Johnson, Chiefs run Broncos into ground

NFL rushing leader Larry Johnson made the Denver Broncos’ fifth-ranked run defense look ordinary.

Johnson ran for 157 yards, Lawrence Tynes kicked four field goals and Kansas City inaugurated the league’s new Thanksgiving tripleheader with a 19-10 victory over the Broncos on Thursday night.

The Chiefs (7-4) charged into a second-place tie with Denver in the AFC West and gave the Broncos (7-4) their first two-game losing streak since late in 2004.

Johnson, raising his league-leading rushing total to 1,202 yards, consistently burned the Broncos with eight- and 10-yard gains, using his usual assortment of power moves and start-and-stop elusiveness. The Broncos came in giving up slightly more than 90 yards per game on the ground.

Johnson scored the Chiefs’ only touchdown on a one-yard vault late in the second quarter following a crucial mistake by the Broncos’ Ebenezer Ekuban, who was called for roughing the passer on a failed third-and-four play from the nine.

Tynes hit from 24, 34, 29 and 21 yards for the Chiefs, who have put themselves in a strong playoff position by shaking off a host of injuries and winning five of their last six.

It was a memorable night for the NFL, not only inaugurating the league’s first Thanksgiving tripleheader but also the first live game telecast on the NFL Network, which is seen in about 40 million of the country’s 111 million television homes.

Making the night even more festive was an in-house standing-room-only crowd of 80,866, the largest since 1972, the year the Chiefs opened the facility that many call the loudest outdoor stadium in the league.

The Broncos did not even snap the ball in Kansas City territory until after Jake Plummer hit Javon Walker with a 21-yard pass to the 47 with 1:30 left in the first half. Nine plays later, Jason Elam kicked a 31-yard field goal that made it 10-3 at halftime.

Plummer dropped to 0-6 in six starts in Kansas City and had his second pass intercepted when tight end Stephen Alexander tipped the ball into the hands of cornerback Ty Law.

Chiefs quarterback Trent Green, who made his return seven days earlier after a 10-week absence with a concussion, was 13 for 22 passing for 161 yards and his first interception in two games.