01:40 PM EST on Tuesday, November 23, 2004

BY TOM E. CURRAN
Journal Sports Writer

Slideshow

Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach

Corey Dillon outlegs Kansas City¹s defenders to the end zone on a five-yard run that gave the Patriots a 7-0 lead on their first possession last night.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Patriots weathered Kansas City's explosive offense last night and beat up their shoddy defense, leaving Arrowhead Stadium with a 27-19 win to improve to 9-1.

Even though the Chiefs became the first team to thoroughly exploit New England's raw secondary with 381 yards through the air and two touchdown passes, the Pats were able to kill the game's final six minutes after Kansas City capped a 97-yard drive with a 26-yard touchdown pass from Trent Green (27 for 42 for 381 yards) to Eddie Kennison.

"If you go in there and play your butts off and they beat you, you shake their hands and move on," said Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil. "It's disappointing, but that's the facts of the National Football League."

"It's good to come in here and win. That's the bottom line," said Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. "We competed well defensively with Kansas City's offense, one of the top offenses in the league. All we're trying to do is come in here and get a win. If it's 50-49 or 3-2, we're happy with that."

Corey Dillon (26 carries, 98 yards), whose fumble at the Chiefs' 3 early in the fourth quarter led to the long K.C. scoring drive, atoned for that by being a key cog in the final clock-draining drive, rolling through the Chiefs' run defense. Kansas City also had a killer offside penalty on its own 18 with 2:35 left that gave New England a first down.

"I messed it up, but I had an opportunity to redeem myself," said Dillon. "But I'm still disgusted about that."

The Patriots had to do a bit of holding on in this one. Playing for the third game without either of their starting corners, Green feasted on Patriots corners Randall Gay, Asante Samuel and Earthwind Moreland. If the Chiefs weren't so slippery-fingered, they could have racked up even more yards as Kennison dropped a long pass and Johnnie Morton dropped what could have been a touchdown pass in the third.

"We brought our entire arsenal at them," said safety Rodney Harrison. "They made some big plays on us but we were fortunate to stick with them."

But mistakes have been the Chiefs' biggest problem this year, and their most costly one likely was the interception that Green threw from the Patriots' 9-yard line with 54 seconds left in the first half. That preserved the Pats' 17-10 halftime lead.

The Pats tacked on their final touchdown in the third quarter on a little in-cut to Deion Branch (6 catches, 105 yards) that the returning wide receiver cut back and turned into a 26-yard score. That touchdown was set up in part by a 46-yard completion to David Patten.

The Patriots were poised to salt the game away when they took the ball 82 yards and got inside the Chiefs' 5 with about eight minutes left, but Dillon had the ball jarred loose by Fred Jones. The Chiefs recovered at the 3 and went 97 yards, with Moreland getting exploited for the score.

But the weak Chiefs defense couldn't stop the Patriots when it needed to. The Pats marched the other way and added a 28-yard Adam Vinatieri field goal with 1:46 left.

Willie McGinest ended the game with a fourth-down sack of Green.

An adventuresome first half illustrated why the Chiefs are struggling through a disappointing 2004 and the Patriots are chugging toward the playoffs once again.

Buoyed by a Rodney Harrison end zone interception with less than a minute left in the half, the Patriots were clinging to a 17-10 lead thanks to Dillon's two touchdown runs and a 37-yard Vinatieri field goal.

New England found itself in front despite a Chiefs offensive barrage that saw Green throw for 200 first-half yards.

By halftime, the teams had combined for 413 total yards, but the Chiefs went to the locker room swallowing hard as Green's pass to tight end Tony Gonzalez on third-and-goal from the 9 floated to Harrison, preventing K.C. from tying the game.

"They were riding me down the field," Gonzalez complained later. "I have marks all over my neck from where they were holding me."

Bad turnovers and ridiculously generous defense have been the standbys for 3-6 Kansas City this season. Green's end zone pick was an illustration of the former, an embarrassing attempt by Kawika Mitchell on a 48-yard completion to Daniel Graham was proof of the latter. New England started that drive on its own 44 after the Chiefs' Chris Horn got called for a 15-yard penalty on a Chiefs punt that pinned the Pats at their 18.

The Patriots went ahead 14-10 with 8:30 left in the half on a 1-yard run by Dillon. A 17-yard completion to Branch was the first big strike of that drive followed later by a 22-yard completion from Tom Brady (10 for 16 for 168 yards) to Troy Brown on a third-and-2 that moved the ball to the Chiefs 28. After a 14-yard throw to Branch (3 catches for 48 yards in his first action since September 19), Dillon did the rest of the work.

But Green and the Chiefs were also having their way through the air. After the Patriots made it through their past two games without having their depleted secondary exploited, Green found the holes.

Green, who went 7 for 7 for 142 yards in the first quarter alone, hit Kennison with a 65-yard touchdown pass late in the first to make it 10-7.

The throw went over the head of Moreland, who slowed while running with Morton and then desperately tried to leap and tip the ball. He missed and Morton cruised in.

Kansas City answered the Patriots' score on their opening drive with a 44-yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes. A 22-yard throw to Gonzalez helped set that up. Gonzalez figured to have a decent game against the Patriots since their safeties were going to need to play back to give help to their relatively raw corners.

The Patriots got an eyeful of the Chiefs' weak defense right out of the chute. Taking over at their own 24, the Patriots converted all three third downs they faced on a 71-yard scoring drive on their first possession. First, they got a 27-yard completion to Graham on third-and-9. Later, they got a 14-yard run by Dillon on third-and-2. Finally -- and most damaging -- was a 17-yard dart to Branch on third-and-15 from the K.C. 22 that set up a 5-yard Dillon touchdown.

It was the first reception for Branch since he got hurt Sept. 19 in Arizona. On the play last night, offensive coordinator Charlie Weis went with five wide receivers. Brady dropped and pumped to the right, then came back to Branch, who dived to make the play.

Dillon, who'd run for more than 100 yards in his previous four games, started hot this time, as well, with 26 yards on his first four carries. He ended the half with 44 yards on 13 rushes.