a matter of one week? Don’t ask Robinson.

“There seems to be a lot of teams that are struggling in that regard,” he said. “But clearly we’re the league leaders in that category.”

Fritz Shurmur, defensive coordinator, on the difference between Houston’s run-and-shoot attack and the conservative, run-oriented offense of the New York Giants, the Rams’ opponents next week: “Today, we played volleyball. Next week, it will be three-tight end, blue-collar football.”

Times staff writers John Weyler and Tim Kawakami contributed to this story.