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Posted on Mon, Oct. 12, 2009

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More Misery: Chiefs lose 26-20 to Cowboys in overtime

By ADAM TEICHER

Kansas City Star

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —The Chiefs were determined to stand up this time to the bullies from the NFC East and, with some timely help in the form of Dallas turnovers, they did.

Sunday's game against the Cowboys at Arrowhead Stadium was theirs for the taking. But as with their tackling on so many long passes to Dallas wide receiver Miles Austin, they failed to grab hold.

So the result, a 26-20 loss in overtime, was familiar to the 0-5 Chiefs. They've now lost 28 of their last 30 games.

Their method was different. They used two early Dallas turnovers to build a 13-3 lead.

Even after falling behind 20-13 in the final moments of regulation play, the Chiefs showed some spunk. They went downfield for the tying touchdown, scoring on Matt Cassel's 16-yard, fourth-down pass to Dwayne Bowe with 24 seconds left.

But in the end they could not overcome two long Tony Romo-to-Austin touchdown passes. The first covered 59 yards and gave the Cowboys that 20-13 lead with just more than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

The second was a 60-yarder in overtime. The plays were similar in that the Chiefs had a chance to stop each after a short catch, but defensive backs Maurice Leggett

and Mike Brown failed on tackle attempts.

"It was up to us to just finish the play and make the tackle,'' cornerback Brandon Carr said. "We'd like to have those plays back.''

The Chiefs won't get another chance. Instead, they will be tortured by what could have been. There's no telling when they will get another chance like this at a victory.

The Chiefs weren't able to compete the last two weeks in losses to Philadelphia and the New York Giants. But, at least early, the Cowboys were obviously not over the lethargy that set in during their previous game, a loss to Denver.

So the Chiefs built that 10-point lead and were still tied with three minutes remaining. That's when Austin did his best work. In addition to his two touchdowns, Austin had 10 catches and a franchise-record 250 yards, breaking the mark previously held by Hall of Famer Bob Hayes.

The Chiefs initially used rookie Donald Washington as their third cornerback, but after Romo and Austin successfully picked on him early in the game, the Chiefs turned to Leggett.

That didn't work well, either.

"They attacked me, and I didn't step up to the challenge,'' Leggett said. "He's great at running after the catch. I've got to make those plays and I didn't.''

Austin may have talent, but it was still troubling to the Chiefs they allowed a career day to a player still trying to establish himself. Austin joined the Cowboys as an undrafted rookie in 2006 when Todd Haley was their receivers coach.

Austin had just 23 career catches heading into Sunday's game. He had only five this season in the Cowboys' first four games. He was such a nonfactor in the Dallas passing game that Romo didn't even try to find Austin on the deciding plays in the end zone of last week's loss to the Broncos.

"He's been working, trying to find his way,'' Haley said. "He made a couple of huge plays, probably the biggest of his career.''

They didn't happen without considerable help from the Chiefs in the form of sloppy tackling. The Chiefs were also burned for two long runs by another similarly unheralded player, Dallas running back Tashard Choice.

He scored on a 36-yard run and ran for 24 yards, setting up the winning touchdown.

"We were going for the ball, trying to strip the ball out of his hands,'' safety Jarrad Page said. "When you do that, you don't completely focus on the tackle and getting the guy down. That's when things like that happen.

"We knew the capabilities he has and the fact he's a big-play guy. He's an explosive guy. We didn't underestimate him. We knew he could make those plays. We just gave him too many.''

DalKC

First downs2020

Total Net Yards498304

Rushes-yards26-15029-72

Passing348232

Punt Returns2-02-6

Kickoff Returns5-1185-100

Interceptions Ret. 0-00-0

Comp-Att-Int20-34-023-41-0

Sacked-Yards Lost1-34-21

Punts4-43.08-41.3

Fumbles-Lost4-20-0

Penalties-Yards13-907-50

Time of Possession32:0034:38

Dallas0 3 7 10 6 — 26 Kansas City0 10 3 7 0 — 20

Second Quarter

KC—FG Succop 47, 14:13.

KC—Vrabel 1 pass from Cassel (Succop kick), 11:00.

Dal—FG Folk 22, 1:49.

Third Quarter

KC—FG Succop 38, 6:30.

Dal—Choice 36 run (Folk kick), 1:55.

Fourth Quarter

Dal—FG Folk 28, 11:10.

Dal—Austin 59 pass from Romo (Folk kick), 2:16.

KC—Bowe 16 pass from Cassel (Succop kick), :24.

Overtime

Dal—Austin 60 pass from Romo, 8:22.

A—71,214.

Individual Statistics

Rushing—Dallas, Choice 8-92, Barber 15-53, Romo 3-5. Kansas City, L.Johnson 21-37, Cassel 4-28, Charles 3-9, Bradley 1-(minus 2).

Passing—Dallas, Romo 20-34-0-351. Kansas City, Cassel 23-41-0-253.

Receiving—Dallas, Austin 10-250, Witten 5-47, Crayton 4-44, Hurd 1-10. Kansas City, Bowe 5-74, Charles 5-54, Wade 4-42, Bradley 3-35, Ryan 2-27, L.Johnson 1-9, Pope 1-8, Battle 1-3, Vrabel 1-1.

Missed Field Goals—Dallas, Folk 40 (WL). Kansas City, Succop 53.