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Chiefs extend domination of Raiders

Oct 22, 2007 - 1:26 AM OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- The Kansas City Chiefs continued their mastery of the Oakland Raiders.

Larry Johnson rushed for 112 yards and a touchdown as the Chiefs outlasted the Raiders, 12-10, on Sunday in an AFC West Division matchup.

Kansas City (4-3) moved into first place in the division with its ninth consecutive victory over Oakland (2-4), which dropped its 17th consecutive contest to an AFC West opponent.

"It goes in the win column as a win, but yes it was ugly," Chiefs coach Herm Edwards said. "Right now we are what we are, a 4-3 team. But we are .500 on the road and to get two wins on the road is pretty good.

"There were some people who didn't think we were going to win four games all season."

Free safety Jarrad Page clinched the victory, intercepting a pass by Daunte Culpepper with 35 seconds to play as the Raiders were driving for a possible go-ahead field goal.

"Tough loss to take. Obviously different than the last one in San Diego," Raiders coach Lane Kiffin said. "Hats off to their defense. We came in running the ball and I just thought we needed to continue to run the ball."

Johnson scored the deciding touchdown on a 1-yard run with exactly 11 1/2 minutes to play for a 12-7 lead. It was set up by a 58-yard pass from Damon Huard to rookie wide receiver Dwayne Bowe and followed Oakland's only touchdown of the contest.

"We're staying on top of our division and you have to feel good about that," Huard said. "But as an offense I don't know how you can feel too good about this performance. So, we have a lot of things we have to correct and the bye week should help us."

Kansas City also welcomed the return of Priest Holmes, who suited up for the first time since suffering head and neck injuries on a tackle by San Diego Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman on October 30, 2005.

Holmes rushed for nine yards on four carries and had one reception for minus-six yards.

"You know, you get your opportunity and when you do, you have to perform, and yeah, it felt real good to get a chance today," Holmes said.

Following a missed 30-yard field goal by the Chiefs' Dave Rayner late in the third quarter, which was set up by a 54-yard run by Larry Johnson - the longest of his career - the Raiders needed two plays to finally get on the scoreboard.

Culpepper connected for 59 yards to Jerry Porter on the first play and followed that up with a 21-yard scoring pass to Ronald Curry for a 7-6 lead with 2:37 left in the third quarter.

"We were trying to run the ball and saw how they kept coming up," Curry said. I"t was a play-action and I just got behind (the defense). It was good to get one after the drops."

The two-play drive took up just 51 seconds and accounted for the first first downs of the second half for Oakland.

Sebastian Janikowski pulled the Raiders within 12-10 with a 37-yard field goal with 5:49 to play. It was the 162nd field goal of his career, tying Chris Bahr for the franchise career record.

"We still thought we can go out and win the game," Culpepper said. "My thinking is I'm always going to go out and lead by example."

"They are a good 2nd half team," Edwards said. "We expected them to come out and play tough in the 2nd half."

Culpepper finished 18-of-29 for 228 yards with the TD and one interception. Huard was 16-of-31 for 177 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions.

Both teams did little offensively in the first half.

The only scoring came on a pair of field goals by Rayner - from 41 and 31 yards - to give the Chiefs a 6-0 halftime lead.

Kansas City managed just six first downs and 102 totals yards in the half; the Raiders managed four first downs and 90 yards, punted six times and had five drives of four plays or fewer.