Visitor:  Oakland Raiders

Home:  Kansas City Chiefs

Date:  January 2, 2000

 

Scoring:

Team               1          2          3          4          OT       Final

OAK               7          21        7          3          3            41

KC                  17        7          7          7          0            38

 

Visitor playmakers:

WR Kenny Shedd, FB Zack Crockett, RB Napoleon Kaufman, RB Tyrone Wheatley, LB Greg Biekert

 

Home playmakers:

WR Tamarick Vanover, CB James Hasty, TE Tony Gonzalez, WR Joe Horn, WR Kevin Lockett, DT Tom Barndt, CB Cris Dishman, DE Eric Hicks, DE Leslie O’Neal, LB Marvcus Patton

 

Network:  CBS

Announcers:  Ian Eagle, Mark May

 

Pregame:  Yes

Halftime:  No

Postgame:  Yes

Commercials:  Yes

 

Grade:  9/10

 

Notes:  So Close.  The Chiefs held the AFC West crown in their hands and were ready to place it on their heads and prance into the playoffs.  But the crown didn’t fit, and when Oakland’s Joe Nedney booted a 33-yard field goal after three minutes of overtime play, the Raiders blocked the Chiefs from the playoffs, winning the game, 41-38.

 

It appeared this was going to be the Chiefs’ day.  A Tamarick Vanover punt return, a James Hasty interception, and a Pete Stoyanovich field goal staked Kansas City to a 17-0 lead.  But the special teams, a year-long problem, came back to haunt the Chiefs once too often this season.  The Raiders blocked a punt to start their comeback, and by halftime led 28-24.  Kickoff specialist Jon Baker was horrible and set up the Raiders with good field position in overtime when his kickoff went out of bounds.

 

The second half went back and forth, but when Elvis Grbac led the Chiefs on a seven-play, 43-yard drive to set up a game-winning field goal attempt at the end of regulation, it looked as if the Chiefs were going to make it past the Raiders and into the playoffs.  Except Stoyanovich missed the field goal.

 

The Chiefs’ offense clicked throughout the game.  Grbac threw for 243 yards and three touchdowns, and Donnell Bennett ran for 84 as Kansas City totaled 429 yards for the game.  But the defense, which had bailed out the Chiefs several times during the season, couldn’t stop Oakland.  Rich Gannon passed for 324 yards and three touchdowns, gaining most of his yardage on screen passes.

 

The Chiefs finished Cunningham’s first season at 9-7, and while it was an improvement over 1998, the disappointment of being so close to the playoffs and not making it was tough to take.

 

Three weeks after this game, on January 23, star linebacker Derrick Thomas was severely injured in a one-car accident.  He died on February 8.  –Kansas City Chiefs Encyclopedia, 2^nd Edition

 

Thanks Kevin!

 

Running time:  3:44 (2 discs)