Moon Is Top Cat Against Lions : Houston: Oiler quarterback pulls trigger on Lions’ run-and-shoot offense in 35-21 win.

HOUSTON —  Houston quarterback Warren Moon watched Detroit rookies Rodney Peete and Barry Sanders push the Lions’ run-and-shoot offense through the Oilers’ defense in the first half on Sunday.

But in the second half, it was Moon’s turn to show what the Oilers’ run-and-shoot could do.

Moon threw touchdown passes of six yards to Ernest Givins and seven to Drew Hill in the third quarter and ran for another in the fourth to lead the Oilers to a 35-31 victory.

Peete and Sanders had helped the Lions take a 24-14 lead early in the third quarter.

But Moon led an 18-play, 87-yard drive that consumed 10:29 and scored what proved to be the winning touchdown with 3:15 left on a two-yard run, giving Houston a 35-24 lead. He completed 11 consecutive passes during one stretch in the second half.

Because of Moon, who completed 30 of 38 passes for 345 yards, the Oilers (5-4) held off the Lions (1-8). Detroit came into the game with 30 turnovers, most in the NFL, but it was the Oilers who lost three fumbles and an interception while Detroit turned over the ball twice.

“Instead of them turning it over, we turned it over,” Oilers Coach Jerry Glanville said. “They had a hard time stopping us, and Warren Moon helped us. Because of him we were able to stay in the game.”

Detroit took a 17-14 halftime lead and, on the first play of the third quarter, Mike Rozier fumbled at his own 26-yard line and the Lions turned it into a 24-14 lead.

Kevin Brooks first picked up the ball and ran three yards before he, too, fumbled. William White scooped it up and ran 20 more yards for a touchdown.

Sanders, who gained 91 yards in 19 carries, ran one yard for a touchdown, Peete threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Robert Clark and Eddie Murray kicked a 47-yard field goal for Detroit’s halftime lead. Houston scored on one-yard runs by Lorenzo White and Rozier.

Rozier’s third-quarter fumble temporarily foiled the Oilers’ halftime plan to seize control of the game.

Peete completed 18 of 29 passes for 273 yards.