MONDAY’S NFL: Rivers, Chargers find form

The San Diego Chargers’ Mike Tolbert and Kevin Burnett celebrate during their team’s 35-14 victory over Denver on Monday.
The San Diego Chargers’ Mike Tolbert and Kevin Burnett celebrate during their team’s 35-14 victory over Denver on Monday.

— Take away all those special teams blunders and turnovers, and this is how the San Diego Chargers were supposed to look all along.

Philip Rivers tied his career high with four touchdown passes and the Chargers beat the Denver Broncos 35-14 on Monday night for their third consecutive victory.

“This was the most complete game we’ve played in all three phases,” Rivers said. “We are in a lot of ways in playoff football already. You almost can’t afford a step back at this point.”

While Rivers did it on a season-low 233 yards, San Diego’s defense, led by linebacker Shaun Phillips, settled in and harassed Denver’s Kyle Orton after he led an easy opening scoring drive.

Patrick Crayton scored on a 40-yard catch-and-run late in the second quarter, hurting his left wrist as he fell into the end zone, and Darren Sproles had a 57-yard catch-and-run early in the third.

The four-time defending AFC West champion Chargers (5-5) even pulled off a fake punt, surprising considering the special teams gaffes that contributed to a 2-5 start. Mike Scifres - who’s had five punts blocked this year - waited for fullback Mike Tolbert to get open, then hit him with a 29-yard pass that set up Rivers’ tying 6-yard scoring pass to Malcom Floyd in the first quarter.

The Chargers, coming off their bye, pulled into a second-place tie with Oakland, one game behind Kansas City. Denver fell to 3-7.

“This is exactly what we set out to do when we were 2-5,” said cornerback Antoine Cason, who intercepted Orton in the second quarter. “We wanted to get back in the division race to set us up for these games against division teams, and now our fate is in our own hands.”

Said Phillips: “They were disrespectful before the game. They kind of broke it down and had some chants, but we didn’t buy into it. We were the better team after that first drive.”

Rivers completed 15 of24 passes, including three to Crayton for 105 yards. Tolbert gained 111 yards on 24 carries.

Rivers leads the NFL with 3,177 yards passing.

Rivers also threw four touchdown passes in the Chargers’ last game, a 29-23 victory at Houston on Nov. 7.

Orton was coming off a four-touchdown performance in a 49-29 victory over Kansas City. The Chargers held him to 217 yards on 24 of 38 passing and sacked him 5 times.

Sports, Pages 20 on 11/23/2010

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