Of the teams still vying for a playoff spot in the AFC entering Week 17, nobody had a tougher road ahead of them then the Kansas City Chiefs. They needed to defeat Jacksonville at home, and then hope that Cincinnati, Denver and Tennessee all lost. Strangely enough, that’s exactly what happened, and with a 35-30 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Chiefs are now playoff bound.
The star of the day, by far, was running back Larry Johnson of the Chiefs. He set an NFL-record for carries in a season with 416, breaking the old mark of 410, set by Jamal Anderson of the Atlanta Falcons in 1998. He also rushed for 138 yards and three touchdowns on 33 carries.
Bernard Pollard got the Chiefs on the score board first with a blocked punt recovery in the end zone. Pollard somehow blocked the punt, despite the fact that he was facing backwards.
Fred Taylor of the Jaguars tied the game up at 7 in the second quarter when he caught a 26-yard touchdown pass from David Garrard.
The Chiefs were not going down without a fight. They brought their “A” game, scoring four of the game’s next five touchdowns. Three of those four came on runs by Johnson (one yard, two yards and 12 yards). With 7:04 left in the third quarter, the Chiefs were up, 35-17. They wouldn’t score any more points.
The Jaguar offense got going more when backup quarterback Quinn Gray replaced an ineffective Garrard. Gray scored on a 17-yard run in the third quarter to close the gap to 35-24, and led another touchdown drive in the fourth. With five minutes to play, rookie Maurice Jones-Drew scored on a five-yard run, his 16th touchdown of the season. The two-point conversion failed, and the deficit was 35-30.
The Jaguars would be unable to get the ball back, as the Chiefs ran 13 plays in the final five minutes to run out the clock. It wouldn’t be known until nearly 8 o’clock Eastern time, but because of Denver’s loss to San Francisco, the Chiefs will be playing in a road game next Saturday at 4:30 against the Indianapolis Colts, who have lost 4 of their past seven games.
For the Chiefs, Eddie Kennison caught six passes for 144 yards and a touchdown. For the Jaguars, Jones-Drew had 204 total yards (142 on returns, 46 rushing and 16 receiving) on 21 touches.
Adam Nelson
Also for week 17:Adam's articles for past weeks:
"Patriots Win See-Saw Battle & AFC East Title (week16)"
"Bengals Miss the Point, Fall to Broncos (week16)"
"Indianapolis Upset Over Upset (week16)"
"49’ers Keep Slim Playoff Hopes Alive (week15)"
"Tampa Nearly Rallies For Win (week15)"
"‘Skins Sneak By Saints (week15)"
"Jaguars Run For 375 Against Colts (week14)"
"Brees Throws For 384 and Five Touchdowns (week14)"
"Big Plays Pay Off For Bills (week14)"
"Decision 2006 (week13)"
"Titans “Rob” Colts on 60-Yarder (week13)"
"Bengals D Shuts Down Ravens O (week13)"
"Patriots Survive Turnover-Fest vs. NFC’s Best (week12)"
"They Didn’t Hold On? Inconceivable! (week12)"
"Bills Win On Late Field Goal (week12)"
"Undefeated No More (week11)"
"Life’s a Brees- A Win Is Not (week11)"
"Eagles Lose The Game; McNabb Comes Up Lame (week11)"
"Da Bears Continue To Claw Through Competition (week10)"
"“Fast Willie Parker” Runs for 213 in Steeler Win (week10)"
"Where’s the D? (week10)"
"Fed-Ex Field Delivers Fantastic Finish (week9)"
"Manning Continues Stellar Season (week9)"
"Chargers Bolt By Browns (week9)"
"Reeling Minnesota (week8)"
"Oakland Picks Apart Pittsburgh (week8)"
"Denver D Can’t Contain Colts (week8)"
"Wherefore Art Thou, Romo? (week7)"
"Harrington Hurls 62 Passes in Miami Loss (week7)"
"Seattle Rolls On Despite Losing Another Pro-Bowler (week7)"
"Barely Escaping (week6)"
"Bronco Busting (week6)"
"Josh Brown Comes Through In The Clutch (week6)"
"The Bucs Stopped Here (week5)"
"Win Not In The Cards For Arizona (week5)"
"Some People Call Me Maurice (week5)"
"Silence of The Fans (week4)"
"Jets Think Uni-Laterally (week4)"
"Brunell and Moss Connect for Three TD’s in Much-Needed Win (week4)"
"Catch 22 (week3)"
"Home Team Disadvantage (week3)"
"Punt Return Keys Win over Jags (week3)"
"Shell Shocked (week2)"
"Giants Get Huge Road Win (week2)"
"Remember The Chargers (week2)"
"Safety Last: Patriots Squeak By Bills After Late Rally (week1)"
"Bears Give Brett Favre First Shutout Loss Of His Career (week1)"
"Carolina Loses By Two Hamstrings (week1)"
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