Moon Crumples, but Oilers Don’t Fold : Interconference: Quarterback’s shoulder is broken, but Carlson finishes touchdown drive that beats Vikings, 17-13.

Warren Moon was already battered, but he sacrificed his body one more time.

Moon’s shoulder was broken Sunday at the end of a five-yard run that got the Houston Oilers a first down on the way to Lorenzo White’s one-yard touchdown run with 48 seconds left to beat the Minnesota Vikings, 17-13.

“I’m disappointed because I think the team is going to turn the corner and I won’t be a part of it,” said Moon, who will be out for three to six weeks. “Obviously, I’m going to try to work as hard as I can to get back as quickly as I can. The team showed a lot of guts coming back.”

The Oilers (6-4) began their winning drive on their 20 with 7:33 left. Moon started things by completing three passes for 24 yards.

White, who rushed 18 times for 81 yards and caught nine passes for 58 yards, ran for seven yards and Houston got 15 more when linebacker Carlos Jenkins was penalized for a flagrantly grabbing White’s face mask.

After White gained nine yards and lost three on two runs, Houston faced a third-and-four at Minnesota’s 26. Moon was rushed hard but escaped John Randle and Chris Doleman in the backfield and ran for the first down, diving to the 21, where he was hit by Vencie Glenn.

Jenkins stood over Moon, pumping his fist and shouting, but Glenn pushed Jenkins away.

“During play, it’s our job to hit hard,” Glenn said. “But he has a family. You never want to see a guy get hurt on the field.”

Carlson entered and handed off twice to White for 12 yards before hitting Haywood Jeffires with a five-yard pass. Carlson’s four-yard touchdown pass to Jeffires was nullified by a penalty, but his eight-yard pass to White came one play before the touchdown.

“I believe everyone’s here for a reason,” White said. “We need (Carlson) right now. Everyone’s got confidence in Cody. We don’t miss a beat.”

Carlson, who has replaced Moon at times in the last three games because of injuries, completed both passes he threw for 13 yards.

Moon completed 28 of 38 passes for 243 yards and a touchdown and also ran seven times for 46 yards in the face of a relentless rush that sacked him five times and hurried him on at least a dozen other throws.

“He’s been taking a great deal of punishment,” Oiler receiver Ernest Givins said. “But because he wants to win a championship more than anybody, he’s willing to do whatever it takes to get one.”

The Vikings (7-3) moved the ball to Houston’s 43 in the final seconds but Rich Gannon couldn’t connect on three desperation passes into the end zone.

“We hurt ourselves on second down and had a lot of third-and-longs,” said Gannon, who completed only nine of 28 passes for 111 yards. “We had blown assignments, drops, sacks, penalties, bad throws and, the next thing you know, we had to punt.”

Houston’s other points came on Moon’s five-yard touchdown pass to Givins just before halftime and Al Del Greco’s 30-yard field goal.

Minnesota got a 58-yard fumble return touchdown from Anthony Parker--the third consecutive game the Vikings’ defense has scored--and field goals of 42 and 51 yards from Fuad Reveiz.

The Oilers dominated statistically, with 342 yards to Minnesota’s 174 and 27 first downs to Minnesota’s 10, but committed four turnovers--three fumbles and an interception thrown by Moon.

“Our game is to force turnovers and we’ve got the athletes who can score when we get them,” said Tony Dungy, Minnesota’s defensive coordinator. “We got one today, but we needed one more.”