Giants Take Care Of Kansas City

More than a month after being written out of the playoffs, the New York Giants still can be in them with one more victory and a lot of help from other teams.

Kent Graham threw for a touchdown and ran for another and the Giants continued their amazing late-season turnaround by beating the error-prone Kansas City Chiefs 28-7 on Sunday.

"I believe in miracles and I believe that we do have a chance and that we have a legit shot to make it," defensive end Michael Strahan said after the Giants (7-8) won their third straight and fourth in five games. "There is no telling what can happen if we stay focused and go out and win next Sunday."

To make the playoffs for a second straight year, New York has to win in Philadelphia next week, Tampa Bay (7-8) must lose in Cincinnati and the winner of Sunday's New Orleans-Arizona game must lose next week.

It's not as unlikely as it sounds. The Bucs have never won a December road game in an outdoor stadium other than against Arizona, and the Saints and Cardinals have been inconsistent recently.

"I think it can happen," said Graham, who completed 16 of 33 passes for 167 yards in winning for the fourth time in five games since replacing Danny Kanell as the starter. "There just have to be a couple of wins here and there for us and we have to take care of our own business first."

Not all the Giants were thahopeful.

"We're not alive," said safety Percy Ellsworth, who had two of the Giants' four interceptions, returning the first 43 yards for an early score.

"Too many things have to happen. You can't expect it after the way we played at the start of the season. If it happens and falls in our lap and is a gift from God ... . But we have played no where near enough to deserve it, so I'm not expecting it."

Elvis Grbac threw a 4-yard TD pass to Tony Gonzalez for the Chiefs (6-9), who continued their habit of making major mistakes. The defeat means Marty Schottenheimer will have his first losing season in 14 full seasons as an NFL coach.

"It's been difficult, not just for me but for everybody," Schottenheimer said. "I'm disappointed. We're all disappointed."

The disappointment was evident in the locker room after the game when receiver Andre Rison confronted two writers from The Kansas City Star. Chiefs players ended the arguments quickly by moving Rison away from the writers.

Giants safety Percy Ellsworth started things off by returning an interception 43 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter. (AP)

Defensive end Chad Bratzke, who had a career-high 2½ sacks, knocked Chiefs' starter Rich Gannon out of the game briefly on the opening play. Two plays later, Ellsworth caught a Grbac pass that deflected off the hands of receiver Derrick Alexander and returned it down the sideline for a 7-0 lead after just 74 seconds.

The first time the Giants' offense touched the ball it went 83 yards in 12 plays. Graham and Amani Toomer, who combined on last week's game-winning TD against previously unbeaten Denver, capped the drive with a 12-yard touchdown pass when Chiefs' cornerback Robert Williams fell for a pump fake.

The game got out of hand in the second quarter when Gary Brown (25 carries for 103 yards) scored on a 1-yard run. The 44-yard drive was set up when the defense stuffed Bam Morris twice for no gain at the Chiefs 44 with less than a yard to go. Kansas City cornerback James Hasty then kept the drive alive with a holding penalty on a third-and-goal from the Chiefs 19.

"The most frustrating thing all season has been the number of penalties that have contributed to our opponents scoring drives," Schottenheimer said.

Graham scored on a 6-yard run in the third quarter to make it 28-0.

Grbac, who took over in the third quarter after Gannon was dazed on one of the Giants' four sacks, ended the shutout later in the quarter.

Notes