KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jamaal Charles proved he is back to full speed for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Tom Brady is still stuck in neutral for the New England Patriots.

Charles returned from an injury to score three touchdowns Monday night, Brady was picked off twice by the opportunistic Chiefs, and Kansas City routed New England 41-14 to hand Bill Belichick one of his worst losses as coach of the Patriots.

Charles, who missed last week’s win in Miami with a sprained ankle, ran for 92 yards and a score. The Pro Bowl running back also caught two short touchdown passes from Alex Smith, who had 248 yards passing and three touchdowns in a sharp performance before a raucous crowd.

The Chiefs (2-2) ended a four-game skid at Arrowhead Stadium dating to last season by handing the Patriots (2-2) their worst defeat since losing to San Diego 41-17 in 2005.

Along with throwing two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown, Brady was strip-sacked by Tamba Hali to step up a field goal. Brady finished 14 of 23 for 159 yards.

The Chiefs forced the Patriots to air it out by stuffing Shane Vereen and Stevan Ridley. And when Brady dropped back, their front seven ran roughshod over their suspect offensive line.

It hardly helped the Patriots’ offense that it was trying to operate on the same night Chiefs fans were trying to reclaim the record for loudest outdoor sports venue. The record was set in the first half, when Guinness World Records record a noise level of 142.2 decibels — breaking the mark of 137.6 that the Seattle Seahawks’ fans had set last season.

The crowd included several members of the Kansas City Royals, who made the walk across the parking lot from Kauffman Stadium to watch the start of the game on the sidelines. The Royals will play their first postseason game since 1985 against the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night.

Knile Davis finished with 107 yards rushing for Kansas City. Tight end Travis Kelce had eight catches for 93 yards and a score.

Charles gave the Chiefs an early lead with his first-quarter touchdown plunge, and then he extended the lead with a 5-yard TD catch in the second quarter.

Cairo Santos added a 22-yard field goal just before halftime for a 17-0 lead.

The field goal came after the Chiefs were bailed out by a defensive penalty. They had been stopped short on a pass play with 8 seconds left, but the penalty gave them a second chance.

Kansas City had 303 yards of first-half offense, the most against any Belichick-coached team.

Charles added his third touchdown of the game early in the second half, taking a short pass in the flat and stumbling into the end zone. He appeared to grab his hamstring on the way down and was met by trainers as he exited the field. After a brief trip to the locker room, Charles logged a few more carries before his night was done.

By that point, the game was pretty much done, too.

Brady threw a 44-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter to Brandon LaFell, who slipped the grasp of cornerback Marcus Cooper to reach the end zone. But he was picked off by Husain Abdullah later in the half, and Abdullah returned the interception 39 yards for a touchdown.

With the game out of hand, the Patriots gave rookie quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo a chance to play. He threw a late touchdown pass to Rob Gronkowski to complete the scoring.

— Associated Press —

DENVER (AP) — Hidden inside Terrance Knighton’s gargantuan body listed generously at 330 pounds is a former tight end who dreams of playing offense.

“I have great ball instincts being an ex-wide receiver,” Denver’s mammoth nose tackle said after preserving the Broncos’ 24-17 win over the scrappy Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

Knighton deflected Alex Smith’s fourth-and-goal pass from the 2 to Dwayne Bowe with 15 seconds left. He was engaged with center Rodney Hudson when he reached up and felt the football smack into his right arm, then skitter harmlessly into the end zone.

“I’d rather it be my arm than theirs,” Knighton said.

So, what would it take for Peyton Manning to have Knighton line up with him as a not-so-secret offensive weapon, like J.J. Watt did in Oakland on Sunday?

“Might have to send two guys out of the game to put Terrance in there,” Manning deadpanned. “Believe it or not, I have thrown some passes to him in practice and he does have good hands. I will vouch for that. High school receiver, he says.”

The Broncos (2-0) didn’t think it would come down to another goal-line stand. But Aqib Talib’s pick-6 earlier in the drive was negated by Quanterus Smith’s offside penalty. Then, Nate Irving’s fumble recovery following DeMarcus Ware’s sack and strip was changed to an incomplete pass after a review.

“We had two takeaways taken away,” Broncos coach John Fox said. “There are going to be things we’ll look at that we need to improve on. But we’ll take every `W’ we get.”

The Chiefs (0-2), without All-Pro running back Jamaal Charles for much of the game, converted 11 of 16 third-down opportunities overall. They just couldn’t capitalize in the biggest moments as the Broncos mustered two goal-line stands for the second straight week.

Manning was 21 of 26 for 242 yards and three TDs with no interceptions, but spent most of the game on the sideline. The Broncos had the ball for less than 10 minutes in the second half.

“It’s part of football,” Manning said. “I’ve been in games like that where you get excited on third-and-long, start warming up, ready to get out there. The defense out there, they were maybe bending a little, but not breaking.”

Smith was 26 of 42 for 255 yards, and Knile Davis ran 22 times for 79 yards and two touchdowns for Kansas City.

Charles left with an ankle injury in the first half, as did safety Eric Berry.

Without Wes Welker for the second straight game and facing a defense that lost Pro Bowl linebacker Derrick Johnson and tackle Mike DeVito last week, Manning targeted his tight ends again. He found Julius Thomas and Jacob Tamme for 4-yard TDs in the first half.

Manning also threw a 12-yarder to Demaryius Thomas.

The Broncos (2-0) head to Seattle (1-1) next week not exactly with a head of steam. They’ll face the Seahawks, who handed them a Super Bowl shellacking and then talked trash about them in the offseason.

The Broncos have their issues on third downs, but they certainly have come up big on the goal line.

Smith led the Chiefs on a 19-play drive that ate up 10 minutes coming out of halftime. They came up empty after getting to the Denver 4 on the strength of five third-down conversions.

“I guess that answered the question if we’re out of shape,” Knighton said.

An offensive holding call and linebacker Brandon Marshall’s sack dropped the Chiefs back to the 19. Cairo Santos, who beat out veteran Ryan Succop in camp, was wide right on a 37-yard field goal attempt.

“We’ve got to punch it in, bottom line,” said Bowe, who caught three passes for 40 yards in his return from a one-game suspension.

The Chiefs got it right the next time, converting three third downs on a 14-play drive that covered 90 yards. Davis trotted in from 4 yards, pulling Kansas City to 21-17 with 7:11 left.

Santos, however, failed to kick a touchback and Bubba Caldwell returned it 54 yards, setting up Brandon McManus’ 20-yard field goal with 3:27 left.

Coach Andy Reid said he doesn’t regret cutting Succop and keeping Santos: “Our guy’s got to kick better right now but I don’t ever look back on those things.”

Kansas City was trying to get Charles more involved after giving him just seven carries against Tennessee in the opener. But he left after running just twice for 4 yards and catching one pass for 8 yards.

Reid blamed himself for poor play calls in the red zone, but Smith said Charles’ absence was sorely felt close to the goal line.

“Everything is magnified down there,” Smith said. “It hurts to have him out.”

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Pro Bowl linebacker Derrick Johnson and starting defensive tackle Mike DeVito will miss the remainder of the Kansas City Chiefs’ season after MRI exams confirmed that both players ruptured their right Achilles tendons in Sunday’s loss to Tennessee.

Johnson went down without getting touched near the end of the first half. Eight plays later, early in the second half, DeVito went down at nearly the same spot on the field.

The blows are significant to a Chiefs team that was already missing several key pieces to injuries and suspensions, and was routed 26-10 by the Titans at Arrowhead Stadium.

Johnson had four tackles before getting carted off the field, moving him within 15 of 1,000 for his career. That would surpass Gary Spani for the franchise record.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Titans were implementing a new offensive system under Ken Whisenhunt, a new defensive system under coordinator Ray Horton, and trying to make a whole bunch of new pieces fit.

Things couldn’t have gone much better in their regular-season debut.

Jake Locker threw for 266 yards and two touchdowns, the Titans’ new-look defense picked off Kansas City quarterback Alex Smith three times, and Tennessee rolled to a 26-10 victory over the Chiefs on Sunday.

“I don’t want to sound arrogant,” Locker said, “but I think we expected it to (go smoothly). We felt that way through minicamp, into fall camp and in the preseason. That was one of our expectations, that we were able to execute and we were going to be efficient on offense.”

Locker picked apart a Kansas City defense that lost Pro Bowl linebacker Derrick Johnson and starting defensive tackle Mike DeVito to Achilles injuries. He finished 22 of 33 while connecting with eight different players, including former Chiefs wide receiver Dexter McCluster.

“Jake did great,” Whisenhunt said. “All those things we’ve worked with, footwork-wise and technique-wise, and you saw it. That’s really exciting. But it’s just one game.”

Kendall Wright and Delanie Walker had TD catches for the Titans, and Ryan Succop was perfect on four field-goal attempts against the team that released him last weekend.

“There’s no question this was a special day,” Succop said. “It was an awesome day. Great to come back to Kansas City. I’m very thankful the day went the way that it did.”

Smith, who signed a four-year, $68 million extension last weekend, was just 19 of 35 for 202 yards in a haphazard performance by a Kansas City offense weakened by suspensions.

Leading wide receiver Dwayne Bowe was forced to miss the game following an arrest last November, and right tackle Donald Stephenson served the first game of his four-game suspension for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances.

The Chiefs didn’t reach the end zone until Anthony Fasano’s TD catch in the fourth quarter.

Running back Jamaal Charles, who is the Chiefs’ biggest game-breaker, was a non-factor. He carried seven times for 19 yards and had four catches for 15 yards.

“All those things we did last year to win, we didn’t do them today,” Smith said. “We didn’t execute, didn’t execute in a lot of phases, especially offense.”

After Kansas City jumped out to a 3-0 lead, when Cairo Santos banged a 35-yard attempt off the right upright and through for the first field goal of his career, just about nothing went right. Santos missed a 47-yarder moments later and the Titans seized control.

Locker led his team 62 yards for a go-ahead touchdown, an easy toss to Walker in the back of the end zone. Succop followed with a field goal later in the half for a 10-0 lead.

Johnson went down with his Achilles injury just before the half, and DeVito was lost to a nearly identical injury on the first drive of the second half.

Locker capped that drive with a short TD pass to Wright, who managed to contort his body just enough to touch the pylon as he was going out of bounds. The touchdown gave Tennessee a 17-3 lead and started a shower of boos from a crowd that had been full of optimism.

“Those are guys who are kind of staples of their defense,” Locker said. “They were in there almost every snap, especially Derrick. You understand that’s going to change up their personnel a little bit. Yeah, you look at it and maybe understand where you can gain an advantage.”

It was an important opener for the injury-prone Locker. The Titans declined their fifth-year option on him in in the offseason, so the pressure is on Locker to perform this season.

He certainly did against a Chiefs defense that was full of questions entering the season, and has even more after a pair of serious injuries to key defensive players.

“I have a lot of respect for Coach Reid and this football team and these fans,” Whisenhunt said. “We didn’t do great all the time, but we did enough. I’m very happy for that.”

— Associated Press —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Veteran kicker Ryan Succop’s tenure with the Kansas City Chiefs is over.

Succop was released on Saturday as the Chiefs trimmed their roster to the NFL’s 53-man limit, beaten out for the job by undrafted free agent Cairo Santos in a decision that may have ultimately come down to how much each of them would have been paid.

Succop was due to make $2 million this season. Santos will instead make $422,000.

Along with their cuts, the Chiefs also placed quarterback Tyler Bray and wide receiver Kyle Williams on injured reserve, defensive end Mike Catapano on the non-football injury list and wide receiver Dwayne Bowe and right tackle Donald Stephenson on the reserve-suspended list.

Bowe will miss the opener as punishment for his arrest last November, and Stephenson is suspended for the first four games of the regular season for violating the league’s drug policy.

Bray and Williams were hurt in the Chiefs’ preseason finale against Green Bay.

“As a collective football operation, coaches and scouts have held numerous discussions on each player during the evaluation process,” Chiefs general manager John Dorsey said. “We had excellent competition at every position and that’s a great thing, but today we had to make some difficult decisions to narrow our roster to 53.”

Malcolm Bronson, who was given a shot to earn the starting safety job that Kendrick Lewis left vacant in free agency, and linebacker Nico Johnson, a fourth-round pick a year ago who never seemed to get up to speed, were among the players who were released.

Also waived were defensive backs Jonathon Amaya, DeMarcus Van Dyke and Justin Rogers; linebackers Alonzo Highsmith and Devan Walker; defensive linemen Kyle Love, Kona Schwenke and Dominique Hamilton; offensive linemen Ricky Henry and J’Marcus Webb; wide receivers Mark Harrison and Fred Williams; fullback Jordan Campbell and running back Charcandrick West.

The biggest eye-opener, though, was undoubtedly the kicking competition.

Born in Brazil, Santos starred at Tulane before signing with the Chiefs as competition for Succop, who missed a costly field goal last season against San Diego. The two of them engaged in a sometimes entertaining duel for the job, often ending practice with a World Cup-style shootout while the entire Chiefs team watched from the sideline.

Succop, who hit 81 percent of his field goals over the past five seasons, may have been slightly more accurate. Santos clearly had the stronger leg. Combine that with all the financial ramifications of the decision and Santos got the nod.

The 5-foot-8, 175-pound Santos also becomes the smallest player on the roster.

“Size really has nothing to do with it,” Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub said. “He’s got so much power in his leg. He’s pretty explosive as small of stature as he is.”

Santos wasn’t the only undrafted free agent to make the team. Wide receiver Albert Wilson and safety Daniel Sorenson both earned jobs at two positions where the Chiefs were thin.

The moves likely aren’t over, either.

Last season, the Chiefs had the first pick on the waiver wire and claimed seven players who were released by other teams. After going 11-5 last season, they will no longer have such a plum spot in line, but they are still expected to scour the available players for help.

The Chiefs still have questions at wide receiver, defensive back and offensive line.

— Associated Press —

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Mike McCarthy dreads this time of year.

The Green Bay Packers’ roster must be trimmed to the 53-man limit by Saturday. One of the most important decisions for McCarthy is whether to go with Matt Flynn or Scott Tolzien as the backup to starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

He might even keep both with the way Flynn and Tolzien played in the 34-14 win Thursday night over the Kansas City Chiefs to wrap up the preseason.

Flynn and Tolzien each threw for two touchdowns against a defense that looked lost at times in a game played mostly by reserves.

“I think Matt and Scott have both championed the case to be on our football team,” McCarthy said.

Flynn threw for 102 yards and Tolzien had 139 in splitting reps by quarter in the evening’s most closely watched position battle. They both made solid cases to be the insurance policy at quarterback a season after Rodgers missed seven weeks with a collarbone injury.

McCarthy has said he doesn’t wants to overreact to what happened the previous year, and that Flynn and Tolzien are competing with everyone else on the roster.

“I would obviously love” if McCarthy kept three quarterbacks, Tolzien said. “But I don’t know what’s going to happen. Hopefully we’ll keep three.”

McCarthy loves how his team got better through the preseason. It will also make for a nerve-wracking few days with cuts looming.

“We’ve hit the targets. Now we’ve got the next 48 hours … the worst part of our jobs,” McCarthy said.

Chiefs third-string quarterback Tyler Bray threw for 116 yards and a touchdown on 8-of-15 passing. Joe McKnight added 50 yards and a score on 10 carries in vying for the third-string running back job.

But the Chiefs were maligned by 14 penalties, seven in a first half that ended with Green Bay up by 13.

“You’re always going to have penalties, but we have to try to learn from them and not shoot ourselves in the foot,” Bray said.

Chiefs receiver A.J. Jenkins made one of the most impressive plays of the night with a diving 45-yard catch. Third-string quarterback Tyler Bray followed on the next play with a 2-yard touchdown pass to Richard Gordon late in the second quarter.

A receiving corps already dented by injuries to Dwayne Bowe and Junior Hemingway took more hits Thursday night. Jenkins later left with a concussion, while Kyle Williams departed in the first quarter with a sprained shoulder.

Bowe has a groin injury, and the Chiefs already know their No. 1 receiver will miss the opener because a suspension for an arrest in November.

Still, Reid said he thought his team’s depth at receiver would be fine.

“It’s good to get the preseason over and get on with the regular season,” Reid said.

Otherwise, the Packers (3-1) set the tone early and were never threatened. They look to be in good shape heading into next week’s season opener at the Super Bowl champion Seahawks.

Flynn hit rookie Davante Adams on play-action for a 22-yard touchdown on the Packers’ opening drive.

On his first drive in the second quarter, Tolzien hit rookie receiver Jeff Janis for a 33-yard touchdown near the front corner of the end zone. Janis beat cornerback Phillips Gaines, who was also whistled for illegal contact and holding penalties in the game.

Janis, a seventh-round pick, also had a 62-yard kickoff return that set up Tolzien’s second touchdown pass. Janis looks to be a lock to make the roster now.

“I know I’ve got a lot more work to do and a lot more things that I need to work on. So, you’ve just got to hope for the best,” Janis said.

Flynn said he planned to go home and spend time with his wife and dogs the next few days “and go about normal everyday life and hope you don’t get a call.”

Packers undrafted free agent Jayrone Elliott also bolstered his underdog bid to make the roster with his fifth sack, beating Chiefs first-string tackle Donald Stephenson.

Along with Rodgers, the Packers also held out starters Eddie Lacy, Jordy Nelson, Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers.

— Associated Press —

The Kansas City Chiefs announced on Wednesday that the club has signed guard Mike McGlynn. Additionally, the team has waived offensive lineman Ben Gottschalk.

McGlynn (6-4, 325) has played in 57 games (48 starts) in five NFL seasons with the Indianapolis Colts (2012-13), Cincinnati Bengals (2011) and Philadelphia Eagles (2008-10).

McGlynn was signed by Washington on March 28, 2014 and released by the club on Aug. 26. He originally entered the NFL as a fourth-round draft pick (109th overall) of the Eagles in the 2008 NFL Draft.

He spent three seasons with current Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid in Philadelphia where he played in 19 games (14 starts) with the team.

He played collegiately at Pittsburgh where he was a three-time All-Big East honoree and first-team all-conference. McGlynn prepped at Austintown-Fitch High School in Austintown, Ohio.

— Chiefs Media Relations —