The old offensive line coach in Andy Reid could appreciate the way the Kansas City Chiefs pried open holes for Jamaal Charles to run free against Seattle on Sunday.
He could appreciate the way their defensive front stepped up, too.
Given a lead thanks largely to the legs of their dazzling running back, the Chiefs held the Seahawks on fourth down three times in the final quarter. The result was a tense 24-20 victory that pushed Kansas City into a first-place tie with the Denver Broncos in the AFC West.
“We’re sitting there with three fourth-down plays late in the game,” Reid said, “and they stepped up and did a phenomenal job there getting off the field.”
As for Charles, who finished with 159 yards and two touchdowns?
“He’s Jamaal Charles,” Reid said. “He’s a special player.”
Russell Wilson threw for 178 yards and two TDs for the Seahawks, and Marshawn Lynch had 124 yards rushing. But Lynch, fresh off a four-touchdown game, was stuffed twice by the Kansas City defence with the outcome hanging in the balance.
The Seahawks’ last-chance drive ended when Wilson threw incomplete on fourth-and-18 at their 20-yard line with 1:13 left.
“They had a great defence,” Wilson said. “They just made a great play.”
The Chiefs’ first fourth-down stop came with about 6 minutes to go. Lynch was tackled after a 2-yard gain on third down, and coach Pete Carroll elected to gamble at the Chiefs 2. Wilson saw Doug Baldwin in the corner of the end zone but badly overthrew him.
Seattle (6-4) held to get the ball back and appeared to convert a third down with a completion at the Chiefs 35. Reid wisely challenged the spot, though, and replays showed wide receiver Jermaine Kearse was a full yard short. The Seahawks again went for it, and Lynch was stuffed for no gain with less than 4 minutes to go.
By the time the Seahawks got the ball back one last time, they were pinned so deep in their own territory with such little time on the clock that it hardly mattered.
Lynch left without speaking to reporters.
“Every game we’ve lost this season it seems like it’s come down to the last play, whether it’s defence or offence,” Seattle defensive end Michael Bennett said. “That’s the name of the game.”
It made sense the two play-off contenders would wage an old-school, back-and-forth affair. Both are built in the same mould, featuring stout defences and strong running games.
Kansas City struck first with a relentless 15-play drive that took up more than 9 minutes of the first half and ended with Charles’ 1-yard touchdown run. Seattle answered with their own 16-play drive, chewing up exactly 9 minutes and ending with Wilson’s TD pass to Baldwin.
Nothing really changed the rest of the half.
Charles broke two long runs on the Chiefs’ next possession, including a 16-yard touchdown. Lynch came back with a punishing series of carries to help set up a field goal.
The Chiefs overcame two fumbles that led to Seattle scores. Travis Kelce lost the ball near midfield late in the first half, and the Seahawks capitalised with a field goal.
Then Charles was fighting for extra yardage again near midfield in the third quarter when he was stripped of the ball.
“I was doing too much,” Charles said. “I just lost it as I was going down.”
Five plays later, Wilson hit tight end Tony Moeaki – who spent most of his first four injury-plagued seasons with Kansas City – with a short touchdown toss for a 20-17 lead.
Once again turning to Charles, the Chiefs answered. The elusive running back put a nifty juke on Earl Thomas and scampered 47 yards before getting pushed out of bounds. Gassed, Charles watched as Knile Davis capped the drive to give the Chiefs a 24-20 lead.
Then he watched his defence make it stick.
“It was a heartbreaking loss,” Wilson said. “We thought we could have or should have won it.”
Elsewhere, Jonas Gray rushed for 199 yards and a franchise-record four touchdowns in his fourth career game, leading the New England Patriots to a 42-20 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday night.
Tom Brady threw two TD passes as the AFC-best Patriots (8-2) earned their sixth consecutive victory, and finished with 19-of-30 passes completed for 257 yards with two interceptions.
Colts quarterback Andrew Luck was 23-of-39 for 303 yards with two scores. He extended his franchise record of consecutive 300-yard games to eight and moved within one of Drew Brees’ NFL record.
But the unheralded Gray was the surprise star. His first two scoring runs gave New England a 14-10 half-time lead. His other two helped put the game away in the second half. Brady sealed it with a late TD pass to Rob Gronkowski.
The St Louis Rams defence made life miserable for Peyton Manning in a 22-7 victory over the AFC West-leading Denver Broncos earlier Sunday, and Shaun Hill was effective in his first start since regaining the quarterback job.
Rookie Tre Mason had 29 carries for 113 yards, the most allowed by the Broncos’ top-ranked run defence.
Kenny Britt had four catches for 128 yards with a 63-yard score and Greg Zuerlein was a career-best 5-for-5 on field goals for the Rams (4-6).
Manning was 34-for-54 for 389 yards with two interceptions, but was held to just one 42-yard touchdown pass to Emmanuel Sanders, ending a streak of 15 consecutive games with at least two touchdown passes.
At Glendale, Drew Stanton threw touchdown passes to Michael Floyd on Arizona’s first two possessions and the Cardinals held Detroit without a touchdown, beating the Lions 14-6 in a matchup of teams with two of the best records in the NFC.
Arizona won their sixth in a row to improve to an NFL-best 9-1. The Cardinals, with their best record through 10 games since 1948, have a three-game lead over Seattle and San Francisco in the NFC West.
At Cleveland, JJ Watt caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Mallett, dominated on defence and Houston climbed back to .500 with a 23-7 win over the Browns. Along with his TD, Watt recorded a strip sack, made five tackles – three for a loss – recovered a fumble and hurried Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer.
The Packers had a 53-20 win over the Eagles, who were held to 11 points below their NFC-leading scoring average by a defence rejuvenated since Clay Matthews moved to inside linebacker.
In other games, the 49ers beat the Giants 16-10 to send New York to their fifth straight loss, the Bengals beat the Saints 27-10, the Bears won for just the second time in seven games – overcoming two of the worst blowout losses in the club’s history – with a 21-13 victory over the Vikings.
Atlanta moved into a share of first place in the NFC South with a 19-17 win over the Panthers, the Charges beat the Raiders 13-6, extending Oakland’s losing streak to 16, and Mike Evans led the Buccaneers to a 27-7 win over Washington.
Evans caught seven passes for 209 yards and scored two touchdowns, becoming the first rookie to post three consecutive 100-yard games with at least one touchdown in each since Randy Moss in 1998.
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