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| Kansas City Chiefs players stand arm-in-arm during a moment of silence before an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012. |
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Against the backdrop of an unthinkable tragedy, the Kansas City Chiefs gave themselves a reason to be proud Sunday - and perhaps the impetus to let the healing begin.
Brady
Quinn threw for 201 yards and two touchdowns and Jamaal Charles ran for
127 yards in the Chiefs' 27-21 victory over the Carolina Panthers. The
win snapped an eight-game losing streak during one of the most difficult
seasons the franchise has ever experienced.
The
game was played one day after Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher shot his
girlfriend multiple times at a residence near Arrowhead Stadium, then
drove to the team's practice facility and turned the gun on himself as
general manager Scott Pioli and coach Romeo Crennel looked on.
Pioli
walked through the press box before the game and said he was doing
"OK," though he didn't stop to talk. Crennel was on the sideline
coaching his team to an uplifting victory.
"As
far as playing the game, I thought that was the best for us to do,
because that's what we do," Crennel said, tears forming in the corner of
his eyes. "We're football players and football coaches and that's what
we do, we play on Sunday."
Cam Newton threw
for 232 yards and three touchdowns for the Panthers (3-9), who were
informed the game would be played as scheduled while they were heading
to Kansas City on Saturday.
DeAngelo Williams
added 67 yards rushing for the Panthers, carrying the load with Jonathan
Stewart out with an injury. Steve Smith, Greg Olsen and Louis Murphy
caught their TD passes.
"You definitely feel
for them. What they are going through is tragic," Olsen said. "But we
have a job to do. Our job is to come here and prepare to win. They
wouldn't expect any less."
Peyton Hillis had a
touchdown run for Kansas City (2-10), while Tony Moeaki and Jon Baldwin
had touchdown catches. Ryan Succop hit a pair of field goals, including
a 52-yarder with 4:54 left that forced the Panthers try for a touchdown
to steal the win.
Instead, the Panthers went
three-and-out, and the Chiefs were able to run the clock down to 31
seconds before giving back the ball. Newton completed two quick passes
to reach the Carolina 38, but his final heave as time expired was caught
by Smith short of the end zone.
Panthers coach Ron Rivera greeted Crennel at midfield and gave him a hug.
"They
played an inspired football game," Rivera said. "They did some really
good things, and we have to give them credit, because they suffered
through a very difficult time."
Chiefs players
gathered in the tunnel leading to the field for a brief prayer before
their pregame stretching. A few fans in the half-empty stadium held up
signs referencing the shootings, and there was a moment of silence to
remember all victims of domestic violence.
Kansas
City police have not released a motive for the shootings, which claimed
the life of Belcher and 22-year-old Kasandra M. Perkins, and left a
3-month-old girl, Zoey, an orphan.
Belcher's locker was left with his jersey hanging on a hook.
"It's
been an incredibly difficult 24 hours for our family and our entire
organization," Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt told The Associated Press on
the field before the game. "We have so many guys on our team and our
coaching staff who are really, really hurting."
The emotions were raw even after the kickoff.
Kansas
City took the opening possession and marched 74 yards in just six
plays, including a 21-yard pass to Dwayne Bowe and a 34-yarder to
Baldwin that got the Chiefs to the 2.
Hillis
powered in to score the first touchdown for Kansas City on the opening
possession of a game since Dec. 26, 2010. It was also the first
touchdown drive engineered by Quinn since December 2009, when he helped
the Browns beat the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.
Hillis
ran to the sideline after scoring his first touchdown of the season and
handed the ball to Crennel, then gave the affable head coach a big bear
hug.
The Panthers answered with a long
touchdown drive. The big play came when safety Abe Elam watched Olsen
haul in a 47-yard pass from Newton for the tying touchdown.
The
Chiefs had tacked on a field goal when the Panthers struck again, this
time after Newton completed three passes to convert third downs, the
last of them finding Smith in the end zone.
But
Kansas City finished off the half with one of its best drives of the
year, an 80-yard march that took up the final 7:25. Hillis was stuffed
at the line on third-and-goal, and Crennel allowed the clock to hit 2
seconds before calling timeout. On the final play of the half, Quinn saw
Moeaki open in the back of the end zone and delivered a soft toss for a
17-14 lead.
Breathing room came late in the
third quarter when the Chiefs used 17 plays to go 87 yards on a drive
that lasted another 10 minutes. Quinn finished it with a 3-yard
touchdown pass to Baldwin.
Carolina mounted a
comeback with the opening drive of the fourth quarter, with Newton
hitting Murphy on a quick slant route from the 8 to get the Panther
within a field goal.
The Chiefs added their
own field goal, and then labored through the final minutes before
pouring on the field, hugging each other and then kneeling in prayer
around the midfield logo.
"In moments,
tragedies like this, they can define you or redefine you," Quinn said,
"and I think this team took an event and allowed it to redefine us. We
were battling through a lot of emotions, a lot of difficulty on the
field, and guys stepped up and played a heck of a game."
