Chief Defense Plays Against Type to Win

Kansas City’s defense wasn’t itself. That’s great news for the Chiefs.

Priest Holmes totaled 184 yards running and receiving, and the NFL’s lowest-rated defense held the league’s highest-rated offense to one touchdown as the Chiefs beat the Oakland Raiders, 20-10, Sunday.

The victory was Kansas City’s first in six games against Oakland (4-3), which has lost three straight.

“We shut up our critics, for a while anyway,” said defensive tackle Derrick Ransom, who blocked Sebastian Janikowski’s 44-yard field-goal attempt in the first half. “We’re professionals. We have our pride. All that stuff people were saying, you just have to let it go in one ear and out the other.”

Linebacker Mike Maslowski forced Jerry Rice to fumble and recovered the ball on the Oakland 22 with 4:39 left, setting up Trent Green’s four-yard touchdown pass to Tony Richardson with 1:55 to go. The win keeps the Chiefs (4-4) in contention for the AFC West title.

“I just came underneath and ripped it,” said Maslowski. “We knew they were going to make short catches. We just couldn’t let them get away from us.”

The Raiders, who were without starters at running back and in the secondary, averaged almost 33 points a game, second only to Kansas City’s 34.1.

Tim Brown, who hinted that he was tired of not getting the ball enough, caught 13 passes for 144 yards.

But their only touchdown against a Kansas City defense giving up 441 yards and 32.9 points a game came on a one-yard pass from Rich Gannon to Doug Jolley in the first quarter.

Nevertheless, Gannon was 35 of 55 for 334 yards and joined Steve Young and Kurt Warner as the only players in NFL history to pass for more than 300 yards in six consecutive games.

“All I can tell you ... is that there were too many mistakes offensively, Gannon said. “You can’t expect to beat a good team on the road when you make the mistakes we did.”

Holmes had 91 yards in 23 carries and caught six passes for 93 yards.

“We studied film all week on him,” said Oakland safety Rod Woodson. “And we kept saying, ‘Find Priest Holmes.... If he’s your guy, hug him.’ ” “But for three and a half quarters, we didn’t do that.”

The Chiefs led, 13-7, on Holmes’ three-yard touchdown run heading into the fourth quarter. Less than four minutes into the quarter, Janikowski kicked a 32-yard field goal to make it 13-10.

Morten Andersen kicked field goals of 46 and 22 yards for the Chiefs in the first half. The Raiders scored their touchdown after an unnecessary roughness penalty on linebacker Glenn Cadrez gave them a first down.