Chiefs take down Jacksonville

Real men wear pink.

And in Kansas City, the Chiefs looked good doing it, taking down the Jacksonville Jaguars 42-20 in front of 69,105 paying customers on Breast Cancer Awareness Day Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium.

Draped in pink shoes, pink towels and other pink attire, the Chiefs knew they were in for a fight for respectability when they lined up against a tough Jaguar team and it had nothing to do with the fuchsia-themed digs. Coming off back-to-back road losses at Indianapolis and Houston after three consecutive wins to start the season, the Chiefs needed a valiant effort to right the ship and get back on a winning track.

“We knew today was going to be a big challenge for our team,” Chiefs head coach Todd Haley said. “When you suffer a difficult loss (to Houston) like that in a game you think you have a real chance to win and you don’t, how you respond to some of these situations throughout the year as a team, you kind of start to define what kind of team you have.”

Led by the two-headed monster running back tandem of Thomas Jones and Jamaal Charles, and all-purpose back Dexter McCluster, the Chiefs fought off the Jaguars to improve to 4-2, good enough for first place in the AFC West.
The win may have cemented the Chiefs as a viable player for a possible division title seven weeks into the season.

“Judging off today and how today went, I’m not ready to say yet, but we’re getting closer,” Haley said. “We’re becoming team. I won’t say that we are a team right now – we’re just trying to be a good team. We’re not there yet.”
Haley, who lost his father to cancer, as well as a grandmother and his father-in-law, said Sunday’s game was special from a personal standpoint.

“With so many people affected by cancer … breast cancer especially because you’re talking about strong women,” Haley said. “When you see survivors, it’s really inspiring. I don’t care if I appear too soft right now, but I’ve got four (daughters), have a strong mom and I have a very strong wife, so …”
While Jones and Charles combined for 196 yards and two touchdowns on 35 carries, it was McCluster and a re-emerging Dwayne Bowe that provided the sparks.

McCluster lined up and was used twice as a running back on the Kansas City Chiefs’ first offensive series, gaining 26 yards on his first two carries. McCluster finished with four carries for 28 yards and five receptions for 41 yards.

McCluster’s 9-yard reception in the second quarter gave the Chiefs a first down and helped extend a 14-play, 73-yard drive that ended with a Thomas Jones’ 1-yard touchdown plunge with 1:31 left before halftime.

The Jaguars answered with a 10-play, 69-yard drive that led to a Josh Scobee 18-yard field goal with 7 seconds left in the second quarter, cutting the Chiefs’ lead to 14-13. The score was aided by a controversial pass interference call on cornerback Brandon Carr.

“I can’t say too much, but that’s the call (the officials) made,” Carr said. “We were able to overcome the call and hold them to a field goal. That’s the game, you know? I’m just going to keep battling, keep trying to perfect my craft and work on my technique so that I won’t get in that situation next time.”

The Chiefs got on the board first on a 4-yard touchdown run by Jamaal Charles at the 5:57 mark of the opening quarter. Charles’ score was set up by a 70-yard run by Jones the play before.

“No, no piano fell on my back,” Jones said, a bit miffed at a question suggesting he slowed down at the 20-yard line. “I felt like whoever the guy (Courtney Greene) was, he had a pretty good angle on me.”

Jacksonville followed with a 35-yard field goal by Scobee and an 18-yard touchdown pass from journeyman quarterback Todd Bouman to running back Maurice Jones-Drew. Scobee’s extra point made it 10-7 in favor of the Jaguars at the 9:38 mark of the first quarter.

Bowe scored the Chiefs’ third touchdown of he day on a 53-yard catch-and-run on a pass from quarterback Matt Cassel two plays into third quarter.

Ryan Succop’s extra point put the Chiefs ahead 21-13, but the Jaguars answered again with a 9-yard touchdown pass from Bouman to wide receiver Mike Sims-Walker that was aided by yet another controversial pass interference call on safety Eric Berry.

“It is what it is,” Berry said of the call. “Stuff goes our way sometimes, (sometimes) stuff doesn’t. It’s something I can’t control. I can tell you I was mad as all outside, but you know, I’ve just kind of got to go to the next play and forget about it. It is what it is.”

Berry later added his first career interception that set up the Chiefs’ final score, a Jackie Battle 1-yard touchdown run with 1:56 left.

“It was amazing,” Berry said of the pick he returned 35 yards to the Jacksonville 12-yard line. “I’ve been waiting on that for a minute.”

With the Chiefs ahead 21-20, Derrick Johnson returned an interception 17 yards for a touchdown with 5:13 left in the third quarter. Johnson’s pick came after he had a prime chance to grab one late in the first half before Scobee’s field goal.
The touchdown was the third career pick-six of Johnson’s career, seventh career interception and his first of the season.

“I was reading the quarterback’s eyes and you’ve got to move fast,” Johnson said. “It was a good play call and had me in the hole, and that’s what I do best.”
Bowe added another score with a sensational toe-the-line 6-yard touchdown reception with 3:46 left in the fourth quarter, giving him a two-touchdown game in successive weeks.

“We were able to move the football and that’s what I’m excited about it,” said Cassel, who finished the game 13 of 18 passing for 193 yards and two touchdowns.

As far as the pink attire, Carr said he had no problem donning a color symbolic of the fight against breast cancer.

“Actually, my mom is a survivor,” Carr said. “She was diagnosed with breast cancer five or six years ago. This is important to me. She was here. She was on the field before the game letting the balloons out. I wanted to put together a good performance for her.

“After so much on my mind, the things we went through along that process of her going to chemotherapy and treatment and everything, we came away with a victory. I can say, so far, since she has game to my games, we are undefeated, so that’s good.”