NFL PLAYOFFS : Elway and Moon Seek Elusive Prize : AFC: Quarterbacks, who meet in Denver today, have won many accolades. But both are looking for first Super Bowl victory.

You would be hard-pressed to cram another scrap into their scrapbooks or another dollar into their wallets.

John Elway and Warren Moon need accolades like they need Derrick Thomas in their backfields. Yet both quarterbacks, well into their 30s, push on into the 1990s in search of the same elusive carrot--a Super Bowl championship.

No great career is complete without one. Ask Fran Tarkenton, or Dan Fouts.

Today, though, the loser goes home again to grow another year older, after the Denver Broncos and the Houston Oilers meet in a divisional playoff game at Mile High Stadium.

Elway of the Broncos, who turns 32 in June, and the 35-year-old Moon of the Oilers have known every thrill of victory except one.

Elway has made three Super Bowl appearances in nine years, and that’s about all they’ve been--appearances. With Elway behind center, the Broncos lost three Super Bowls by the combined score of 136-40.

A quarterback can run from the world’s most popular televised sporting spectacle, but he can’t hide.

Recalling how the Oilers took a quick 28-0 lead over the Broncos in a 42-14 victory last October at the Astrodome, an important angle given this week’s rematch, Elway paused and reflected.

“They scored 28 points before we could say, ‘Jackie Robinson,’ ” Elway said, “and the longest drive they had probably went five yards or so. It reminded me of a Super Bowl.”

Elway could take his pick. There was Super Bowl XXI: New York Giants 39, Broncos 20. Or Super Bowl XXII: Washington Redskins 42, Broncos 10. Or Super Bowl XXIV: San Francisco 49ers 55, Broncos 10.

With Elway, the thrill is always in the chase. Since 1984, he has led 18 comeback victories and won 77 games, more than any other NFL quarterback.

“This is the time of year that’s really fun for me,” he said.

Until, of course, that time of year.

Moon has never played in a Super Bowl, although he was a participant in the halftime show during Super Bowl XXV.

Moon has achieved more than his fair share in football: At the University of Washington, he led his team to a Rose Bowl victory. In the Canadian Football League, he led the Edmonton Eskimos to five Grey Cup championships.

In the NFL, Moon has led the Oilers into the playoffs the last five seasons, a boast no other NFL quarterback can make. He has debunked the myth of the run-and-shoot’s place in modern football, throwing for 33 touchdowns and 4,689 yards last season--527 in one game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Still, with Moon, the Oilers have never advanced beyond the second round of the playoffs.

With time running out in his career, Moon is two victories from his first Super Bowl. “I’ve done just about everything a player would want to do,” Moon said this week. “I’ve been to the Pro Bowl, this will be my fourth time. I’ve been an MVP, I’ve been the offensive player of the year, I’ve set some records and had some real big games. I’ve been to the playoffs five times now, so it’s all that’s really left for me to do as a player.”

If Moon fails in this year’s Super Bowl drive, he will have only himself and 46 teammates to blame. Houston wrapped up the AFC Central title early but forgot to take care of more important business--securing a first-round bye.

After a 7-1 start, the Oilers finished 4-4 and allowed the Broncos to sneak in as the divisional champion with the second-best record.

So, while the Oilers were slugging out a 17-10 victory over the New York Jets (8-8) last weekend, a game in which Moon took some hard hits, the Broncos were resting at home.

Perhaps no two teams in the NFL value home-field advantage more than the Oilers and Broncos. Houston, with its precision passing game, is much better suited to the artificial surface in the Astrodome.

The Broncos have combined their talent, crowd-noise and the mile-high altitude to post the NFL’s best home record over the past 11 seasons, 65-20.

The Broncos were 7-1 at home this season, their only loss coming against the Raiders when James FitzPatrick blocked a last-second field goal attempt in a 17-16 finish.

Denver Coach Dan Reeves tried to discount the home-field advantage this week, noting that the Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons managed road victories in first-round games last weekend.

“Would he rather come down and play here?” Houston Coach Jack Pardee wondered on a conference call this week. “Tell him to come on down.”

So the home field is not meaningless?

“Shoot, no,” Pardee said. “It’s more important in the playoffs than at any other time. I would take the home field any day.”

Oiler-Bronco Notes

In Houston’s victory over Denver in October, the Oilers used three early turnovers to gain a 28-0 lead. To score four touchdowns, the Houston offense gained only 14 yards. It was the only game in which Denver surrendered more than 20 points. The Broncos led the AFC in defense this season, giving up an average of 14.7 points. . . . The weather should not be a factor, with clear skies and temperatures in the 40s predicted. . . . Houston’s talented defensive tackle, Ray Childress, practiced for the first time this week since cracking a rib against Philadelphia on Dec. 2. Oiler Coach Jack Pardee said Childress would probably start the game.

The Oilers were 4-4 in the second half of the season, prompting theories that opposing defenses have finally devised a way to slow down the run-and-shoot offense. “Well, we’re still winning,” quarterback Warren Moon said. “Maybe they have slowed us down a bit. Not only have they tried to slow us down by playing a lot of zone, but offensively, teams are running the ball a lot more, trying to keep the ball away from us. So we don’t get as many possessions as we did in the past.” . . . Who said the run-and-shoot offense would never last? Three teams running a version of the offense--Houston, Detroit, Atlanta--are in the playoffs.

Denver quarterback John Elway called plays in the first six games of the season, but he and Coach Dan Reeves are now sharing the responsibility. . . . “When we get on a roll, I’ll take the play-calling and kind of go with it,” Elway said. “We’ve kind of found a happy medium.” . . . The Oilers haven’t played in Mile High Stadium since 1987, when they lost, 34-10.