Facet of KC offense was a bit run down

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It was another record-setting day for the Kansas City Chiefs' offense last night, but New England proved it could get by with focusing primarily on stopping the run.

Chiefs quarterback Trent Green threw for the most yards for a Kansas City quarterback against the Patriots with 381 yards and two touchdowns.

Green was well on his way in the first half toward registering his fourth straight 300-yard game, ringing up 200 yards on 12 completions.

But Kansas City coach Dick Vermeil wasn't the only observer at intermission to notice his running game had been buried deep into the Arrowhead Stadium dirt.

New England entered the game 13th in the NFL in rushing defense, allowing 111.3 yards per game. It was matching up against the most prolific rushing offense in the NFL, averaging 164 yards per game, even minus injured All-Pro running back Priest Holmes.

But despite setting a franchise record by surpassing 400 yards of total offense for the fifth consecutive game, Kansas City came up flat on the ground, finishing with just 64 yards.

"I thought we would run the ball better than we did," Vermeil said. "You have to give New England credit there."

The Patriots' defensive game plan was pretty obvious. They were going to concentrate on shutting down Holmes's replacement, Derrick Blaylock, and let the Chiefs throw like crazy.

It appeared to work brilliantly in the first half as Kansas City was held to 20 yards rushing with its longest run coming from Green on a 6-yard quarterback scramble.

Blaylock, who had the fifth best rushing game in team history in his first start last week with 186 yards, averaged 1.8 yards on eight carries and New England led, 17-10, at halftime.

"They were very good against the run, but that didn't surprise me," Chiefs left guard Brian Waters said. "It didn't matter run or pass. We had to do more in the red zone. It's not like we are a one-dimensional team."

When Kansas City was finally able to run the ball in the fourth quarter it put together its most impressive drive of the game, a 97-yard effort. A 14-yard run from Blaylock with 10:53 left would end up the Chiefs' longest running play of the night. A 6-yard gain gave Kansas City a first down past midfield, and it eventually scored on a 26-yard pass from Green to Eddie Kennison to cut the deficit to 24-19 with 6:13 left.

The Chiefs were back in the game, but by then their defense had already dug too deep a hole.

On a night when Kansas City's ground game came up empty, New England received a steady performance from running back Corey Dillon. Dillon finished with 98 yards and two touchdowns in 26 carries.

"We definitely should have kept him under wraps," Chiefs defensive tackle Ryan Sims said. "Corey Dillon rushing for 100 yards wasn't good."