Road Is Friendly to Oilers

The Houston Oilers won’t have much of a home-field advantage until they move to Nashville. That’s OK, though, because they have become a pretty good road team.

The lame-duck Oilers, playing before a few of their soon-to-be home fans from Tennessee, won for the third time in four road games this season, beating the winless Atlanta Falcons, 23-13, Sunday despite an injury to quarterback Chris Chandler.

“No one likes to play on the road,” said Oiler owner Bud Adams, who became a pariah in Houston when he decided to move his team in 1998. “But right now, our home advantage is not what it used to be.”

Houston (4-2), which has drawn less than 30,000 for both of its games at the Astrodome, was cheered on in Atlanta by a small contingent of pompon-waving fans who made the four-hour drive from the Tennessee capital.

But even with the extra fans from Tennessee, attendance at the Georgia Dome was only 35,401, the second-smallest crowd for a Falcon game since the team moved to the 72,000-seat stadium in 1992.

Atlanta, 0-6 for the first time since 1985, joins the New York Jets as the NFL’s only winless teams.

“If I was on the outside looking in, I would rip this team,” said receiver Terance Mathis, who had two fourth-quarter touchdown receptions for the Falcons. “I’m tired of going in there on Monday morning and the coach saying, ‘We did some good things, I saw some improvement, we played hard--but. . . .’ When are guys going to get tired of that ‘but?’ ”

Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George had the third 100-yard game of his rookie year with the Oilers, gaining 109 yards in 23 carries.

George’s running helped ease the loss of Chandler, who was injured with 1:13 remaining in the first half. Attempting to run for a first down, he tumbled out of bounds into Atlanta Coach June Jones, prompting a sarcastic cheer from the small crowd.

Jones landed hard on his head and left shoulder, but he was OK. Chandler, however, limped off to the locker room with a pulled groin muscle, and Steve McNair went the rest of the way at quarterback for the Oilers.

Chandler is questionable for next week’s crucial AFC Central game against Pittsburgh at Houston.