Kevin Kolb had two touchdown passes and 327 passing yards to lead the Philadelphia Eagles to a 34-14 victory over the Kansas City Chief, overshadowing the return of Michael Vick.

Kolb also had a rushing touchdown in his second start in a row, filling in for an injured Donovan McNabb. He was 24 for 34 passing without an interception for the 2-1 Eagles. It was the first game that Michael Vick suited up for Philadelphia.

Kolb said that in terms of how the win affected his mentality that it was just the confidence that he could get the job done at that level. You already believed it before but you never know for sure. With young players there is doubt. I want to keep getting better.

Vick didn’t have a big role in the game. He only appeared in a few plays, mainly in the Wildcat formation. He returned after serving his two week regular season suspension. Vick rushed for seven yards on one carry and went 0-2 on his pass attempts. It was Vick’s first action in a regular season game since December 31, 2006 while a member of the Atlanta Falcons playing in Philadelphia.

Andy Reid, head coach of the Eagles, said they wanted to get Vick back into playing at game speed to knock some rust off. I think we did that. Brian Westbrook, Eagles running back, missed the game due to an injured ankle. LeSean McCoy, a rookie, filled in quite nicely, rushing for a total of 84 yards on 20 carries and scoring a touchdown. DeSean Jackson caught 6 passes for 149 yards, a career high, along with a score of 64 yards. Brent Celek caught 8 passes for a total of 104 yards along with a touchdown in the Eagle’s decisive win.

The 0-3 Chiefs did not have too much to be happy about. Matt Cassel went 14 of 18 with two touchdowns, but only had 90 total passing yards. For the game the Chiefs had only a total of 196 yards. Larry Johnson had 38 rushing yards on 19 carries, while Jamaal Charles had 34 yards receiving and 36 yards rushing.

Todd Haley, head coach for the Chiefs, said he had come into the game thinking they had an opportunity to win. We need to get better no doubt about it. If we play and coach the way we did today we won’t stand a chance. We need to do better.

Kansas City’s record fell to 2-26 for their last 28 games.

On the opening drive for the Eagles, Vick made his regular season debut for Philadelphia. On the second play he lined up in the I-formation at wide receiver. Vick came around in a fake handoff, but the Eagles went three downs and out on their first series.

Vick said he thought he played pretty well and that he made good decisions. I was focused on being smart and not turning the ball over, he added.

The first drive for the Chiefs ended with a punt. Philadelphia got the ball back and only needed to drive 48 yards for the first score of the game. McCoy, on the drive’s eighth play, took the snap and got the touchdown on a five yard run with about six minutes remaining in the first quarter. On the drive Vick had an incompletion and run of seven yards.

The Chiefs had another three and out series and the Eagles got the ball back on their 27 yard line following another Chiefs punt. Kolb connected with Jackson on a 10 yard and then 43 yard pass during the first two plays. Kolb then scored on a quarterback sneak from one yard out on the sixth play of the drive to make the score 14-0.

Reid said he thought that Kolb had a good day. He’s had two 300 yard games in a row. That’s a big compliment. The second game is always tougher because the opposing team has more of a chance to study you.

The Eagles went for it on 4th down and 1 from Kansas City’s 44 yard line in the early part of the second quarter but failed to convert. Kansas City capitalized, marching down the field and scoring on a 13 yard touchdown pass from Cassel to Mark Bradley.

The Eagles answered back with a 64 yard touchdown from Jackson on Philadelphia’s next play on offense. Jackson caught the ball on a short pass up the middle at around the fifty yard line, eluded several defenders, and then sprinted down the middle of the field to score the touchdown.

Right before halftime David Akers had a field goal from 29 yards to give Philadelphia a halftime lead of 24-7. Early in the third quarter Akers had another field goal from 38 yards out to give the Eagles a 20 point lead.

With 6:43 minutes left to go in the game, Celek scored a touchdown on a 35 yard pass to give the Eagles a 27 point advantage. With less than two minutes left in the game Bobby Wade caught a nine yard touchdown pass to make the final score 34-14.

Game Notes

Philadelphia leads Kansas City 4-2 in their all time series, winning the last three games. Dwayne Bowe had an injured hamstring and didn’t play for Kansas City. The Chiefs have lost seven games in a row which dates back to last season. Last week Kolb had 391 yards passing. On their third down conversions Kansas City was 0-11. The Eagles had a total of 420 yards for the game.

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With just 2 1/2 minutes left to play in the game JaMarcus Russell shrugged a poor performance off and led the Oakland Raiders on a 69 yard drive. Darren McFadden found the end zone to give Oakland a 13-10 victory over Kansas City at Arrowhead Stadium.

Russell only completed 7 of 24 pass attempts for a total of 109 yards. However he came up big on a 3rd and -15 play with just under two minutes remaining in the game, firing a pass up the middle for 28 yards to Todd Watkins. A couple of plays later McFadden came out of the backfield off the left tackle and gained five yards to score.

After the score the Chiefs still had 1:07 left on the clock. However on 3rd down and -1 Greg Ellis sacked Matt Cassel, who then threw an incomplete pass on fourth down.

The rest of the Raiders offense was provided by Sebastian Janikoswki who kicked field goals of 54 and 48 yards. Oakland now has a record of 1-1 after losing a 24-20 heart breaker last week to their arch rival, the San Diego Chargers. They won on Sunday despite having only 166 offensive yards.

Cassel looked rusty early in his first game with the Chiefs, but then connected with Dwayne Bowe on a 29 yard touchdown with only 2 1/2 minutes left in the game. At that point Kansas City seemed to be in control with the score at 10-6.

Cassel finished the game 24 for 39 with 241 yards along with two interceptions in his debut during the regular season for Kansas City after he sat out their season opener due to his knee which he injured during the preseason.

Bowe had five catches for a total of 56 yards and Bobby Wade had six catches for 72 yards. The Chiefs are now 0-2 after losing in Baltimore 38-24 in their season opener.

Cassel said that he had felt good and that is why he was playing. He added that he was happy that he was able to move and wish he could have connected on a few more of his passes. I was a little rusty on some of them he said.

Kansas City was able to generate 409 offensive yards, but until the fourth quarter the game was one of field goals. With seven minutes remaining in the game Kansas City went on a 72 yard drive. Cassel completed 4 of 5 passes on the drive. He connected on a 12 yard pass with Wade on third down, moving the Chiefs into Raiders territory. He then scrambled nine yards before he hit Bowe who was running a fade route near the end zone’s left corner.

The Raiders were left with the difficult job of scoring with under 2 1/2 minutes left in the game on a day where their offense had been mediocre. However, the Raiders drove the ball from their 31 yard line and were able to score to win the game.

The Raiders were able to cross over midfield on a personal foul penalty and then Russell connected with McFadden on an 11 yard pass. Russell then had two incompletions along with a penalty for a false start. This made it 3rd down and -15. However Russell fired a pass over the middle to Watkins who made it to the 14 yard line. Russell then tossed a short pass over to McFadden setting up his five yard touchdown run.

Russell said he had stayed on an even keel. He knew they had left plays on prior drives and that they had to come up with something.

Oakland was only able to cross over the 50 yard line four times in the game. They came on their scoring drives as well as one series that followed a Kansas City unsuccessful onside kick towards the end of the first quarter.

During their second series in the game the Chiefs put a scoring drive together, but only came away with a 23 yard field goal from Ryan Succop following a 17 play 74 yard drive. Most of the quarter was used up by the long drive as Cassel was able to keep the chains moving with a 16 yard pass to Wade on third down. Jackie Battle had a three yard run on 4th down and -2 from Oakland’s 39. Cassel connected with Wade for 8 yards on 3rd down and -9 from the 13 yard line, and Kansas City settled for the three point field goal.

Oakland in the meantime had negative offensive yardage during the first quarter.

On their first series in the second quarter, an 18 yard pass down the middle to Darrius Heyward-Bey, a rookie, and a 17 yard completion and run from Michael Bush moved Oakland 58 yards on a 12 play drive. With just five minutes remaining in the second quarter Janikowski tied the game with a 48 yard field goal.

Kansas City was undermined by their poor management of the clock and squandered an opportunity to take the lead back before halftime. The Chiefs started at their own 29 yard line with 2 1/2 minutes to play in the half. With 19 seconds left they had 1st down and 10 at Oakland’s 19. Bowe caught a short pass, gaining nine yards. Kansas City then called their final timeout. However, they failed to score when a hand off to Dantrell Savage only gained one yard with the clock running out.

Michael Huff intercepted Cassel near the 50 yard line after the break. Oakland capitalized with a 54 yard field goal from Janikowski, despite Russell and Company’s shaky series.

The ineptitude on offense that characterized the first half continued into the third quarter. Heading into the fourth quarter the scored was still 6-3. Kansas City, however, had a promising drive starting at their 30 yard line.

Cassel connected with Wade on a 20 yard pass to move the Chiefs to midfield. However Huff then picked off Cassel again on a pass down the middle that was intended for Bowe.

Game Notes
The Raiders won their third game in a row at Arrowhead Stadium. It was the first time they had done so since 1999-2001. Last year each time lost its home game. The Chiefs lost 23-8 at home in Week 2, but beat Oakland 20-13 in Week 13 in Oakland. It was one of only two wins that the Chiefs managed all year in 2008. The road team has won six times in row for the series. Cassel’s starting record is now 10-6. Todd Haley, first year head coach for the Chiefs, has now notched two tough losses in a row. Robert Gallery, offensive lineman for the Raiders, broke his left fibula. Larry Johnson had 24 carries for 78 yards for the Chiefs. Lois Murphy led Oakland’s wideouts with just 26 yards on two catches. McFadden had 35 rushing yards and two catches for 20 yards.

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The Baltimore Ravens managed to find another way to win a game and did it in record setting style.

The Ravens, who are well known for their relentless ground game and punishing defense, took to the air to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday 38-24.

Joe Flacco was 26 for 43 with 307 yards along with three touchdowns. These were all career high numbers for him. Flacco was the main point of attack as the Ravens racked up 501 yards, a franchise record, ruining Todd Haley’s NFL coaching debut.

Flacco, who is in his second season now, only threw 30 or more passes in four games all of last year. Each time the Ravens lost.

Flacco, who was given the chance from the very beginning to throw rather than hand off the ball, was delighted.

It was so fun, it was awesome, Flacco said. That is what you want when you are a quarterback.

This opportunity may not have been an isolated one.

John Harbaugh, coach for the Ravens, said they would throw more if that helped them win more football games. He added that he though they would be better able to throw the ball in more ways this year than they were last year. We have great players who can make the plays.

One of these player is Mark Clayton, who caught five passes for a total of 77 yards. This included a touchdown pass of 31 yards with just 2:06 minutes left in the game, which gave the Ravens a 31-24 lead.

With 31 seconds left in the game Willis McGahee scored a 1 yard touchdown, clinching the win for the Ravens. Another game aspect that was surprising was the ability of Kansas City to keep the game close, despite having to play without Matt Cassel. Cassel’s sprained left knee had not sufficiently healed in time to make his debut with the Chiefs.

The quarterback responsibilities fell to Tyler Thigpen and Brodie Croyle, who entering the game as NFL starters had a 1-18 career record. The Chiefs didn’t make a first down until the latter part of the second quarter. They utilized a long interception return and blocked punt to keep the game close until their offense was able to finally start rolling.

Croyle played in all except one series and finished the game 16 for 24 with 177 yards along with two touchdowns. When he was asked to rate his performance, Croyle stated, whether you play well or not, if you don’t get the win you still feel the same. That is where I am at.

Haley stated that he thought that Croyle had given them a chance to win and that was all he could ask his quarterback to do.

Chiefs running back Larry Johnson, who is the last player to have run for over 100 yards versus the Ravens (December 2006), finished the game with 11 carries for 20 yards.

That combined with the air show by the Ravens, contributed to Baltimore being able to nearly double the Chiefs’ time of possession.

Haley said he had to give Baltimore credit. They were a machine out there. They threw the ball a lot more than we had expected.

The Chiefs were unable to contain Clayton or Todd Heap, tight end, who caught six passes for a total of 74 yards. He scored one touchdown, made a total of four first downs, and really enjoyed being involved with an offense that seemed to be able to move at will.

Heap said it was fun. We really haven’t done that very many times around here. The Ravens, who last year led the AFC Conference in rushing, didn’t abandon their normal script entirely. Ray Rice rushed for 108 yards and another 44 yards were added by McGahee. The Ravens finished the game with 198 total yards rushing.

The Ravens, who trailed 14-10 near the end of the third quarter, took the lead on a 9 yard touchdown pass. Heap caught the pass at the 3rd yard line and bulled his way into the end zone.

Croyle then hit Mark Bradley on a 50 yard pass- which was the longest of Croyle’s career- setting up a 53 yard Ryan Succop field goal.

With 8:10 minutes remaining in the game the Ravens extended their lead to 24-17 on a 1 yard touchdown run from Le’Ron McClain. Croyle answered the call connecting with Sean Ryan for a touchdown.

Despite racking up a 215 to 56 total yard advantage, Baltimore only had a 10-7 lead at half time.

The first touchdown for the Chiefs came when Jon McGraw recovered a blocked punt in the end zone. In the third quarter Kansas City increased their lead to 14-10. Derrick Johnson had a 70 yard interception return, followed by a Croyle to Dwayne Bowe touchdown pass.

Notes
There was a moment of silence for Steve McNair, former quarterback for the Ravens, before singing the national anthem. Croyle has a 0-9 record as a starter, but the two passing touchdowns tied his career high. Jarret Johnson of Baltimore had two sacks, a career high.

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