Chiefs 16, Rams 12

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)—After two miserable outings, Herm Edwards and the Kansas City Chiefs had two goals in mind Saturday night—play well, and win.

They’ll have to be satisfied with one out of two.

Trent Green directed scoring drives on the only two series he played, and the Chiefs did manage to snap an eight-game preseason losing skid with a 16-12 victory over the offensively frustrated St. Louis Rams.

But, impressive it was not. The Chiefs (1-2) drew 10 penalties for 81 yards and the second-team offense did very little.

“Obviously, we won the game,” said Edwards, who made his Arrowhead Stadium debut as the Chiefs’ head coach. “It was very, very sloppy, though. You lose games the way we played. We were very lucky in the fact the defense played decent.”

Green and most of Kansas City’s first-team offense played only the first two series and got a touchdown and the first of Lawrence Tynes’ three field goals.

The first-team offense of the Rams (1-2) failed to score a touchdown for the third straight game, although one TD pass was brought back because of left guard Richie Incognito’s penalty.

Larry Johnson, whose 1,750 yards rushing set a team record last year, carried nine times for 37 yards in a 14-play, 67-yard drive with the opening kickoff.

He got the touchdown on a 2-yard run and spent the rest of the night on the bench in a baseball cap. In three preseason games, Johnson has 20 carries for 75 yards and Edwards said that would be all he has until the season opener on Sept. 10 against Cincinnati.

His value was apparent on the second drive. Green passed the Chiefs to a first-and-goal from the 2, but backup Dee Brown lost four yards on two carries and then Jordan Black’s offsides penalty made it third-and-goal from the 11. Lawrence Tynes kicked a 28-yard field goal, his first of three in the second quarter.

Green played two series and looked sharp while going 8-for-10 for 100 yards.

“I thought our first team guys did fairly well,” Edwards said. “They moved the ball.”

Marc Bulger, the Rams’ starting quarterback, was 7-for-11 for 78 yards and one interception, but he did not have his top two wide receivers, Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce. They got their only TD on Gus Frerotte’s 54-yard pass to Jerome Collins, who got free on a crossing pattern with 1:09 left in the third.

“If we were playing Denver here and we didn’t score, then let’s talk about it,” said Bulger. “But it’s the preseason. Who cares? I’m not worried about it and I don’t think the rest of the guys are.”

Remy Hamilton, the backup kicker, missed the extra point after the Rams’ TD but a few minutes later connected on a 47-yard field goal.

It was a rough night for most of the Chiefs’ offensive reserves, including rookie quarterback Brodie Croyle, who’s been hampered much of the preseason by injury. He replaced Green in the second quarter and struggled in his first NFL action, winding up 1-for-9 for 4 yards. He was sacked twice.

Incognito, who missed last season with an injury, was whistled for an illegal chop block that nullified Bulger’s 15-yard TD pass to Kevin Curtis.

On the Rams’ first drive, Incognito drew a 15-yard personal foul penalty on a second-and-13 play from the Chiefs’ 25, and St. Louis wound up settling for Jeff Wilkins’ 48-yard field goal.

“That’s extremely frustrating,” he said. “We were working hard, we were moving the ball real well.”

He said he slipped on the chop block.

“That took points off the board,” he said. “It’s tough on me. It’s tough on the offense. It’s kind of hard when you don’t have Torry and Isaac stretching the field.”