Oilers Beat Steelers for Sixth Win in a Row, 23-3 : AFC: Moon passes for 295 yards to lead Houston over Pittsburgh and to first place in the Central.

It’s amazing what a couple of months have done for the Houston Oilers.

A split and squabbling squad seven weeks ago, the Oilers have become a smoothly running machine, taking over first place in the AFC Central on Sunday night with their sixth straight victory, a 23-3 decision over Pittsburgh.

William Fuller had four sacks to lead a defense that sacked Neil O’Donnell and Mike Tomczak six times and knocked O’Donnell from the game with a shoulder injury. Warren Moon passed for 295 yards, including a 66-yard touchdown pass play to Haywood Jeffires on the first possession of the second half.

That led the way to the biggest victory since the Oilers were 1-4 after a seven-turnover, 35-7 loss in Buffalo on Oct. 11--a time when offense and defense were split and Coach Jack Pardee’s job was in jeopardy.

“It’s probably the best football we’ve played, the most emotional we’ve played for the whole game,” Pardee said. “When you’re 1-4, you’d better put a streak together. You can’t just win one and lose one.”

They haven’t and the Oilers are 7-4 and the winning streak is their longest in 31 years.

Moreover, after beating losing teams, they’ve finally defeated a contender; the Steelers (6-5) entered the game tied for the division lead and shut down that same Buffalo team, 23-0, two weeks ago.

“Turnovers you can’t control. But you can control big plays and we haven’t been doing that,” Pittsburgh Coach Bill Cowher said. “I’m not gonna sugarcoat it. We deserved to lose.”

On one side, Buddy Ryan’s defense, led by Fuller and Ray Childress, shut down the Steelers, keeping them from crossing midfield until midway in the second quarter. O’Donnell, whose right shoulder was bruised when he was sacked by Fuller late in the third quarter, completed 13 of 26 passes for 153 yards.

On the other side, Kevin Gilbride’s offense produced two touchdowns in a span of 2 minutes 59 seconds, on a three-yard touchdown run by Gary Brown and a 66-yard pass from Moon to Jeffires, who caught seven passes for 139 yards. Al Del Greco added field goals of 43, 21 and 28 yards.

It was vindication for Moon, who had just five touchdowns and 15 interceptions in his last five games against the Steelers, and was knocked out of the second game last year with a concussion. He completed 21 of 34 passes Sunday, with one interception.