4:37PM EST December 2. 2012 - KANSAS CITY – This is the image Kansas City Chiefs fans needed to see.
Peyton Hillis, jogging to the sideline, handing the football used to score a first quarter touchdown to head coach Romeo Crennel, wrapping up his coach in an embrace.
The football mattered little at Arrowhead Stadium, where the Chiefs beat the Carolina Panthers 27-21. Yet in the wake of Saturday's murder-suicide involving Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher, who police say killed his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, before fatally shooting himself in front of Crennel and general manager Scott Pioli, the football certainly helped.
"I thought that was the best thing we could do," said Crennel, who declined to discuss what he went through Saturday. "If for no other reason it takes our minds off our misery for a few hours."
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Remember, before Sunday, Hillis hadn't scored a touchdown all season, quarterback Brady Quinn hadn't thrown a touchdown since 2009 and the Chiefs hadn't won a game at home.
And yet here, in a game that didn't matter – neither the Chiefs (2-10) nor the Panthers (3-9) are bound for the playoffs -- and in a game that many questioned if it should have been played, the Chiefs managed to play their best game of the season.
Hillis scored. Jamaal Charles, whose wife is related to Perkins, rushed for 127 yards. Quinn threw two touchdown passes, and the Chiefs won their first game at Arrowhead since Dec. 18, 2011.
"There's really nothing you can do to prepare for this," Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said before the game. "It's tough, and, again, I come back to the fact that the guys rally around each other to make it through the day."
BOX SCORE: Chiefs 27, Panthers 21
Quinn, promoted to starter in November, played his best game since he was the Chiefs' starter in 2009. He threw for 201 yards and two touchdowns -- including a 1-yard pass to tight end Tony Moeaki on a fourth-and-goal in the second quarter – and led five scoring drives for a team that hadn't scored more than 20 points since Sept. 30.
Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, who rushed for 78 yards and threw for 232 yards, gave Carolina a chance late, capping an 11-play, 80-yard drive in the fourth quarter with an eight-yard touchdown pass to Louis Murphy. After Murphy spiked the ball in the east zone, Newton collected the ball and handed it to a pair of boys dressed in Auburn jerseys.
Newton had one final chance at a Hail Mary as time expired, but his pass was completed to Steve Smith well short of the end zone.
Source : http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2012/12/02/kansas-city-chiefs-jovan-belcher-carolina-panthers/1740933/