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Hammock Parties
09-30-2006, 09:36 PM
Yes, it's that time again, folks. Part 4 of our ongoing 2006 series here at Chiefsplanet...

THIS WEEK IN CHIEFS HISTORY

Sept. 29, 2002 (http://nfl.com/gamecenter/recap/NFL_20020929_MIA@KC)

KANSAS CITY 48, MIAMI 30

Green throws five TDs in win over Dolphins




KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Sept. 29, 2002) -- This would be a good week for Trent Green bashers to give it a rest.

With his finest game since 1999, when knee surgery nearly wrecked his career, Green threw five touchdown passes, three to Tony Gonzalez, leading the Kansas City Chiefs past previously unbeaten Miami 48-30.

He even ran for 48 yards and threw a textbook block on Priest Holmes' TD run.

"It's fun to have a day like that," said Green, who was 24 of 34 for 328 yards. The man who threw an NFL-high 24 interceptions last year and is constantly criticized did not get picked off once.

"Throw the block in there and that makes it that much more enjoyable," he said with a grin.

Tony Gonzalez caught three touchdown passes in the win over the Dolphins.
Tony Gonzalez caught three touchdown passes in the win over the Dolphins.

The high-flying offense of the Chiefs (2-2) scored 38 the week before against New England's respected defense and has been held under that total just once in four games. In their first three games, the Dolphins had allowed an average of 12.3 points.

Safety Greg Wesley intercepted three of Jay Fiedler's passes in the final eight minutes, setting up the final 10 points for the underdog Chiefs, who had lost five in a row to the Dolphins (3-1).

"It was just a frustrating day and a humbling experience," said Miami safety Brock Marion, who was draped all over Gonzalez when he made his third touchdown catch.

Added Dolphins linebacker Zach Thomas, "I didn't expect their passing game to be that good."

Gonzalez, the All-Pro tight end who missed all of training camp, caught seven balls for 140 yards. He set the tone early with a 30-yard gain to set up his own 9-yard TD reception.

"It was something we saw on film, where the guy covers me man-to-man and the middle of the field is wide open," he said. "We saw (5-foot-11) Zach Thomas isn't that tall and I'm able to jump over him."

Running backs Ricky Williams and Holmes, in the meantime, were almost relegated to bit players on a day that featured 849 yards of offense.

Miami's Williams rushed for 66 yards, including a 3-yard TD run. Holmes caught six passes for 63 yards and ran for 52, including a 25-yard TD burst.

"We knew facing a team like Kansas City that we really would need to step up our play today," said Williams.

Leading 38-30 after Fiedler's 6-yard TD pass to Rob Konrad, the Chiefs made it 41-30 on Morten Andersen's 24-yard field goal after Wesley's first interception.

Less than two minutes later, Green hit Billy Baber on a 3-yard TD pass.

"A couple of those were gifts, but I'm glad to take them," said Wesley.

The Chiefs took a 31-16 lead early in the third on Green's perfectly thrown pass to Gonzalez. The ball floated just over the reach of cornerback Sam Madson, then the 6-5, 250-pound Gonzalez broke Arturo Freeman's tackle on the 5 for a 42-yard scoring play.

Then came Williams' 3-yard scoring run. But Green carried 16 yards to the Miami 8 and then threw a dart to Gonzalez in the end zone.

The Dolphins, looking for their first 4-0 start in seven years, needed only four plays to go 52 yards on their first possession, capped by Fiedler's 1-yard TD plunge.

Then Green and Gonzalez went to work, capping an 11-play, 83-yard march with a 9-yard TD pass to the tight end.

A moment later, Marvcus Patton recovered Williams' fumble on the Miami 36 and set up Andersen's 50-yard field goal.

The Chiefs took a 17-10 lead when Green threw a pancake block on Freeman, springing Holmes for his 25-yard run.

"I just had him off-balance. Believe me, it's not because I'm bigger and stronger than he is," Green said.

Eric Warfield intercepted Fiedler's tipped pass midway through the second quarter and Green -- after pass interference and roughing-the-passer penalties on consecutive plays -- threw an 8-yard scoring pass to Johnnie Morton.

Orlindo Mare kicked field goals of 42, 29 and 25 yards in the third period for the Dolphins.

Fiedler was 29-of-45 for 310 yards and one TD. He was intercepted four times by an embattled defense ranked last in the league.

Notes: It was the biggest sports day in Kansas City area history, with NASCAR's Winston Cup race drawing about 80,000 at Kansas Speedway, along with a paid attendance of 78,178 for the Dolphins-Chiefs game. ... Miami's double-overtime win on Christmas Day 1971 is still the longest game in NFL history: 82 minutes, 40 seconds. ... Miami cornerback Patrick Surtain was not active for the second straight week with a bruised knee. ... Wesley is the third Chief with three interceptions in a game, the first since Albert Lewis in 1991.


TEAM 1 2 3 4 F
Miami Dolphins 7 9 7 7 30
Kansas City Chiefs 10 14 7 17 48


TEAM STATISTICS MIA KC
FIRST DOWNS 28 25
Rushing 9 4
Passing 15 18
Penalty 4 3
3RD-DOWN EFFICIENCY 1-8 5-13
4TH-DOWN EFFICIENCY 0-1 0-0
NET YARDS RUSHING 105 122
Rushes 19 33
NET YARDS PASSING 294 328
Completed-attempted 29-45 24-34
Sacked-yards lost 2-16 0-0
Had Intercepted 4 0
Punts-returns 2-8 2-0
Kickoffs-returns 7-205 5-94
Interceptions-returns 0-0 4-76
PENALTIES-YARDS 9-86 10-71
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-0
TIME OF POSSESSION 26:25 33:35


PLAYER STATISTICS
Miami rushing: Ricky Williams 14-66, James McKnight 1-19,
Jay Fiedler 3-15, Robert Edwards 1-5.

Kansas City rushing: Priest Holmes 23-52, Trent Green 3-48,
Mike Cloud 3-8, Tony Richardson 2-5, Dante Hall 1-5,
Eddie Kennison 1-4.

Miami passing: Jay Fiedler 29-45 for 310 yards, 4 INT

Kansas City passing: Trent Green 24-34 for 328 yards, 0 INT

Miami receiving: Ricky Williams 7-60, James McKnight 1-10,
Robert Edwards 3-15, Chris Chambers 6-102, Oronde Gadsden 4-69,
Rob Konrad 4-28, Randy McMichael 2-18, Dedric Ward 2-8.

Kansas City receiving: Priest Holmes 6-63, Tony Richardson 1-5,
Dante Hall 3-21, Eddie Kennison 2-57, Tony Gonzalez 7-140,
Johnnie Morton 4-39, Billy Baber 1-3.

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/3964/dolpbelsermi8.jpg (http://imageshack.us) http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/2002/dolpbushfacemaskml8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

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Hammock Parties
09-30-2006, 09:37 PM
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Hammock Parties
09-30-2006, 09:45 PM
Here's Whitlock's article following that game. TrINT is dead!

Fillet o' fish

Now, that's how a QB should play

Dick Vermeil and Trent Green earned that feeling of vindication they shared Sunday after the Chiefs' inspiring 48-30 trouncing of the Miami Dolphins at Arrowhead Stadium.

If you made the mistake of choosing NASCAR over the Chiefs, you absolutely won't believe what you missed. Tr-INT Green took the INT out of his name, impersonated Dan Fouts and Joe Montana and raised the possibility that Vermeil's Chiefs might be a playoff threat after all.

Even Green's harshest critics and the Chiefs' most consistent skeptics would have to admit that something special happened Sunday at Arrowhead.

No quarterback has had a better performance inside Arrowhead than the one Green put together against a staunch, run-stuffing Miami defense. Green threw five touchdown passes. He completed 24 of 34 passes for 328 yards. He ripped off three drive-sustaining runs, two on third down, that were more significant than any throw he made on Sunday.

And on the one Kansas City touchdown for which he wasn't directly responsible, Green made the key block on Priest Holmes' 25-yard jaunt, flooring Miami safety Arturo Freeman at the goal line.

Trent Green, take a bow. You deserve it.

With the Chiefs on the brink of a 1-3 hole, with fans ready to load Green on the get-out-of-town bandwagon that escorted Steve Bono and Elvis Grbac down I-70, and with the Dolphins consistently gang-tackling Holmes at the line of scrimmage, Green unveiled a laser arm, a precise touch and the good instincts to know when to tuck the ball and run.

Only Green and Vermeil knew that Green had this kind of performance in him. And now no one really knows what this season has in store for the Chiefs.

"You can't imagine how excited we are because we beat a good football team," said Vermeil, whose team improved to 2-2. "To become a playoff team, you have to normally end up being (at least) 2-2 in the first quarter of the season. ... At least right now, it puts us still in the hunt to do what we want to do."

And what the Chiefs want to do is qualify for the playoffs. Unfortunately, they're in football's toughest division, the AFC West. The Oakland Raiders, Denver Broncos and San Diego Chargers have yet to lose a game.

The Raiders and Broncos were supposed to be Super Bowl contenders. San Diego is the most surprising team in the league. Marty Schottenheimer's Chargers shut down the New England Patriots' offense on Sunday and handed the defending Super Bowl champions their first loss in 12 games. The Chargers are for real.

Are the Chiefs? Maybe.

The Dolphins, 3-1, are a good football team with an outstanding defense. Kansas City's offense embarrassed Miami's D. KC's offensive line dominated the Dolphins in the passing game. The pass protection afforded Green his terrific day.

The other key was the play-calling of offensive coordinator Al Saunders. Saunders found the right combination on Sunday. The Chiefs' offense made sense. Saunders and Green fed the ball to tight end Tony Gonzalez, who caught seven passes for 140 yards and three touchdowns. Wide receiver Johnnie Morton caught four passes and one touchdown.

The Dolphins took away Holmes on the ground, but Saunders used Priest (six receptions for 63 yards) in the passing attack.

If Green avoids multiple-turnover games, the Chiefs are capable of scoring 30 points on any defense. That kind of offensive production will make the Chiefs competitive week in and week out. We're looking at a team that is the exact opposite of the Schottenheimer-led Chiefs. Kansas City's exciting offense can carry the Chiefs the way KC's defense used to under Schottenheimer.

The Chiefs certainly have too much offense for their next opponent, the New York Jets, who in three straight losses have scored a total of 13 points under the direction of offensive coordinator Paul "Can't" Hackett. So the Chiefs should be 3-2 headed into a very critical stretch of the season - three consecutive games against their AFC West peers, at San Diego and at home against Denver and Oakland.

One victory in that stretch and the Chiefs could reach their week off with a respectable 4-4 record. By that time, maybe rookie defensive tackle Ryan Sims and second-year defensive tackle Eric Downing will be ready to make an impact. Sims is just now rounding into shape after sitting out training camp. Downing, KC's rookie of the year last season, played for the first time this season Sunday.

Sims and Downing are KC's best hope for defensive improvement. Despite creating five turnovers, the Chiefs' defense still looked shoddy. The turnovers were a product of KC's offense putting pressure on Miami's offense more than anything the Chiefs did defensively. Miami quarterback Jay Fiedler tried to keep pace with Green and couldn't. Having to play catch-up caused the Dolphins to abandon their ground attack (Ricky Williams had just 14 carries) and throw the ball 45 times. Fiedler was picked off four times.

So you could argue that Green was Kansas City's best defensive player on Sunday, too. If this keeps up, Green's critics and the fans who chose NASCAR over the Chiefs will owe those of us who never lost faith in Green a big apology.

KCChiefsFan88
09-30-2006, 10:36 PM
Ah the good old days when the Chiefs actually had a passing game

hypersensitiveZO6
09-30-2006, 10:36 PM
Will Shields....damn.

runnercyclist
09-30-2006, 10:39 PM
Gotta love the pic of Priest and the cute little blonde getting some air.

Where did she go?

'Hamas' Jenkins
09-30-2006, 10:40 PM
What a great day that was...it was the first Chiefs game I ever went to, and it was the day that my fantasy team absof*ckinglutley exploded...that was the day that Alexander scored 5 TDs in one half against the Vikings and six for the game.

L.A. Chieffan
10-10-2006, 09:44 PM
Holy shit, I was at that game. That was the first game I ever went to at Arrowhead and I had a chubby all day. Greatest day of my life.

Easy 6
10-10-2006, 09:50 PM
I was very proud of the D in that game holding Ricky to small change, i remember being quite apprehensive with visions of him blasting thru our every tackle. Isnt it bitter sweet to see Big Willie up there manhandlin' taylor... :huh:

C-Mac
10-10-2006, 09:51 PM
Holy shit, I was at that game. That was the first game I ever went to at Arrowhead and I had a chubby all day. Greatest day of my life.


I believe I have a copy of this game.

L.A. Chieffan
10-10-2006, 09:53 PM
I believe I have a copy of this game.
Dare I relive the greatest 3 hour stretch in my 27 years? Can I handle it?

Crashride
10-10-2006, 11:07 PM
Post the video! :drool: