Tuesday, December 05, 2000
Patriots 30, Chiefs 24
By HOWARD ULMAN
AP Sports Writer
FOXBORO, Mass. — Drew Bledsoe and the New England Patriots won't soon forget one of the season's least meaningful Monday night matchups.
They got a rare victory, beating the Kansas City Chiefs, another team going nowhere, 30-24. Bledsoe threw for a season-high 282 yards and Adam Vinatieri kicked three field goals in New England's highest-scoring game of the year.
For a change, the Patriots held on at the end after the Chiefs cut the lead to 30-24 on Elvis Grbac's 19-yard pass to Kevin Lockett with 3:58 left.
Kansas City drove down to the Patriots' 12-yard line but had no timeouts and time expired when Tony Gonzalez was tackled by Tebucky Jones in the middle of the field after a 5-yard completion.
“That was not the play that I wanted,” Chiefs coach Gunther Cunningham said. “He didn't see anyone open, but the ball should have been thrown into the end zone.”
In their other Monday night game this season, the Patriots (4-9) gave up two touchdowns in the last 6:25 and lost to the New York Jets 20-19 in Week 2.
“We were able to build a big enough cushion to sustain it, but overall, that's not what we want,” New England coach Bill Belichick said.
Two of the previous six Monday night games were decided on last-play field goals, but the Chiefs (5-8) fell short of ending a four-game losing streak with a last-play touchdown.
They gave up two fumbles after losing just four all season and wasted Grbac's 81-yard touchdown pass to Derrick Alexander, who has three scoring catches of over 80 yards in his career plus an 82-yard TD run.
And it came eight days after they suffered the indignity of becoming San Diego's first and only victim of the season. Grbac missed that game with an injured right index finger.
The Patriots treated a chilly crowd — missing 9,964 no-shows — to their best offensive display of a season in which they often faltered in the waning moments of games. They also entered the game with a 7-18 Monday night record, the worst in the AFC.
The win was some consolation after their 34-9 loss in Detroit on national television on Thanksgiving Day
“After the last game, we were really faced with a challenge,” Bledsoe said. “Which way were we going to go? Were we going to mail it in the last four games, or come out and compete?”
Bledsoe, who had thrown just two touchdown passes in his previous six games, threw two on Monday — a 17-yarder to Troy Brown and a 1-yarder to tight end Jermaine Wiggins, signed seven days earlier after being cut by the Jets.
Bledsoe overcame a sore thumb he's played with for four games by completing 33 of 48 passes, including all seven on the drive to Wiggins' touchdown that made it 27-10 with 7:09 left in the third quarter. The completions were the third most of Bledsoe's career and the most since 1995.
“It's still a little sore” Bledsoe said. “It doesn't have a profound effect.”
The Chiefs marched back, reaching the New England 27, but Otis Smith intercepted Grbac's pass at the 4 and returned it 56 yards. The Patriots couldn't capitalize, as Vinatieri's 37-yard field-goal attempt went wide, ending his streak of 16 successful kicks.
Grbac then threw a 4-yard scoring pass to Gonzalez, cutting the lead to 27-17 with 13:43 left. But Sylvester Morris' fumble on the Chiefs' next possession was recovered by Tony George and led to Vinatieri's 27-yard field goal with 7:37 remaining.
Vinatieri had given New England a 20-10 lead on the last play of the half with a 53-yard field goal, the second longest of his career. He also hit a 48-yarder on the first series of the game before Todd Peterson tied it with a 42-yard field goal.
The Patriots, who had just two touchdowns in their previous three games, scored two in the first half. Kevin Faulk's 1-yard dive gave New England a 10-3 lead and Bledsoe's pass to Brown made it 17-10.
In between those scores, the Chiefs tied it on Grbac's pass to Alexander. It was Alexander's fourth touchdown of more than 80 yards in two seasons.
Kansas City 3 7 0 14—24
New England 1010 7 3—30
First Quarter
NE—FG Vinatieri 48, 12:18.
KC—FG Peterson 42, 8:27.
NE—Faulk 1 run (Vinatieri kick), 1:29.
Second Quarter
KC—Alexander 81 pass from Grbac (Peterson kick), 8:39.
NE—Brown 17 pass from Bledsoe (Vinatieri kick), 2:00.
NE—FG Vinatieri 53, :00.
Third Quarter
NE—Wiggins 1 pass from Bledsoe (Vinatieri kick), 7:09.
Fourth Quarter
KC—Gonzalez 4 pass from Grbac (Peterson kick), 13:43.
NE—FG Vinatieri 27, 7:23.
KC—Lockett 19 pass from Grbac (Peterson kick), 3:58.
A—50,328.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Kansas City, Richardson 6-30, Anders 6-19, Grbac 4-17, Bennett 3-2. New England, Faulk 22-52, Glenn 2-37, Pass 2-9, Bledsoe 3-5, Shaw 2-2.
PASSING—Kansas City, Grbac 25-46-1-350. New England, Bledsoe 33-48-0-282.
RECEIVING—Kansas City, Gonzalez 11-147, Alexander 5-116, Richardson 3-32, Morris 3-17, Lockett 2-34, Anders 1-4. New England, Brown 12-119, Wiggins 5-41, Faulk 5-32, Rutledge 3-27, Jackson 2-17, Glenn 2-15, Carter 2-10, Simmons 1-14, Pass 1-7.
MISSED FIELD GOALS—Kansas City, None. New England, Vinatieri 37 (WR).
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Patriots 30, Chiefs 24
