Kansas City head coach Todd Haley said in order to win his young team would have to eliminate the mistakes, negative plays and falling behind early. They came close to getting two out of three but missed tackles proved costly as they fell to Dallas 26-20 in overtime on throwback uniform day in KC.
It was a record setting day for the Cowboys Miles Austin that proved the difference.
The Chiefs offense struggled again for most of the contest, but used two first half Dallas turnovers to post a 10 point lead. Maurice Leggett recovered a Patrick Crayton fumbled punt on the Dallas 23. The KC drive lost five yards but Ryan Succop hit a 46 yard FG and the Chiefs had a 3-0 lead early in the second quarter.
Dallas then muffed a snap and Mike Brown recovered for KC on the Cowboys 16. Cassel later hit linebacker Mike Vrabel in at tight end for a one yard TD and a 10-0 Kansas City lead. This despite running 15 plays for a total of 24 yards.
A 37 yard pass from Tony Romo to Austin set Dallas up on the KC 20, but the Chiefs held at the 4 and forced Nick Folk to kick a 22 yard FG and cut the lead to 10-3 just before the half.
KC increased their lead to 13-3 midway through the third period thanks to four offsides penalties on the Cowboys defense as Succop hit a 36 yard FG.
Dallas started their comeback when Deshard Choice, who had 8 carries for 92 yards, broke through the KC defense and raced 36 yards to cut the lead to 13-10 with 1:55 to go in the third quarter.
Romo hit Austin who outleaped Brandon Carr for a 34 yard gain to the KC 26, but the defense held again in the red zone and forced a Dallas FG and it was tied at 13 with 11:10 to go.
KC got a huge break on 3rd and 26 from their own 11, Allan Ball was called for a helmet to helmet hit on Bobby Wade and an automatic first down for the Chiefs. KC drove to the Dallas 35 but Ryan Succop’s FG attempt was blocked by tackle Jay Ratliff with 3:09 to go in the game.
With 2:16 left Romo beat a Kansas City blitz on third and 5 and Austin broke two tackles for a 59 yard touchdown and the first Dallas lead of the game at 20-13. It was a 17 point run for the Cowboys.
Cassel led the Chiefs on a two minute drive that culminated in a 16 yard scoring strike to Dwayne Bowe on fourth down with :24 seconds to go to tie the game at 20 all.
In OT the Chiefs had the ball at midfield on their second possession but failed to move the ball and it proved costly, Romo hit Austin on an out pattern and he broke free from Maurice Leggett to go 60 yards for the game winning touchdown. In his first NFL start Miles Austin had 10 receptions for a Cowboy record 250 yards.
The Chiefs didn’t commit a turnover in the game and Matt Cassel seemed to come on when the game was on the line despite being under constant pressure, but the running game continues to be non-existent. KC had 72 yards on 29 carries and 28 of those came from Cassel. Larry Johnson had 37 yards on 21 carries, but it's hard to blame him. There are no holes and it leaves everything up to Cassel throwing with little protection.
Kansas City falls to 0-5 and have now lost 28 of their last 30 games, tying an NFL record for futility. But they’re getting closer. The question is whether Haley and his staff can keep them from giving up on the season
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