OAKLAND, Calif. (Sept. 19, 2005) -- In what's become a welcome change, the Kansas City defense was the difference in a victory for a second straight week.
Trent Green engineered two second-half field goal drives and the Chiefs stopped Oakland at the 10-yard line in the final minutes to spoil Randy Moss' home debut for the Raiders with a 23-17 win.
Kansas City overhauled its defense in the offseason after another season in which its high-scoring offense wasn't enough. After taking a shutout into the final minute of a season-opening 27-7 win over the New York Jets, the Chiefs (2-0) proved to be just tough enough to beat the Raiders for the fifth straight time.
After Samie Parker's fumble set up a final drive for Oakland, Kerry Collins led the Raiders (0-2) to the 10 with 1:58 to go. He threw an incomplete pass to LaMont Jordan on third down and then lofted a last-ditch pass to Jerry Porter in the back corner of the end zone. Porter leaped and had the ball on his fingertips, but Benny Sapp knocked the ball away.
Kansas City then ran out the clock.
Moss showed off the big-play skills that made him the NFL's most dangerous receiver during his seven years in Minnesota with another long touchdown catch. But he was not a factor on the final drive and finished with five catches for 127 yards.
After the Raiders took over on their 36 early in the third quarter, Collins dropped back for a play-action pass. Moss ran past Patrick Surtain and then outleaped Kansas City's other key secondary acquisition, Sammy Knight, at the 20 before running it in the rest of the way. He turned back toward the defense as he crossed the goal line and then did a dance move in the back of the end zone as he celebrated with his new fans.
The Chiefs answered with a methodical 15-play drive that was slowed by back-to-back holding calls against Jordan Black after Priest Holmes' 20-yard run set up a first-and-goal at the 9. A 39-yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes made it 20-17 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Green then led Kansas City on an 11-play, 54-yard drive, completing key third-down passes to Parker and Tony Gonzalez to set up a 42-yard kick by Tynes.
Green was 18-for-28 for 238 yards and Holmes ran for 75 yards and a score for Kansas City.
Moss was the last player introduced before the game and received the loudest cheers. He caught an 18-yard pass to set up Oakland's first score, a 1-yard touchdown on the first play of the second quarter by Jordan.
Moss got louder cheers when he appeared to catch a 6-yard touchdown throw early in the second quarter. But those quickly ended when the play was called back by a pass interference on Moss and Oakland settled for a 29-yard field goal by Sebastian Janikowski.
Jordan also had a touchdown called back when Langston Walker held on a 56-yard run. After committing 16 penalties in the season-opening loss at New England, flags again hurt the Raiders, who committed two key penalties to stall a drive earlier in the fourth quarter.
Kansas City also had a score called back when Dante Hall's long punt return in the final minute of the first half was negated by an illegal block.
Kansas City struggled on the ground without injured 10-time Pro Bowl tackle Willie Roaf, but did get two TDs rushing. Chris Carr muffed a punt at Oakland's 17 after the first drive of the game and the Chiefs converted two fourth downs, including Holmes' 1-yard score.
Holmes briefly left the game after being nicked up in the second quarter, but Larry Johnson came in and carried it twice for 17 yards to make it 14-7.
Collins was 21-for-35 for 263 yards, but was booed frequently as he often threw the ball short on third downs.
