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Rivers leads Chargers past Patriots

Oct 13, 2008 - 4:45 AM By Tim Powers PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SAN DIEGO (Ticker) -- Philip Rivers threw three touchdown passes as the San Diego Chargers exacted a measure of revenge against the New England Patriots, cruising to a 30-10 triumph in a rematch of last season's AFC Championship Game on Sunday night.

The victory snapped a three-game losing streak to New England for San Diego, which fell 21-12 in January as the then-unbeaten Patriots advanced to the Super Bowl.

With All-Pro tailback LaDainian Tomlinson mostly neutralized for the first three quarters of the game, Rivers took control from the start. The 26-year-old Rivers went 18-for-27 with 306 yards and three touchdowns, marking the fourth time this season he has thrown for three scores.

"Playing New England was big," Rivers said. "We didn't intentionally downplay it, but it wasn't necessarily a payback game. It was big to beat these guys, but I think the main reason was the situation we were in this season at 2-3 and it gets us back to .500."

The third-year starter out of North Carolina State fired a 48-yard strike to Vincent Jackson on the game's first play from scrimmage as San Diego got an early lead after Nate Kaeding's 25-yard field goal.

"We wanted to come out and be aggressive this week," Jackson said. "We started talking about it on Thursday, so it wasn't a surprise to me, because we said (the deep pass) was going to be the first or second play of the game. I was ready to run it and excited that (head coach Norv Turner) decided to start out like that."

Rivers followed that scoring drive with another long pass play, this time finding Malcom Floyd for a 49-yard score to push the advantage to 10-0 with 1:55 remaining in the first quarter.

New England (3-2) cut into the lead with Stephen Gostkowski's 47-year-old field goal to pull within 10-3, but Rivers struck again 1:07 before the half, hitting Jackson on a 4-yard touchdown pass to pad the lead to 17-3.

"It seems like for us that we play our best when we need a win and our backs are against the wall," said Tomlinson, who rushed 20 times for 74 yards. "I wish we could get up like that for every game. We always play better at home, because we're able to start faster here."

Following a goal line stand to begin the third quarter, San Diego (3-3) took a 24-3 lead as Rivers later added another deep pass to Jackson, a 60-yard strike that set up a one-yard touchdown to Antonio Gates.

"We needed to play a complete game and I thought we got that done," Turner said. "We've thrown the ball deep in every game, but I think the biggest thing was matchups and who we were playing against."

Sammy Morris rushed for New England's only touchdown in the game, a one-yard rush with 5:18 remaining that accounted for the final score in the contest.

Matt Cassel finished the game going 22-for-38 for 203 yards and one interception. Morris caught four passes for 49 yards and Randy Moss caught three for 26 yards. Wes Welker led the team with nine receptions for 73 yards.

"We didn't come out and I don't think we played well collectively," Cassel said. "(San Diego) played a great game with great intensity, and we've got to do a better job of matching that intensity and playing better all-around."

Jackson had five receptions for 134 yards and a touchdown and Floyd caught three passes for 75 yards and a score.

The road loss was New England's first in its last 13 games away from home.

"San Diego did a good job tonight, better than we did," New England coach Bill Belichick said. "They hit the deep balls on us defensively. Offensively, they were able to keep us out of the end zone until the end of the game. We've just got to do a better job all-around. It's as simple as that."