OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Tyler Thigpen put together one effective drive
for Kansas City to beat the Oakland Raiders in a matchup between two of
the NFL's worst teams.
Thigpen engineered a 91-yard drive that was capped by Larry Johnson's
2-yard tiebreaking touchdown run early in the fourth quarter to lead the
Chiefs to a 20-13 victory Sunday for just their second win in their last
21 games.
Kansas City (2-10) scored its first touchdown on Maurice Leggett's
67-yard fumble return on a botched fake field goal by Oakland (3-9).
With the Chiefs locked in a 10-all tie and backed up to their own 9
following a punt, Thigpen got the offense moving to earn his first win
in seven career NFL starts. He got Kansas City started with a 23-yard
pass to Tony Gonzalez and hit the tight end twice more for 28 yards on
the drive.
Thigpen also ran for 24 yards on scrambles and designed draws to set up
Johnson's run that made it 17-10.
After a fumble by Justin Fargas on Oakland's next drive, Thigpen ran it
25 yards to set up Connor Barth's second field goal.
Thigpen finished 15-for-22 for 162 yards and ran for 48 more. After
Sebastian Janikowski's 51-yard field goal cut the lead to 20-13 with
2:55 remaining, Thigpen connected on a 12-yard pass to Dwayne Bowe for a
first down that helped Kansas City run out the clock.
Gonzalez added eight catches for 110 yards and Larry Johnson ran for 92
yards on 24 carries.
After allowing a franchise-worst 54 points in a loss to Buffalo last
week, the Chiefs managed to shut down a Raiders team that scored 31 to
beat Denver a week ago. Oakland's only touchdown came on a 1-yard drive
following Chris Johnson's 44-yard interception return.
The Raiders managed just three points on three trips inside the Kansas
City 30, as the offense reverted to its form before the Denver game.
Oakland had gone 15 quarters without an offensive touchdown.
JaMarcus Russell went 10-for-28 for 132 yards.
The loss assured the Raiders of their sixth straight losing record since
going to the Super Bowl following the 2002 season and was the sixth loss
in eight games under interim coach Tom Cable.
It was a decision by Cable that put the Raiders in an early hole, as he
called for a fake field goal on fourth-and-10 early in the second
quarter. Holder Shane Lechler took the snap and threw an errant pitch to
kicker Sebastian Janikowski. Leggett scooped up the loose ball and ran
67 yards for the score to give Kansas City a 10-3 lead.
That helped the Chiefs win for the sixth straight time in Oakland.
Kansas City had won just one game since beating the Raiders 12-10 at the
Coliseum on Oct. 21, 2007. The Chiefs' only other win since then came at
home against Denver in September.
The Raiders used many different looks on offense, with Darren McFadden
lining up at receiver and quarterback and even taking a pitch from
Ronald Curry after a short pass for a hook-and-lateral to set up a field
goal on Oakland's first possession. But the Raiders couldn't manage much
else on offense.
