Chiefs 20, Raiders 10
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) The Oakland Raiders have lost three straight _ and their patience.
The Raiders, who started the year 4-0, tried to put a positive spin on losses to St. Louis and San Diego. That was hard to do Sunday after Kansas City beat them 20-10, snapping the Chiefs' five-game losing streak to Oakland.
Linebacker Bill Romanowski, the closest player to Kansas City's Tony Richardson on Richardson's deciding touchdown catch, took the blame but also said bluntly, "That wasn't my guy."
"The defense played great," Romanowski said, "but the offense ..."
Rod Woodson, the Raiders' veteran safety, said the problem goes beyond the field.
"Everything happens for a reason," Woodson said. "If it takes us losing three games to wake everyone up - the front office, the players, the coaches, the trainers - then that's what it takes."
But no player showed the strain more than quarterback Rich Gannon, trying to explain how the NFL's best offense could manage just 10 points against the league's worst defense.
What made that even harder to explain was Gannon's passing line: 35-for-55 for 334 yards. He joined Steve Young and Kurt Warner as the only players in NFL history to pass for more than 300 yards in six straight games.
"It's not so much their defense," Gannon said. "We felt like we could move the ball, and we did a couple of times, but we just didn't make enough plays."
Gannon also bristled when asked why he threw so often to Tim Brown, who had 13 catches for 144 yards - and so seldom to Jerry Rice, who had five catches for 45 yards and whose fourth-quarter fumble led to Richardson's 4-yard TD catch from Trent Green with 2:44 left.
"What do you want me to do? I'm doing the best I can," said Gannon, whose 1-yard pass to Doug Jolley gave the Raiders (4-3) a 7-3 lead late in the first quarter. "I don't control who gets the ball in this offense. We threw it 55 times today. There's plenty of throws out there for everyone."
The Chiefs (4-4), who broke a two-game losing streak heading into their bye week, were just glad not to have to answer more questions about their defense.
"We shut up our critics, for a while anyway," defensive tackle Derrick Ransom said. "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."
Ransom blocked Sebastian Janikowski's 44-yard field-goal try on Oakland's opening drive, and linebacker Marvcus Patton had a fourth-quarter interception for the Chiefs.
"We needed a breakthrough today," said linebacker Mike Maslowski, who caused and recovered Rice's fumble. "We needed to come through for our offense and show them what we're capable of."
The Raiders already knew what Kansas City's Priest Holmes could do - and he did it to them on Sunday, rushing for 91 yards and one score and catching six passes for another 93 yards.
His 14th rushing touchdown of the season, a 3-yarder for a 13-7 lead late in the third quarter, tied the team record set by Abner Haynes in 1962 - when the Chiefs were still the Dallas Texans.
Morten Andersen kicked two first-half field goals for Kansas City.
Notes: Kansas City has at least one takeaway in its last 10 games, its longest streak since forcing turnovers in 15 straight games in the 1998 and 1999 seasons. ... Raiders DT Sam Adams, who continues to struggle with chronic knee problems, was a game-day scratch. He will have an MRI exam Monday. ... Ransom had Kansas City's first blocked field goal since Tom Barndt blocked one against Pittsburgh on Dec. 18, 1999. ... The Raiders placed CB Phillip Buchanon (wrist) on injured reserve. Buchanon's roster spot was taken by CB Brandon Jennings.
