Chiefs Find a Weakness, Win, 38-10

Todd Blackledge began to smile when he saw the Atlanta Falcons in man-to- man coverage on game films last week.

Blackledge exploited the Falcons’ secondary for 219 passing yards and a career-high three touchdowns to give the Kansas City Chiefs a 38-10 victory over the Falcons on Sunday.

“I felt if we could block we could score 40 points against them,” Blackledge said. “It would be very difficult for their defensive backs to cover our receivers all over the field. Their defense was perfect for the offense we were running.”

Blackledge completed his first seven passes for 190 yards, including 70 on a touchdown pass play to Stephone Paige, to help the Chiefs (5-9) to a 24-10 halftime lead and send the Falcons (2-11) to their sixth defeat in seven games.

Blackledge completed 11 of 19 pass attempts and threw touchdown passes of 15 yards to Herman Heard and 8 yards to Paige.

“When I get the chance to go against someone man-on-man, I’m going to win 90% of the time,” Paige said.

Ethan Horton and Heard had short touchdown runs on Kansas City’s first two possessions to move the Chiefs into a 14-0 lead. Mike Pruitt chipped in 102 yards in 16 carries--the first 100-yard rushing effort by a Kansas City running back since 1981.

Atlanta’s Gerald Riggs rushed for 197 yards in 25 carries, his eighth 100-yard game of the season.