Baltimore Sets Franchise Record In Win

NFL News - September 13th, 2009 - Written by John

Results aside, this was probably the surprise of the day in the NFL. In a game that wasn't even supposed to be competitive, the Kansas City Chiefs gave Baltimore all it could handle under the leadership of back-up Brodie Croyle.

Head coach Todd Haley elected to keep starter Matt Cassell out of the game for fear that he might re-injure his knee with a shaky offensive line. Much in part because of the ferocious defense that is the Ravens. Instead, what seemed to be a lopsided defensive effort by the Ravens turned into a shootout that gave both sides optimism about their new offense. The Ravens needed to rack up a franchise-record 501 yards to get a 38-24 win, despite holding Kansas City to 188.

Croyle didn't seem to have any problems, marching the Chiefs on four scoring drives. He finished with 177 yards and two touchdowns.

Baltimore took the early lead on a 44-yard field goal by Steven Hauschka and then a three-yard plunge by Willis McGahee to make it 10-0.

Kansas City recovered, however, when Jon McGraw scooped up a blocked field goal and returned it for a touchdown to get within three.

Early in the third quarter, the Chiefs took their first lead of the game when Croyle connected with Dwayne Bowe from two yards out to make it 14-10. both teams alternated scoring drives on each of their following possessions, culminating with a 31-yard touchdown strike from Joe Flacco to Mark Clayton and a one-yard run by McGahee.

Flacco finished with a career-high 301 passing yards on 43 attempts and sophomore Ray Rice averaged 5.7 yards per carry to pace the offense.

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