OAKLAND
Tyler Thigpen put together one effective drive for Kansas City to beat the Oakland Raiders in a matchup between two of the NFL’s worst teams.
Thigpen engineered a 91-yard drive that was capped by Larry Johnson’s 2-yard tiebreaking touchdown run early in the fourth quarter to lead the Chiefs to a 20-13 victory Sunday. They snapped a seven-game losing streak and won for just the second time in their last 21 games.
Kansas City (2-10) scored its first touchdown on Maurice Leggett’s 67-yard fumble return on a botched fake field goal by Oakland (3-9).
With the Chiefs locked in a 10-all tie and backed up to their own 9 following a punt, Thigpen got the offense moving to earn his first win in seven career NFL starts. He got Kansas City started with a 23-yard pass to Tony Gonzalez and hit the tight end twice more for 28 yards on the drive.
Thigpen also ran for 24 yards on scrambles and designed draws to set up Johnson’s run that made it 17-10.
After a fumble by Justin Fargas on Oakland’s next drive, Thigpen ran it 25 yards to set up Connor Barth’s second field goal.
Thigpen finished 15-for-22 for 162 yards and ran for 48 more. After Sebastian Janikowski’s 51-yard field goal cut the lead to 20-13 with 2:55 remaining, Thigpen connected on a 12-yard pass to Dwayne Bowe for a first down that helped Kansas City run out the clock.
Gonzalez added eight catches for 110 yards and Johnson ran for 92 yards on 24 carries.
After allowing a franchise-worst 54 points in a loss to Buffalo last week, the Chiefs managed to shut down a Raiders team that scored 31 to beat Denver a week ago. Oakland’s only touchdown came on a 1-yard drive following Chris Johnson’s 44-yard interception return.
The Raiders managed just three points on three trips inside the Kansas City 30, as the offense reverted to its form before the Denver game. Oakland had gone 15 quarters without an offensive touchdown.
JaMarcus Russell went 10-for-28 for 132 yards.
The loss assured the Raiders of their sixth straight losing record since going to the Super Bowl following the 2002 season and was the sixth loss in eight games under interim coach Tom Cable.
It was a decision by Cable that put the Raiders in an early hole, as he called for a fake field goal on fourth-and-10 early in the second quarter. Holder Shane Lechler took the snap and threw an errant pitch to kicker Sebastian Janikowski. Leggett scooped up the loose ball and ran 67 yards for the score to give Kansas City a 10-3 lead.
That helped the Chiefs win for the sixth straight time in Oakland. Kansas City had won just one game since beating the Raiders 12-10 at the Coliseum on Oct. 21, 2007. The Chiefs’ only other win since then came at home against Denver in September.
The Raiders used many different looks on offense, with Darren McFadden lining up at receiver and quarterback and even taking a pitch from Ronald Curry after a short pass for a hook-and-lateral to set up a field goal on Oakland’s first possession. But the Raiders couldn’t manage much else on offense.
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Story by Josh Dubow, AP Sports Writer
