It was the situation Ravens quarterback Kyle Boller wanted.
Despite having hardly any success through the air in most of yesterday's 17-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, Boller still had the ball in his hands with his team down a touchdown, 1:52 left on the clock and 83 yards to the end zone.
The rookie, though, failed to provide a storybook ending, marching the Ravens to the Chiefs' 44 before tossing an interception to cornerback Dexter McCleon at the 2-yard line.
"I live for two-minute drives at the end, to be able to take the team down and win," said Boller, who was 15-for-26 for 140 yards. "This time it didn't happen, but maybe next time the chips will fall our way."
The interception, in which he was throwing what amounted to a jump ball to tight end Todd Heap, was Boller's third of the game. He also was sacked three times and, outside of a 32-yard completion in the second quarter to Heap in which the tight end ran unaccounted for through the Chiefs' zone, had basically no success throwing downfield.
Still, Boller was confident that he could produce a miracle, or, at the very least, get it to someone who could.
"That was the play that was called," said Boller, whose pass came with 36 seconds left in the game. "I got one-on-one [defensive coverage] with Todd. I'm going to put the ball up there for him. A lot of times he is going to come down with that.
"As far as the game, I'll live and learn from this. Maybe I should have just taken the short stuff. A lot of times, when teams are in two-minute defense, the short stuff is always open."
The Ravens had just one timeout remaining, and Boller was 3-for-5 on the drive, not including a spike to stop the clock. His longest completion was for 10 yards, and the Ravens may have been feeling pinched for time.
"We were running out of time," Ravens coach Brian Billick said. "We had to get the ball downfield. We weren't going to smack it in here, smack it in there. We've seen Todd make those plays before."
It was McCleon's second interception of the day, and the second time Boller was picked off going deep to Heap.
Holding penalty hurts
Tight end Terry Jones was hit with a holding penalty, nullifying Jamal Lewis' 1-yard touchdown run and backing up the Ravens to the Chiefs' 11-yard line on the team's first possession of the second half.
The score would have given the Ravens a 7-3 lead. Two plays later, an illegal shift penalty nullified a play in which Heap recovered a Boller fumble in the end zone for another apparent touchdown.
After another incompletion, the Ravens had to settle for Matt Stover's 29-yard field goal.
"I don't believe it was holding," Jones said. "I think I made a good block and had my hands inside.
"I didn't even see the flag. I thought we scored, then later on they said holding. I didn't know who it was for until I got to the sideline."
Good, bad for Thomas
Though Adalius Thomas was hit with an offside penalty on a kickoff that provided Chiefs return man Dante Hall a second return (which he took advantage of with a 97-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter), the game was not all bad for the Ravens linebacker.
Thomas partially blocked a punt in the first quarter to give the Ravens the ball at the Chiefs' 29-yard line.
"It wasn't really designed for me to block the punt," Thomas said.
The Ravens failed to score on the drive.
Richey's lament
Kicker Wade Richey took Hall's touchdown return worse than any player.
Hall glided past Richey with a sharp cut to the right and sprinted to the end zone on the return. Richey's kickoff had sailed 72 yards.
"I'm the last line of defense," Richey said. "I've got to make that tackle. I feel like I let my guys down. I'd like to have that back."
More gains for J. Lewis
Lewis set another record, this time a team mark with his third consecutive 100-yard game.
Lewis' 115 yards on 26 carries bettered that of his former mentor, Chiefs running back Priest Holmes, who finished with 90 yards on 22 carries.
More surprisingly, Lewis also had more receiving yards (44) than Holmes (13).
"I don't have to run against Priest Holmes," Lewis said. "I think he had to run against a great defense. I think they did real good against a great line and running back."
Don't believe the hype
Chiefs tackles Willie Roaf and John Tait entered the game hyped as members of one of the league's best offensive lines, but Roaf didn't think he and his unit lived up to its billing.
On a scale of one to 10, Roaf gave the Chiefs' line a five.
"How many yards did Holmes have today, 90? Well he should have had more," Roaf said. "All the great teams in the league that win Super Bowls, you have to be able to run the ball, eat time off the clock and take [opponents] out of the game. We didn't finish the game by running the ball on the field."
Gonzalez gets even
Although he has been to four consecutive Pro Bowls, Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez was seen by some league observers as being in decline, and the Ravens' Thomas was critical of his blocking ability before the game.
