Oiler Victory Over Ravens at Astrodome Soothes Empty Feeling

The Houston Oilers are playing better and better in front of fewer and fewer fans.

On Sunday, only 20,082 watched the Oilers defeat the Baltimore Ravens, 29-13. It was the smallest crowd to see the Oilers play in the Astrodome.

The Oilers (2-1), whose attendance has plummeted since announcing their proposed move to Tennessee a year ago, broke the previous Astrodome attendance low of 21,955 set in 1973 against the New York Jets.

“It’s nothing new,” said quarterback Chris Chandler, who completed 16 of 27 passes for 162 yards and two touchdowns. “We got used to it last year and in the preseason this year. It’s a sad fact.”

Chandler threw long passes to Chris Sanders and Willie Davis and short ones to Frank Wycheck. Even Chandler’s misses affected the Ravens’ defense.

Chandler threw a long pass intended for Chris Sanders in the second quarter that fell incomplete. On the next play, Chandler passed underneath to Wycheck for 16 yards that helped set up a 41-yard field goal by Al Del Greco.

The Ravens (1-2), who were in the same lame-duck situation last year in Cleveland, have often found comfort in the Astrodome, where as the Browns they had a 16-10 lifetime record.

There was little comfort this time, though.

Raven quarterback Vinny Testaverde, who had one pass intercepted in the first two games, had two intercepted by the Oilers in the first half.

“We started the game bad and it progressively got worse,” said Testaverde, who completed 25 of 40 passes for 217 yards and two touchdowns. “Every play was a 180-degree turnaround. The first turnover was a first down for us and then it turned into a touchdown for them. Then a lot of bad things happened after that.”

Chandler connected with Wycheck on a three-yard touchdown-pass play following Lewis’ first interception with 4:06 gone in the game.

“It really was nothing special,” said Wycheck, who had six receptions for 64 yards. “We go in with the same game plan every week.

“It just happened to work out that they were giving a lot of coverage deep and the tight end was open.”

After a 27-yard interception return by Marcus Robertson, Chandler threw to Davis for an 18-yard touchdown-pass play with 14:29 elapsed in the first quarter.

“This team has shown it can improve,” Oiler Coach Jeff Fisher said.

“When we have set up to improve on an area, we’ve done it. We needed to get the turnovers and hold them down, and we did that.”