An Ugly Victory for Browns

About the only thing that made the Cleveland Browns happy was that they left town with a victory.

Stevon Moore carried the day with three first-half interceptions, and Vinny Testaverde threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Michael Jackson with 9:17 to play, leading Cleveland to a 14-7 victory over the Houston Oilers on Sunday.

“I thought we got outplayed, but the bottom line is what’s on the scoreboard,” Brown defensive end Rob Burnett said. “Defense, that’s the strength of our team. We’ve got big shoulders, we can handle it.”

Moore picked off three passes from backup quarterback Will Furrer in the first half, helping the Browns to a 7-0 lead on Testaverde’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Keenan McCardell.

Moore set up that touchdown with an eight-yard interception to the Oilers’ 28. His first interception stopped a drive at the Browns’ 22, and he also grabbed a deflected pass for an interception at the Cleveland one.

“We got out with a win,” Cleveland Coach Bill Belichick said.

The Oilers (1-2) tied it with Furrer’s four-yard touchdown pass to Haywood Jeffires, who made a leaping catch with defender Don Griffin hanging on his waist with 2:43 gone in the fourth quarter.

Testaverde, who hit only two of 11 first-half passes, needed only three minutes to give the lead back to the Browns.

He set up the score with a 29-yard pass to Keenan McCardell to the Oilers’ 36 and finished the game 10 of 23 for 147 yards and two touchdowns.

Furrer, making his second NFL start, was booed in the first half but wound up completing 22 of 41 passes for 258 yards and four interceptions as a replacement for starter Chris Chandler, sidelined because of a bruised left shoulder.

“The interceptions were a hard problem,” Furrer said. “But today, like other games, it seems to be one play or one series we’ll have one guy break down, the quarterback, a guard or receiver.

“It’s easy for you guys to get frustrated for us saying we’re close, but we see the tape and we know.”

The Browns (2-1) came into the game hoping to victimize Houston’s ailing defense that played without starting middle linebacker Al Smith and free safety Marcus Robertson.

Instead, Moore picked on Furrer.

“They say sometimes things come in bunches,” Moore said. “The interceptions were great hustle plays on my part.”