Philip Rivers tossed scoring strikes to tight end Antonio Gates and running back Darren Sproles as the San Diego Chargers held on for a 33-25 victory over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.
Rivers completed 27 of 36 passes for 305 yards with the two touchdowns and one interception. His 48-yard scoring pass to Gates in the third quarter brought the Chargers to within 24-19 and his toss to Sproles capped the scoring at 6:51 of the fourth quarter.
Rookie Ryan Mathews rushed for a 7-yard touchdown and Mike Tolbert scored from 1 yard out for San Diego (3-5), which thwarted a late rally to snap a three-game losing skid.
Vince Young completed 10 of 21 passes for 253 yards with a pair of touchdowns, but he exited the contest in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury. Young found backup tight end Craig Stevens for a 1-yard touchdown in the second quarter and wide receiver Nate Washington for a 71-yard scoring strike in the fourth.
The Titans (5-3) also lost second-year wide receiver Kenny Britt to a right hamstring injury in the first quarter. Britt, who did not have a catch on Sunday, reeled in seven receptions for 225 yards and three touchdowns last week against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Chris Johnson rushed for 59 yards - 29 of which came on a touchdown run in the second quarter - for Tennessee, which saw its three-game winning streak come to an end.
Tennessee's Gerald McGrath blocked punter Mike Scifres' attempt and the ball went out of the end zone for a safety just 1:29 into the contest.
Tennessee | San Diego | |
Chris Johnson | Player | Michael Tolbert |
15 | Attempts | 11 |
59 | Yards | 63 |
3.9 | Avg Yards | 5.7 |
1 | Touchdowns | 1 |
29 | Long | 36 |
Tennessee | San Diego | |
Nate Washington | Player | Antonio Gates |
4 | Receptions | 5 |
117 | Yards | 123 |
29.2 | Avg Yards | 24.6 |
1 | Touchdowns | 1 |
71 | Long | 48 |
Yards | Scoring | Defense | ||||||
Team | Tot | Rus | Pas | TD | FG | INT | Sck | FF |
Tennessee | 370 | 65 | 305 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 0 |
San Diego | 456 | 156 | 300 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |