Kansas City Chief's Kimble Anders (38) runs through the grasp of Carolina Panthers' Andre Royal (58) enroute to a touchdown in the first quarter of their NFL game at Ericsson Stadium in Charlotte, N.C., Sunday Sept. 21, 1997. AP Photo/Chuck Burton

Chiefs 35, Panthers 14

Web posted September 22, 1997

Associated Press

CHARLOTTE - The Kansas City Chiefs' need for late-game heroics disappeared Sunday. The Carolina Panthers' dominance at home is becoming a fading memory, too.

Elvis Grbac picked apart the NFL's second-ranked defense by throwing for 214 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Chiefs to a 35-14 victory over the Carolina Panthers, who gave up the most points in franchise history.

``If we could have them all this way, we'd take it,'' Kansas City safety Reggie Tongue said after the Chiefs (3-1) won their third straight game but the first in which they didn't need some big plays in the last minute. Two weeks ago Kansas City defeated Oakland 28-27 on a touchdown pass with three seconds left, and last week the Chiefs turned away four passes into the end zone in the final seconds of a 22-16 victory over Buffalo.

Kansas City built a 28-point lead early in the fourth quarter and sent the Panthers (2-2) to their second loss in as many games this season at Ericsson Stadium, where they went 9-0 last year.

``I'm surprised that we're making some of the mistakes that we're making,'' cornerback Eric Davis said. ``I don't care if it's here or on the road. We don't normally do that. That's not our trademark. But the good thing is that those things can be corrected.''

Kerry Collins, in his second game back after being sidelined by a broken jaw during the exhibition season, was intercepted four times and lost one fumble, setting up three Kansas City touchdowns.

``He wasn't the only one who was having a tough day,'' coach Dom Capers said. ``I don't know of any phase of our team that didn't struggle.''

The Chiefs were penalized nine times for 100 yards, which hardly hurt them at all on an afternoon when Collins and his teammates put on an exhibition of bad passes, dropped balls, poor tackles and blown assignments. Carolina's Michael Bates also had a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown called back because of an illegal block by Mike Minter.

The Panthers were coming off a 26-7 victory over San Diego in which they had seven sacks and recovered four second-half fumbles, but they couldn't generate much pressure on Grbac. He completed 16 of 29 passes and was sacked just once.

``I was kind of in a funk for some reason. I wasn't in a certain rhythm,'' Grbac said. ``Against this type of defense you're going to get out of a rhythm a little bit. In the past you couldn't hit the big play against them, but today we made some big plays down the field.''

Collins completed 24 of 47 passes for 328 yards, the second-highest single-game total of his three-year career.

``We didn't execute very well, and that's something that we're going to have to remedy pretty quick,'' he said. ``It doesn't get any easier, especially with San Francisco coming in here next Monday.''

The Panthers' lone highlight in the first 54 minutes was an 8-yard scoring run by rookie free agent Fred Lane, Carolina's first rushing touchdown of the season.

But all that did was cut the Panthers' deficit to 14-7 after a first half in which Grbac threw for 138 yards. He had scoring passes of 55 yards to Kimble Anders and 18 yards to Andre Rison.

Grbac completed all five passes on Kansas City's opening possession of the second half before his pass intended for Derrick Walker in the end zone was intercepted by Tyrone Poole.

Collins gave the Chiefs the ball back on the next play, throwing an interception directly into the arms of linebacker Donnie Edwards. Four plays later, Marcus Allen's 1-yard plunge made it 21-7.

Collins was hit from behind in the pocket by Dan Williams later in the quarter and lost the ball, setting up Grbac's 3-yard scoring pass to Tony Richardson.

Many of the Carolina fans still in the stadium launched into a loud chorus of boos when Mark McMillian intercepted a Collins pass and returned it 62 yards for a touchdown, making it 35-7 with 13:42 left.

The boos changed to catcalls when Collins hit Wesley Walls with an 18-yard TD pass with 5:46 remaining.

Game notebook

Kansas City drew four penalty flags in the first four minutes. Included in that group was one for when James Hasty intercepted a tipped pass, returned it 20 yards and then spiked the ball within a few inches of the head of Carolina quarterback Kerry Collins, who had made the tackle. ... Marcus Allen rushed nine times, giving him 2,914 for his career and moving him closer to John Riggins, who is fifth on the NFL's all-time list with 2,916. Allen's 31 rushing yards gave him 3,243 with Kansas City. Mike Garrett is fourth on the franchise's all-time list with 3,246. ... The 21-point losing margin was the second-largest in the Panthers' history. The worst was a 31-9 loss at Buffalo on Sept. 10, 1995. ... Kansas City's Andre Rison caught three passes, boosting his career receptions total to 587. Fred Biletnikoff is 19th on the NFL's all-time list with 589 and Harold Carmichael is 18th with 590. ... Mike McCormack, the Panthers' first president, was inducted into Carolina's Hall of Honor during a halftime ceremony. McCormack, 67, who retired in March, is the first person in franchise history to be selected for the honor. The team placed a 7-foot-tall bronze statue of McCormack outside one of the main entrances to Ericsson Stadium. ... Chiefs linebacker Derrick Thomas sat out his second consecutive game, still bothered by an injured left triceps. ... The Chiefs got good field position to set up their second score when Carolina's John Kasay was wide right on a 54-yard field-goal attempt early in the second quarter. Kasay also was wide right on a 53-yarder as time expired in the first half. ... Kansas City cornerback Clyde Johnson left in the second quarter with a bruised lower left leg and did not return. Carolina safety Pat Terrell sprained his neck in the fourth quarter. He also did not return.