This Time, the Oilers Get Their Kicks : Interconference: Houston beats Cowboys, 26-23, with 23-yard field goal in overtime.

The Houston Oilers got a kick out of football again Sunday.

Del Greco, who signed with the team on Tuesday, kicked four field goals, including a 23-yarder with 29 seconds left in overtime, lifting the Oilers to a 26-23 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.

Del Greco missed a 41-yard field goal with 35 seconds left in regulation that forced the overtime. A week ago, Ian Howfield missed a 33-yarder with one second to play in regulation, and Houston went on to lose, 16-13, to Washington in overtime. Howfield was waived the next day.

“I wouldn’t allow myself to have any flashbacks,” Houston Coach Jack Pardee said. “They came back and had a chance to win it, and that’s when we finally got the big plays that helped us win.”

Del Greco, an eight-year veteran who last played for Phoenix and was signed by the Oilers Tuesday, was pleased he got a second chance after his 41-yard miss.

“As soon as I hit it, I thought it was right on target, but I guess that’s when the bubble burst. The fairy tale ending didn’t come true,” Del Greco said of his attempt at the end of regulation. “I’m just glad I hit the next one, and I’m glad to be here.”

Warren Moon completed 41 of 56 passes for 432 yards. Moon completed eight consecutive passes during the winning drive before a crowd of 63,001, the largest crowd ever to see a football game in the Astrodome.

Del Greco’s first field goal was a career-long 52-yarder, and he also had kicks of 19 and 22 yards.

Moon completed a seven-yard pass that Ernest Givins caught off his shoe-tops at the Dallas 15 before Lorenzo White reversed his field and ran 12 yards to the three. White then lost two yards on a fumble that he recovered prior to the winning kick.

“We should have kicked a down earlier,” Oiler Coach Jack Pardee said. “The kicker had been with us three days, and I thought if we could get the win without putting him through that, it would be good. But he came through like a champ.”

In the overtime, the Cowboys moved into position to win when Emmitt Smith ran seven yards to the Houston 18, but he fumbled, and Houston’s Bubba McDowell recovered at the 15.

“I was sandwiched between two guys and it just popped out,” Smith said. “I take pride in not losing the ball. Maybe I was trying too hard.”

It was Smith’s first fumble of the season.

“The fumble was just one of many plays in the game,” Cowboy quarterback Troy Aikman said. “We did what was necessary to win the game. Emmitt didn’t cost us the game.”

White scored on a four-yard run with 4:46 left in regulation, giving the Oilers a 23-16 lead.

But the Cowboys tied the score for the fourth time with 2:45 left in regulation. The score came on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Aikman to Michael Irvin the first play after Bill Bates recovered a fumble that bounced off Houston defender Steve Jackson at the Oiler 10 after a Dallas punt.

“I saw it coming down and it looked like it hit him,” Bates said. “I know you can’t advance the ball, but I didn’t want them to take it away from me.”

Aikman completed 24 of 39 passes for 260 yards.

The Cowboys bottled the Oilers with pinpoint punting most of the game until Moon drove the Oilers 76 yards in the fourth quarter, connecting on key passes of 18 yards to Givins and 20 yards to Tony Jones.

Moon hooked up with Hill on a nine-yard pass on third down that gave the Oilers a first down at the Dallas 15 preceding White’s four-yard touchdown run.

The Cowboys startled Houston in the first quarter when they blocked the first two punts by Greg Montgomery and turned them into a 10-0 lead. Dallas later answered Houston’s second-quarter rally for a 13-10 halftime lead.

Issiac Holt batted down Montgomery’s first punt and Robert Williams grabbed it and ran 18 yards with 7:54 elapsed in the game.

Montgomery’s next punt was blocked out of bounds on the Oiler 27 by Darrick Brownlow, leading to a 35-yard field goal by Ken Willis with 12:49 elapsed.

The Oilers came back to tie the score in the second quarter on Allen Pinkett’s one-yard dive, capping an 88-yard drive, and Del Greco’s 52-yard field goal.

With only 1:47 to work with, the Cowboys got the lead back with six consecutive first-down plays, driving 70 yards to Willis’ 37-yard field goal with two seconds left in the half.

Oiler wide receiver Drew Hill, honored by owner Bud Adams in pregame ceremonies as the Oilers’ all-time leading receiver, caught eight passes for 95 yards. He is one short of 500 career catches. Houston’s Haywood Jeffires caught eight passes for 83 yards. He leads the NFL with 61 receptions.

Moon’s 432 passing yards moved him into second place on the all-time pro passing list with 47,182 yards.

Moon passed former Minnesota quarterback Fran Tarkenton, who has 47,003. The all-time leader is Ron Lancaster, who threw for 50,535 yards in the Canadian Football League.

Irvin, who started the day tied with teammate Jay Novacek for the NFC lead with 46 receptions each, caught seven passes for 84 yards.

Novacek caught five passes for 75 yards, all in the second half.