Lomax Reloads, Guns Down Chiefs : His 3 Touchdown Passes Give Cardinals a 23-14 Victory

Neil Lomax had the best answer for his critics.

Lomax, coming back from a two-week benching, passed for three touchdowns Sunday to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 23-14 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.

“I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t some extra pressure on us all, especially me,” Lomax said. “I’ve got a lot of faith. I’m no hero. I’m just going out there and doing my job.

“The whole team played well. I had confidence in myself. Our team is limited in a lot of areas, but everybody played well.”

Lomax, who gave way after 52 straight starts to Cliff Stoudt during his two-week stay on the bench, completed 17 of 29 passes for 185 yards.

Lomax also passed the 15,000-yard career mark in his sixth NFL season.

“I had a good time today,” said Lomax, who also ran for 22 yards. “The offensive line played well and that helped. I had some holes today to run in. It wasn’t that I lost any of my great speed. I had just had the chances.”

Cardinal Coach Gene Stallings wondered if the layoff didn’t help Lomax, who struggled earlier in the season.

“He could have pouted (about being benched) but he didn’t,” Stallings said. “He prepared himself very well. He gave us some production. He ran the football team very well.”

Roy Green caught a five-yard touchdown pass from Lomax late in the opening period, giving the Cardinals (3-9) their first first-quarter touchdown of the season. Eric Schubert kicked a 20-yard field goal to make it 9-0 just before halftime, and J.T. Smith caught scoring passes of 25 and 4 yards from Lomax in the third and fourth quarters.

Kansas City (7-5), which had a severe dent put in its playoff hopes, didn’t score until Stephone Paige grabbed touchdown passes of 6 and 13 yards from Bill Kenney in the closing eight minutes.

Kenney completed 24 of 43 passes for 223 yards, but threw 2 interceptions.

Lomax drove the Cards 77 yards the second time they had the ball, chipping in a 15-yard run to the procession.

David Galloway’s second fumble recovery set up Schubert’s field goal, and St. Louis rolled 80 yards and 70 yards to its second-half scores before the Chiefs retaliated.

Galloway also recovered a fumble by Kansas City tight end Paul Coffman only two plays after Chiefs’ cornerback Kevin Ross recovered Stump Mitchell’s bobble for St. Louis.

The Cardinals capitalized on three Lomax pass completions and the long penalty for pass interference against Pro Bowl safety Deron Cherry to score late in the opening quarter.

Lomax ran 15 yards on third down from St. Louis’ 25, then hit Smith for a 16-yard gain on the next play. After Cherry was flagged for pass interference, Lomax found Green for 14 yards to the Chiefs’ five two plays before the game’s first touchdown.

It was St. Louis’ first regular-season victory over its Missouri rival in five Governor’s Cup games and only the fifth victory for the Cardinals in 24 games since the fourth week of the 1985 season.