ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 4, 1995 TAG: 9512060014
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: OAKLAND, CALIF.
SOURCE: Associated Press
There were two themes to the Kansas City Chiefs' 29-23 win Sunday over the Oakland Raiders.
Marcus Allen was one; the inexorable march of the ugly duckling Chiefs toward an AFC championship was the other.
The 35-year-old Allen, in his first game at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, rushed for 124 yards to lead the Chiefs to their second AFC West title in three seasons - not bad for a team picked to finish fourth or fifth in the division after Joe Montana's retirement.
Allen also became the became the first player in the NFL's 77-year history to run for more than 10,000 yards and catch 5,000 yards in passes while the defense held Oakland to just eight yards rushing.
``We're still not a good team,'' Allen said after the victory over the team that discarded him. ``We're just beating good teams.''
Well, not really that good. With starting quarterback Jeff Hostetler on the sideline with a shoulder injury, the Raiders (8-5) lost for the third straight time. They jumped off to a 7-0 lead 1:01 into the game on Terry McDaniel's 43-yard interception return then didn't score again until Billy Joe Hobert, the third-string quarterback, threw two late touchdown passes to cut into a 29-10 deficit.
``How many times have you seen when you see a play like that interception early in the game that gets to you?'' Chiefs coach Marty Schottenheimer said. ``But this group has no quit in them. They just don't allow things like that to get them down.''
There were many such things in this game, one that was played both between the Chiefs and the Raiders and the Chiefs and their fans, who jeered at the Kansas City buses as they entered the stadium and threw all kinds of debris from the stands. .
``If you beat the fans, you can beat the Raiders,'' said Kansas City cornerback Mark Collins. ``But you have to beat the fans first.''
The Chiefs usually do.
This was their fifth straight win and 12th in 13 games over the Raiders, but the first in that streak in Oakland.
``There's something missing on this team,'' said Raiders coach Mike White. ``It's a state of mind. I'm not sure what it is, consistency, maybe. But this is as low as it's ever been.''
Maybe what's missing is the leadership of Allen, run off the team by Al Davis after the 1992 season in a still unexplained dispute.
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