For Team-Record Sixth Time, Oilers Have Won for the Road

BALTIMORE — Call it the road-field advantage.

Steve McNair threw for one touchdown and ran for another Sunday as the Houston Oilers won a sixth road game for the first time in franchise history, defeating the Baltimore Ravens, 24-21.

Houston, which will move to Nashville for the 1998 season, went 2-6 at the Astrodome and 6-2 on the road. The Oilers (8-8) had never won more than five away games in their 36-year existence.

McNair completed 19 of 24 passes for 238 yards and ran seven times for 41 yards in improving to 4-2 as a starter.

McNair, starting in place of Chris Chandler, led Houston to a 10-point halftime lead. He made it 24-7 with a 24-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

Rookie Eddie George ran for 85 yards and a touchdown.

Baltimore’s Vinny Testaverde threw three touchdown passes to Michael Jackson, but the Ravens (4-12) lost for the 10th time in 12 games.

Baltimore, which had lost a second-half lead in eight of its last 10 games, never led.

Testaverde, 23 for 32 for 307 yards, became the eighth quarterback in NFL history to pass for 4,000 yards and throw for at least 30 touchdowns in a single season.