Chiefs End Home Sickness

Ten games into a frustrating season, fans in Kansas City finally got to see their Chiefs win in person.

In Arrowhead Stadium, where the Chiefs had an NFL-best 65-15 home record in the ‘90s, they were 0-4 before Trent Green passed for 256 yards and Priest Holmes had 190 yards in offense in a 19-7 victory Sunday over Seattle.

“It is unbelievable that we would go this long without having a home victory,” said cornerback Eric Warfield, who helped the Chiefs (3-7) hold Shaun Alexander to 43 yards rushing. “The fans never gave up on us. It’s nice to get them a win.”

Seattle (5-5), which had won two in a row, lost in Kansas City for the 10th time in 12 games.

“For us not to have a home win this deep into the season is despicable,” said defensive end Eric Hicks, who had one of three sacks of Matt Hasselbeck.

Green, who came in with the most interceptions (16) and lowest quarterback rating (62.6) in the league, was 16 of 26 with no interceptions. Once, after clumsily tripping over his feet deep in the backfield, he got up and scrambled nine yards to keep a drive going.

Holmes, the other high-profile newcomer to Dick Vermeil’s first Kansas City offense, rushed for 120 yards on 26 carries. He was just the second back over 100 yards against a Seattle defense revamped especially to stop the run.

Holmes also caught three passes for 70 yards, including a 55-yard gainer that led to Mike Cloud’s 15-yard run for the final score.

“Now we have to go out there next week and make it two in a row,” Holmes said. “That’s how you get consistency in this league.”

Alexander, fourth in the NFL with 851 yards rushing, scored the Seahawks’ only touchdown on a 28-yard pass from Hasselbeck, who was harried most of the day.

“They had 12 people on the line of scrimmage,” said Alexander. “They had grandma, a couple of uncles, everybody. And they were excited to be playing up there.”

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Chief Asset

Long under-appreciated, the Kansas City Chiefs’ Priest Holmes is taking advantage of his first secure starting opportunity since being drafted by the Baltimore Ravens out of Texas in 1997. He rushed for 1,008 yards after taking over for an injured Errict Rhett in 1998, then suffered a season-ending knee injury in 1999. Holmes lost his starting job to Jamal Lewis midway through the Ravens’ Super Bowl season of 2000. This season, Holmes leads AFC running backs in yards per carry (minimum 100 attempts) and is second in the NFL in number of runs of 10 yards or more.

AFC LEADERS IN YARDS PER CARRY

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Running Back Team YPC Priest Holmes Kansas City 5.0 Jerome Bettis Pittsburgh 4.7 Shaun Alexander Seattle 4.6 Curtis Martin New York Jets 4.6 Edgerrin James Indianapolis 4.4

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NFL LEADERS IN RUNS OF 10 YARDS OR MORE

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Running Back Team 10 Yds+ Curtis Martin New York Jets 32 Priest Holmes Kansas City 27 Ricky Williams New Orleans 26 Jerome Bettis Pittsburgh 26 Ahman Green Green Bay 24

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Roy Jurgens