Oiler Fans Howling at Their Old Moon : Football: Quarterback’s recent performance a subject of concern going into Sunday’s game against the Rams.

Houston quarterback Warren Moon had barely slipped off his shoulder pads after the Oilers’ 18-17 loss Sunday in San Diego when his name lit up the sports radio call-in switchboards in Houston.

Calls came from Melvin in Missouri City, Paul in Houston, Dave from the Northeast side. They wanted to know what’s wrong with Houston’s offense, and Moon, after the 36-year-old quarterback was intercepted four times by the Chargers.

One irate caller, Mike from the Westside, asked Moon on his weekly radio show Wednesday:

“You’re getting old, Warren, and it’s catching up to you. When you go home at night and you take out your false teeth and take off your hearing aid, do you think about guys like George Blanda and Nolan Ryan who say, ‘Hey, I’m a young buck, I can still do this’?”

Moon just laughed.

“Last year, I had five interceptions in the first week, and I was 35 years old at the time,” he said. “That’s not young for this game, but nobody raised those questions then. A year later, I have a bad game and all of a sudden I’m too old. I just don’t understand that.”

Moon will be under close scrutiny again, as will Ram quarterback Jim Everett, when the Oilers play the Rams Sunday in a matchup of struggling offenses.

Moon, the AFC’s leader in passing efficiency last season, ranks 11th in the AFC and 24th in the league this season. He has completed 59% of his passes, but with six interceptions and only three touchdowns.

Everett has been the league’s lowest-rated passer the past two weeks, completing 47.6% of his attempts with two touchdowns and six interceptions.

“I know Jim is a good quarterback and hopefully he will battle through everything that’s going on,” Moon said. “I’m sort of going through the same situation, although probably not as bad as him.”

Moon ranked his performance Sunday as one of his worst in his 10-year NFL career. He was benched with nine minutes left in favor of backup Cody Carlson, who led Houston downfield for a go-ahead field goal.

Meanwhile, Moon was left answering the public.

And public opinion says the Oilers can’t afford Moon when the NFL’s salary cap kicks in next season.

And public opinion says this might be Moon’s last chance at the Super Bowl ring that has eluded him.

And public opinion says Moon has only one or two seasons left in the league. Carlson is the Oilers’ quarterback of the future.

“People tend to look at one bad game as meaning my career is over,” Moon said. “They’re used to a pretty high standard here.”

Moon realizes the game clock is ticking on his career. His contract is begging to become a salary cap casualty next season.

A projected payroll limit of $31 million per team would force the Oilers to cut more than $9 million in player salaries.

They could start at quarterback, where they’re paying Moon and Carlson a combined $6.5 million a year. Moon will receive a reported $10.25 million on the final three years of his contract. Carlson signed a three-year, $8.85 million contract in the offseason.

Moon feels strongly about finishing his career in Houston, but he admitted during training camp that he might not be wearing an Oiler uniform next season.

But can the Oilers win with him?

Last season, he was selected to the Pro Bowl for the fifth consecutive time and led the AFC in passing efficiency despite missing five games with a broken left arm. Still, the Oilers are 72-74 since Moon signed in 1984 after six seasons with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League.

He led the Oilers to consecutive winning records and playoff berths the last six seasons. But Houston hasn’t advanced past the divisional playoffs, and has lost three times in the wild-card game. The most recent was to Buffalo, 41-38 in overtime, in which the Oilers blew a 35-3 third-quarter lead.

This season, Moon plays behind an offensive line that has given up nine sacks, tied with Cleveland for the seventh-highest in the league.

Protection is vital in the Oilers’ run-and-shoot offense, where Moon often needs time to look for a second or third receiver.

“Moon is still throwing the ball well,” Ram safety Anthony Newman said. “But people are putting more pressure on him this year and trying to take advantage of his age.”

Said Moon: “We haven’t been able to get on the same page offensively. We’ve had too many mental mistakes and penalties at the wrong time.

“Execution is our biggest problem. We do have a couple new guys in there on the offensive line, and we shuffled some people, but that shouldn’t be any excuse. We’ve been around long enough not to be having those problems.”

Moon wasn’t the only veteran quarterback benched Sunday. San Diego starter Stan Humphries was replaced by John Friesz and Cleveland’s Bernie Kosar was benched in favor of Vinny Testaverde.

“Of course I don’t want to come out because I have a lot of pride,” Moon said of getting benched. “I told him (Coach Jack Pardee): ‘I’ll go ahead and come out, but just don’t hold this against me. I’m just having a bad day.’ ”

Pardee hasn’t--Moon is still his starter.

“Last week he wasn’t very sharp,” Pardee said, “That is unusual for him because when he has a slow start, he usually works his way out of it and ends up playing well. That didn’t happen last Sunday. He’ll get over it.”

But the fans--and the media--won’t let him forget it. Moon shrugs off their criticism as part of the game.

“I’m fine with it,” he said. “I don’t read the papers. I don’t listen to the radio. And I don’t watch the news.”

Although Moon has a thick skin, he says the close scrutiny takes its toll on friends and family.

“It hurts them more than it does me because they do read it and they do have to hear it,” he said. “People will put things to them that they won’t say to me directly.”

Moon said it’s particularly tough on his four children. After Dad has a good game, everybody in the schoolyard wants to be your friend. If Dad has a bad game, look out.

“You know how kids are,” Moon said. “Whenever they get a chance to get back at kids and tease them, they’ll do it. My kids go through that sometimes, but they’ve dealt with it long enough that they have a pretty thick skin, too.

“Sometimes they get more attention than they should get because they’re my kids. It’s just like my position. I’m going to get more credit for winning than I deserve, and more blame when we lose than I deserve.”

How the Quarterbacks Compare

Player Att. Comp. Pct. Yds. TD Int. Rank Warren Moon 104 62 59.6 644 3 6 23rd Jim Everett 103 49 47.6 531 2 6 29th