NFL Recap (Kansas City-Philadelphia)
Posted: Sun September 27, 1998 at 7:03 p.m. EDT
KANSAS CITY 24, PHILADELPHIA 21
PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Donnell Bennett rushed for
two of his career-high three touchdowns in a span of 5:35 in the fourth
quarter as the Kansas City
Chiefs posted a 24-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.
Philadelphia (0-4) held a 14-7 lead after three quarters before Pete Stoyanovich's 21-yard
field goal cut into the deficit with 11:38 to play. Bennett gave Kansas
City the lead for good less than three minutes with a seven-yard TD run and
added a five-yard score with 3:06 remaining to make it 24-14.
Bennett gained 87 yards on 19 carries for the Chiefs (3-1), who have
won 15 of their last 17 against the NFC, including nine in a row. Kansas
City was playing at Philadelphia for the first time and took a 2-1 lead in
the all-time series.
Kansas City quarterback Rich Gannon made his third
straight start in place of the injured Elvis Grbac and finished
17-of-25 for 262 yards with no interceptions. He only attempted three
passes in the second half, completing them all for 97 yards.
The Eagles, who tallied just 15 points during their first three games,
are off to their worst start since beginning the 1972 season with five
losses.
"We were able to get some points on the board, but we have to win
football games, and we were in position to get that done," said Eagles
coach Ray Rhodes. "Defensively, we weren't able to stop them on a
consistent basis. They made some big plays on us and ran the football on
us."
After Stoyanovich missed a 40-yard field goal try on the game's
opening drive, the Eagles scored on a 10-play, 70-yard drive. Rodney Peete was 4-of-6 for
60 yards and Duce
Staley ran five yards up the middle with 3:17 to go in the quarter.
Peete made his first start of the year after replacing Bobby Hoying in the third
quarter last week when he went down with a strained lower back. Peete
completed 21-of-36 passes today for 260 yards with a touchdown and
interception.
The Chiefs evened the score on their next series, moving 73 yards in
just over five minutes. Eagles cornerback Troy Vincent was called
for a 33-yard pass interference penalty to move the ball to his own 30
before Bennett plunged in from a yard out 1:45 into the second period.
The score remained tied, 7-7 at halftime until the Eagles engineered a
72-yard drive to open the third quarter that lasted better than 7 1/2
minutes. Peete connected on a 17-yard pass to Russell Copeland to get to
the Kansas City 3 and Staley darted into the end zone on the next play to
make it 14-7.
Kansas City went three-and-out on its next possession and the Eagles
moved to midfield before Staley was stuffed on a 4th-and-1 play at the
Chief 46, swinging the momentum the other way.
"I think the fourth down play was the critical play of the game and we
have to be able to make that from a running standpoint," commented Rhodes.
On the third play of Kansas City's next series, Gannon threw a screen
to running back Kimble
Anders, who broke a tackle and raced 29 yards to the Eagle 11, setting
up Stoyanovich's 21-yard field goal.
"If we hadn't capitalized by scoring after (the interception), it
wouldn't have been (a key play)," said Chiefs coach Marty Schottenheimer.
"And if I'm Ray Rhodes, I'd have done exactly the same thing (going for
it). If you can't make that much (one yard), then you probably don't
deserve to win."
The Eagles went nowhere on the ensuing possession and Kansas City
needed just two plays to take the lead. Gannon connected with Joe Horn for a 57-yard
pass to the Philly 7 and Bennett rumbled for a touchdown with 8:41 left to
make it 17-14.
"The defense came in and stopped them on fourth and short when they
had to," said Bennett. "The offensive line came in and said, `Donnell,
we're going to get it done now.' We went out and banged it away."
Cornerback Mark
McMillian got the ball back for Kansas City, intercepting a pass from
Peete intended for Kaseem Sinceno and ran it 12 yards to the Eagle 43.
Bennett then carried the ball five times, including a five-yard run up the
middle to extend the advantage to 24-14 with 3:06 remaining.
Facing a soft defense, the Eagles moved the ball and managed a 17-yard
TD pass from Peete to Staley with 61 seconds to play. But tight end Tony Gonzalez grabbed the
onside kick and wrapped up the win.
"We battled all day, that was the big thing," said Gannon. "We got
behind early and we didn't give up. The big thing was in the third
quarter, we came out and had the ball for three plays and didn't get a
chance to get back on the field. That concerned us a little bit, but the
guys battled down the stretch, especially the group up front."
Anders led Kansas City with five receptions for 63 yards and rushed
seven times for 36 yards.
Staley had 16 carries for 73 yards, while Jeff Graham caught five
passes for 79 yards.
"It doesn't really matter at this time," said Staley, downplaying his
individual effort. "It's not that important. It doesn't add up until we
get a win. It's very frustrating. Once again, we came out of the shoot
like we planned to and talked about all week. We just didn't get the job
done."
© 1998 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
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