KANSAS CITY, Mo., Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Mark Brunell threw for 320 yards and two touchdowns while Fred Taylor rushed for 114 yards and a score Sunday to carry the Jacksonville Jaguars past the Kansas City Chiefs, 23-16.
Brunell snapped a 9-9 tie with 5:39 to play in the game by hitting Patrick Johnson for a franchise-record 79-yard touchdown. On the next possession, Taylor broke through the middle for a 63-yard touchdown run, extending the lead to 23-9.
Brunell, who completed 25 of 36 passes and did not throw an interception, has thrown a scoring pass in a team record 14 consecutive games for Jacksonville (1-1).
"It was a big win. I don't know if our young players really understand what this win means," said Brunell on the Jaguars first regular season game at Arrowhead. "It's one of the top two or three most difficult places to play.
"For us to be a young team and come in here to get a victory, it's very big for our team."
After a huge offensive game last week in a win against Cleveland, Trent Green completed 16 of 31 passes for 199 yards and was picked off twice by free safety Marlon McCree.
Priest Holmes had 116 all-purpose yards, but failed to find the end zone after scoring four touchdowns last week for the Chiefs (1-1).
"Today we got beat by a football team that executed in all phases of their game better than we did, said Chiefs head coach Dick Vermiel. "We played defense awfully well for a long time and offense poorly for a long time. We had an opportunity to win this football game today and they did a better job than the Chiefs did -- coaches and players."
Kansas City opened the scoring on a 25-yard Morten Andersen field goal that capped an 8:38, 88-yard drive, surpassing the team's longest drive of last season.
"It was real frustrating, but the way we were moving the ball we thought that we would have plenty of other opportunities, said Green, who led two long first half drives into the red zone but settled for field goals.
"Those first two drives we go down there and even though we weren't able to convert them into touchdowns, we felt good about how we were able to move the ball, but any time you get down in there, you've got to have touchdowns instead of field goals."
Jacksonville tied the game at 6-6 with 2:32 left in the first half when Brunell found Jimmy Smith for a 37-yard touchdown on fourth and five. The point after attempt failed when holder Chris Hanson dropped the snap. Smith finished with 83 yards on five catches.
"We thought we'd catch a blitz and we had a few routes that we felt comfortable with," added Brunell. "Jimmy Smith ran a go route and had a couple of players around him, but he was able to get open to where I could get him the ball. I think that play really got us going today."
Andersen, who played in his 310th NFL game, surpassing Gary Anderson for second all time behind George Blanda with 340, added 38 and 39-yard field goals.
Green hit newly resigned tight end Tony Gonzalez in the back of the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown with 2:35 left to complete the scoring. Gonzalez had only three catches for 34 yards.
