PRO FOOTBALL: KANSAS CITY CHIEFS 19, RAIDERS 9 : Chiefs Go With Their Pair of Aces to Get Wild Card : AFC: Montana passes for 214 yards and Allen rushes for 132 in victory over Raiders.

Having Marcus Allen and Joe Montana in the same lineup for a must-win game is like being dealt blackjack.

It’s a tough hand to beat.

That’s why the Kansas City Chiefs were so confident going into Saturday’s playoff-berth showdown with the Raiders at the Coliseum.

“When you have two great leaders like that on offense, you can’t help but be confident,” Kansas City offensive lineman Joe Valerio said. “It’s easy to see their performances on the field, but what sets them apart are the other things they bring to the huddle. When the bullets start flying, you know that you can count on those two.”

Behind Allen’s 132 yards rushing and Montana’s 214 yards and one touchdown passing, the Chiefs defeated the Raiders, 19-9, to sweep their division rivals for the second consecutive year and clinch a wild-card playoff berth.

“People thought we were done, but look around, we’re still alive,” Kansas City linebacker Derrick Thomas said.

A key reason the Chiefs became the only team to qualify for the playoffs every season in the 1990s is the decision by Kansas City Coach Marty Schottenheimer to run the ball against the Raiders.

In practices and meetings leading up to the game, Schottenheimer repeatedly told the Chiefs that they would turn to Allen to get things going on the ground.

“The plan was to run the ball,” said Allen, who surpassed the 10,000-yard rushing mark for his career with 10,018. “The plan was to wear them down. I think--and not giving any disrespect to (the Raiders)--that the Chiefs have always felt superior in terms of their conditioning and things like that.”

Allen carried the ball 33 times and spearheaded a ground attack that rushed for 204 yards against a Raider defense that was ranked among the league’s best in stopping the run.

“I’ve always been a team guy and wanted to win,” Allen said. “Obviously, that’s the foremost thing for me. I’ll carry it as many times as they give it to me. Actually, it’s kind of weird, but you get better after you’re tired and fatigued a little bit.”

In being able to move the ball on the ground, Kansas City held a 17-minute advantage in time of possession over the Raiders. One reason for this was the use of Valerio as a second tight end to bolster the Chiefs’ running game.

“We really had a good day running the ball and I think the key was that we kept doing it throughout the game,” Valerio said. “We kept the pressure on them and we kept getting better as the game went on.”

With Allen averaging four yards a carry, Montana was able to keep the Raiders off-balance with a variety of play-action plays and rollouts. He completed 15 of 24 passes without an interception and was not pressured for most of the game.

“We were able to mix the run in with the pass,” Montana said. “I’m not saying that we controlled the line of scrimmage, but we were able to get a fair share of yards on a majority of our run plays. Our offensive line allowed us to run the ball and have the opportunity to make some big plays.”

The first big play came on Kansas City’s opening drive when Montana completed a 47-yard touchdown pass play to Willie Davis, who was all alone behind the Raiders’ zone defense down the right sideline.

From there, the Chiefs wore the Raiders’ defense down in the second half.

“It’s not like we felt that they can’t beat us,” said Davis, who caught three passes for 83 yards, all in the first half. “But if a team can stay with the Raiders into the fourth quarter, they’ll give you a chance to win because they’ll make mistakes.”

Less than two weeks ago, Kansas City looked as if it was out of the playoff hunt with a 7-7 record, but now the Chiefs have a two-game winning streak and confidence that they can make it to the Super Bowl.

“We have had some adversities this year, but throughout all of that we continued to work hard,” said Schottenheimer, whose team lost to Buffalo in the AFC championship game last season. “We have not played, quite frankly, as well as we would have liked to have played. But in the final analysis, we are in the tournament and that is the only thing that matters.”

And the Chiefs can thank Allen and Montana for that.

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Leading Rushers

Marcus Allen rushed for 132 yards Saturday, making him the ninth player in history to surpass 10,000 yards. The list:

Player Yards Avg. TD Walter Payton 16,726 4.4 110 Eric Dickerson 13,259 4.4 90 Tony Dorsett 12,739 4.3 77 Jim Brown 12,312 5.2 106 Franco Harris 12,120 4.1 91 John Riggins 11,352 3.9 104 O.J. Simpson 11,236 4.7 61 Ottis Anderson 10,273 4.0 81 x-Marcus Allen 10,018 4.0 98

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