San Diego SportsRivers Leads Chargers Past Giants, Manning
Surging Bolts upend the stumbling New Yorkers Philip Rivers stunned the stumbling New York Giants, who at 5-4, have lost four in a row. With just 21 seconds to go in Sunday’s game Rivers completed an 18-yard touchdown pass to Vincent Jackson. The touchdown capped an 80-yard drive and secured the San Diego Chargers (5-3) a monumental 21-20 win.  Philip Rivers was clutch when it countedin the fourth quarter. Chargers.com With the win, the Chargers recapture the right to be seriously considered a playoff caliber team, even though the team was outnumbered and overpowered in virtually every statistical category.The Giants dominated the Chargers in all facets of the game: 215 to 209 passing yards, 116 to 34 rushing yards, 304 to 226 total yards, 18 to 17 first downs, and 37:47 to 22:13 in time of possession. The Chargers were able to get off to an early lead, and ultimately capture a victory, because the Giants made mistakes in the kicking game. These mistakes both prevented the Giants from scoring and gave the Chargers good field position that Rivers cashed in on, with no red zone letdowns. The Giants received the game’s opening possession. Starting on his own 11-yard line, Eli Manning ate up nearly half the first quarter driving his team down to the Chargers 21-yard line before the drive fizzled out, leading to a 39-yard field goal attempt by Lawerence Tynes. On the snap, Jeff Feagles mishandled the ball and Tynes never attempted the kick. The two teams then traded punts, but Feagles shanked his kick, giving the Chargers great field position on the Giants 45-yard line. Five plays later Rivers found Antonio Gates on the 10-yard line to conclude the first quarter. On the first play of the second quarter Rivers connected over the middle with Jackson for a 10-yard touchdown, givingthe Chargers with an early 7-0 lead. Manning answered by leading the Giants on a 16-play, 77-yard, 10:30-minute touchdown drive, bringing the score to 7-7. In the third quarter, the Chargers would once again capitalize on great field position courtesy of a poor, 34-yard Fiedler punt that gave the Chargers the ball on their 48-yard line. Then Corey Webster was called for pass interference in the end zone against Jackson, on a 30-yard Rivers pass. This set up first and goal from the 1-yard line. On second down Rivers found third-string tight end Kris Wilson for both his first catch and touchdown as a Charger. The Chargers had recaptured the lead 14-7. The Giants then took control of the game by making the next threes scores, and it seemed likely that New York was going to win the game. But the Chargers would never need to use their last timeout, as Rivers masterfully orchestrated the two-minute offense as he completed 5 of 7 passes and drove the Chargers from their 20 down to the Giants 18. On his sixth completed pass of the drive, Rivers found Jackson in the end zone and the Chargers recaptured the lead. Shawne Merriman added an exclamation point to the victory by recording his second sack of Manning to end the game. In the final analysis, the Chargers did not play a great game, nor did the Giants. However, Rivers did distinguish himself as an elite quarterback, one who completes passes when needed to win games.
 Dan McLellan About the author: Dan McLellan is a San Diego native and Charger season ticket holder since 1993. He also has a weekly Charger podcast at www.DanMcLellan.com. More by this author Subscribe to Sports:
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