It’s Easily Allen and the Chiefs

If people would let him, Marcus Allen would wait until the end of his illustrious career to even think about milestones.

When a man’s only one rushing touchdown from Walter Payton’s NFL record, it’s hard to ignore.

Allen, a 15-year veteran, scored twice on one-yard runs Thursday night to lead Kansas City (5-2) past penalty-prone Seattle, 34-16, and moved himself one touchdown off Payton’s record of 110.

“I try to avoid thinking about it. But it’s been virtually impossible because of the attention that’s been brought to it.” said Allen, who scored on No. 108 and 109. “I just try to go out there and do my job. Obviously, scoring touchdowns is what an offense is all about.”

Allen’s second one-yard scoring run gave the Chiefs a 27-10 lead and followed a 27-yard pass interference penalty on Carlton Gray. The Seahawks (2-5) crippled themselves with 13 penalties for 118 yards, including four personal fouls, and had two players ejected during the last touchdown drive by Kansas City. The Chiefs had seven first downs by penalty.

“Wow! Penalties of 118 yards. I didn’t know it was that much,” Seattle defensive end Michael Sinclair. “You can’t win a ballgame like that.”

With 11:08 left, linebacker Winston Moss was thrown out when he jumped on Chief wide receiver Chris Penn and twisted his head around.

On the next play, Seattle safety Darryl Williams was flagged for another personal foul. Five plays later, linebacker Dean Wells was ejected for a personal foul, and was wiping blood off his nose as he left the field.

That put the ball on the nine, and two plays later Steve Bono hit Sean LaChapelle with a four-yard touchdown pass to make it 34-10 with 6:40 left.

“We lost our poise,” Seattle Coach Dennis Erickson said. “It’s inexcusable to have it happen that many times. You expect some offsides penalties. But that many times, it’s inexcusable. You just can’t have it happen on the road against this team in this stadium.”

Seattle made it 34-16 with 1:01 to play on Joey Galloway’s 16-yard touchdown catch.

The Chiefs, 13-3 against Seattle since Marty Schottenheimer became coach in 1989, thoroughly dominated the first two quarters while taking a 20-3 lead. The Seahawks were penalized nine times for 62 yards in the first half, including five offsides calls.