NFL MONDAY NIGHT Brady Bunch defeat Chiefs
Kansas City had more yards but lost, 27-19.
KANSAS CITY (AP) -- A half dozen New England Patriots made big plays.
None made as many as Tom Brady.
Brady threw for 315 yards, including a touchdown pass to Deion Branch, and the Patriots beat the Kansas City Chiefs 27-19 on Monday night for their 24th win in 25 games.
The victory was New England's third straight after its NFL-record 21-game winning streak was snapped in Pittsburgh last month.
The Patriots (9-1) took advantage of the absence of Priest Holmes, out with a knee injury, by shutting down the Kansas City running game for most of the night.
Lots of yards
But Trent Green also took advantage of injuries in the New England secondary, throwing for 381 yards, including TD passes of 65 and 26 yards to Eddie Kennison.
The Patriots played without starting cornerbacks Ty Law and Tyrone Poole.
The second score to Kennison came after Corey Dillon, who had two short touchdown runs, fumbled at the Kansas City 3 as the Patriots seemed set to take a 31-13 lead.
Instead, Green drove the Chiefs the length of the field to cut their deficit to 24-19 with 6:13 left -- a 2-point conversion attempt failed.
The Chiefs, however, couldn't stop the Patriots, who killed nearly 41/2 minutes on a drive that ended with Adam Vinatieri's 28-yard field goal.
That almost guaranteed that the Chiefs (3-7) will miss the playoffs after going 13-3 last season.
Dillon, who carried 26 times for 98 yards, had two runs for one first down, then Brady, who completed 17-of-26 passes, hit Christian Fauria for 14 yards and Branch for 9 yards more. Branch finished with six catches for 105 yards.
He was one of just many Patriots to make big plays.
Rodney Harrison stopped a Kansas City threat with an end zone interception in the last minute of the first half; Tedy Bruschi forced a field goal by stuffing Derrick Blaylock on a third-and-1 after a long Chiefs drive in the third quarter; tight end Daniel Graham had two big catches; and David Patten's only reception was a 46-yarder that set up a touchdown.
This game was strictly football, unlike last Monday night's game between Philadelphia and Dallas, which began with an introduction on ABC featuring actress Nicollette Sheridan and Terrell Owens that caused a furor. This week, the opening featured Brady and Green among other saying, in effect, "let's play football."
First half
Dillon's touchdown runs of 5- and 1-yard and Vinatieri's 37-yard field goal gave the Patriots a 17-10 halftime lead.
It was preserved by Harrison's interception in the end zone.
Dillon's 5-yard score came at the end of a 71-yard, 10 play drive on the opening series of the game. It featured a 27-yard third-down pass to Daniel Graham on a short flip by Brady over a blitzing linebacker.
A 44-yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes cut the lead to 7-3, then Green found Kennison behind career Earthwind Moreland for a 65-yard touchdown.
Dillon's second score came at the end of a 75-yard yard drive that featured passes of 22 yards to Troy Brown and 14 to Branch.
Tynes' 24-yard field goal on the first drive of the third quarter cut it to 17-13 after Bruschi stopped Blaylock on third down.
But it took less than two minutes for the Patriots to score on Brady's 26-yard TD, a short dump over the middle that Branch took to the end zone by weaving through the Chiefs secondary.
It came a play after Patten's 46-yard catch.