The X-factor saves Xmas
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders kept trying to give each other a Christmas present Saturday. But it was the Chiefs who ended up celebrating the holiday, thanks to Santa’s little helper — Dante Hall.
Hall was definitely the X-factor on this Xmas. His 49-yard kickoff return set up Lawrence Tynes’ 38-yard field goal in Kansas City’s 31-30 victory.
Hall caught the ball on the Kansas City 15, and it took a tackle by Raiders kicker Sebastian Janikowski to keep Hall from running one back all the way for the second straight week.
Chiefs quarterback Trent Green completed a 6-yard pass to Chris Horn and a 7-yarder to Tony Gonzalez — who caught 11 passes for 124 yards and two touchdowns in the game. Larry Johnson ran up the middle for 3 yards to the Oakland 20. Green then spiked the ball before throwing an incomplete pass to Samie Parker.
Tynes came on the field and kicked the ball through the uprights with 22 seconds left.
The Raiders’ last hopes ended when quarterback Kerry Collins’ last-gasp pass was intercepted by Benny Sapp.
The game wasn’t a Christmas classic like Kansas City’s 1971 double-overtime playoff loss to Miami, but the result was sweeter for the Chiefs.
It looked as if it wasn’t going to be a merry Christmas when Green was hit by the Raiders’ Ted Washington and fumbled while the Chiefs were trying to run out the clock. Oakland’s Warren Sapp recovered the ball on the Raiders’ 43 with 1:48 left.
Collins completed passes of 8 yards to Doug Jolley and 25 yards to Teyo Johnson as Oakland moved the ball to the Kansas City 28. Janikowski kicked a 46-yard field goal, giving the Raiders a 30-28 lead with 1:03 left.
Then came Hall’s return — and it was joy to the world for Chiefs’ fans.
The victory stretched the Chiefs’ winning streak to four games. They will go to San Diego for next week’s season-finale hoping to finish an otherwise disappointing year at a respectable 8-8.
The Chiefs dominated the statistics in the first half but went into halftime tied at 21-21 . The Chiefs piled up 256 yards before halftime, and the Raiders had 135.
Tynes missed two field goals in the first two quarters. One, a 43-yarder, was blocked by 6-foot-8 Langston Walker. The other, from 50 yards out on the final play of the half, hit the crossbar and bounced back .
The Raiders also came up with the only turnover of the half on the game’s second play from scrimmage. Oakland’s starting cornerbacks, Charles Woodson and Phillip Buchanon, didn’t play because of injuries, but replacement Nnamdi Asomugha made a spectacular play.
Asomugha beat the Chiefs’ Eddie Kennison to the ball on a comeback route thrown by Green .
He deflected the ball to teammate Tyler Brayton, who intercepted and returned the ball 24 yards to the Chiefs’ 10. Three plays later, the Raiders took a 7-0 lead on Jerry Porter’s 5-yard touchdown pass from Collins.
After the teams traded scoreless possessions, the Chiefs tied the score at 7-7 late in the first quarter on Larry Johnson’s 6-yard scoring run.
The Raiders went back ahead 14-7 on Zack Crockett’s 3-yard touchdown run.
The Chiefs moved ahead 21-14 on two Tony Gonzalez touchdown receptions, from 2 and 26 yards.
Gonzalez had a monster first half with nine catches for 112 yards as the Chiefs took advantage of Woodson’s absence. He covered Gonzalez exclusively when the teams played earlier in December in Oakland, limiting the former Cal basketball player to three receptions for 32 yards and no touchdowns.