4B / SPORTS / TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
NFL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel (7) is tackled by San Diego Chargers linebacker Shaun Phillips (95) during the first half of an NFL football game Monday in Kansas City, Mo.
Chiefs win first game of season against Chargers
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jamaal Charles' 56-yard touchdown run and Dexter McCluster's team-record 94-yard punt return gave Kansas City a two-touchdown lead and the Chiefs held San Diego on four downs inside the 6-yard line in the final minute for a 21-14 victory Monday night.
Playing most of the game in a pounding rain, the Chiefs turned the night into the confidence-building coming-out party they had been hoping for since the schedule came out in April. By beating the four-time defending AFC West champions, they proclaimed an end to a three-year period that was one of the darkest in team history.
Philip Rivers thoroughly outplayed Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel and drove the Chargers to a first-and-goal from the 4. But a pass was incomplete, Darren Sproles lost 2 yards and another pass sailed
high. Then with 39 seconds left, Rivers missed again. The rain-soaked crowd, which hadn't seen the Chiefs win on Monday night in 10 years, erupted in cheers.
10 years earlier Rivers was 22 for 39 for 298 yards and two touchdowns, several times victimizing a young Chiefs secondary for long gains. Cassel, with a history of playing poorly against the Chargers, was 10 for 22 for 68 yards, including a 2-yard TD pass following a San Diego turnover.
Rivers found Antonio Gates with a 3-yard TD pass on San Diego's second possession for the game's first score.
But as lightning flashed overhead, the Chiefs struck quickly to make up for an otherwise impotent offense in Arrowhead Stadium's first Monday night game in six years.
After Kansas City's first two possessions produced nothing, Charles, a 1,000-yard rusher who
was beaten out in training camp by veteran Thomas Jones, broke through a hole and sped 56 yards with 37 seconds left in the first quarter to tie the game.
Ryan Mathews, who is replacing perennial Pro Bowler LaDainiam Tomlinson in the Chargers' backfield, took a brutal hit by Derrick Johnson and lost the ball. Brandon Carr scooped it up and ran 16 yards to the San Diego 12 and Cassel made it 14-7 with a 2-yard TD pass to rookie tight end Tony Moeaki.
McCluster, a scatback who was a training camp sensation with his quickness and flair, took a San Diego punt in heavy rain in the second quarter and cut left. He sailed almost untouched down the sideline and got the only block he needed from Andy Studebaker in a 94-yard return that put KC on top 21-7 late in the half. The return broke Dante Hall's team record by one yard.
Jets lose season opener to Ravens after pregame hype
NFL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Baltimore Ravens gave the New York Jets some hard knocks — real ones.
The Jets intrigued audiences in the preseason with their no-holds-barred, behind-the-scenes TV show, but it was the Ravens who grabbed the spotlight Monday night, winning 10 to 9 over the Jets. They held New York to 176 yards, six first downs, allowed Mark Sanchez just 74 yards passing and kept Rex Ryan's crew out of the end zone.
For those urging the Jets to put up or shut up, well, it was Baltimore that produced most of the highlights in a sloppy opener of New York's new home. The $1.6 billion New Meadowlands Stadium rocked with J-E-T-S chants, then the Ravens rocked Ryan's defense with enough big plays to silence the crowd of 78,127 — if not the talkative coach and his players.
The beginning was fiery, as expected, with Ray Rice and Shaun Ellis woofing at each other before
Billy Cundiff's 25-yard field goal in the third quarter provided the winning points, with Anquan Boldin, Baltimore's main offseason acquisition, gaining 65 yards on two passes against first-round draft pick Kyle Wilson. Boldin made the kind of impact the Ravens sought with seven receptions overall for 110 yards, at times toying with the jets' vaunted secondary.
So did tight end Todd Heap, who caught six passes from a cool Joe Flacco for 72 yards.
kickoff. But it turned into a sloppest, as many of the openers were this weekend, with the Jets looking particularly undisciplined by drawing 14 penalties for 125 yards. They also were 1 for 11 on third downs.
New York's six first downs tied a franchise-low set in 1976.
The beginning was fiery, as expected, with Ray Rice and Shaun Ellis woofing at each other before kickoff. But it turned into a sloppest, as many of the openers were
this weekend,
with the Jets
looking the most
undisciplined.
New York's usually fierce defense sacked Flacco on Baltimore's first offensive play, forcing a fumble
The beginning was fiery, as expected, with Ray Rice and Shaun Ellis woofing at each other before kickoff.
recovered by Sione Pouha. The Ravens' equally intense D held firm, and Nick Folk kicked a 23-yard field goal.
sive 11-play, 76-yard drive for a 7-6 halftime lead. Of course, it was aided by Jets mistakes, the worst of which were Braylon Edwards — a wide receiver, of all things — running into Cundiff on a field goal attempt, giving the Ravens a first down to prolong the possession, and rookie Kyle Wilson's pass interference on T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the end zone.
Pouha grabbed another fumble later in the quarter, by Willis McGahee, and Flacco was picked off by Antonio Cromartie on a sideline pass at the New York 3. The cornerback, acquired in a trade with San Diego to further bolster a secondary that features All-Pro CB Darrelle Revis, got a terrific block from his partner on a 66-yard run back to the Baltimore 31.
McGahee scored from the 1 with 6 seconds left, but New York wasn't done committing penalties.
Two plays later, Shonn Greene lost the ball — he touched it only one more time the rest of the night and dropped a pass — and Baltimore embarked on an impress-
The Jets were offside on the extra point and had 10 penalties for 100 yards in the opening half.
They weren't any more efficient in the second half. But they did get Folk's. 48-yard
field goal early in the fourth quarter to make it 10-9. Even then, however, they wasted a 22-yard punt return by Jim Leonhard to the Baltimore 35.
Cromartie's debut as a Jet was spotty, at best. Like Wilson, he was beaten several times by Boldin as the Ravens usually avoided Revis, even though the Jets' star cornerback missed the entire preseason in a holdout.
New York's LaDainian Tomlinson gained 62 yards rushing, carrying the load and looking good in spurts.
New York lost defensive tackle Kris Jenkins to a first-quarter knee injury.
MLB
Yankees fall to Rays in bottom of 11th
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Reid Brignac homered on a full count pitch leading off the bottom of the 11th inning Monday night,
sending the Tampa Bay Rays into first place in the AL East with a 1-0 victory over the New York Yankees.
Brignac connected off Sergio Mitre (0-3), the fourth Yankees reliever that followed CC Sabathia, who pitched eight
scoreless innings in pursuit of his major league-leading 20th win.
Grant Balfour (2-1) pitched one inning to get the win for the Rays, who pulled ahead of the defending world champions for the division lead.
Associated Press