The hardest thing that Paul Oliver had to do was for 40 yards just stay on his feet.

In a play appearing to sum the afternoon up, the safety for the Chargers found the football suddenly in his hands, following Kansas City’s Matt Cassel having it slip from his. After recovering the fumble Oliver scored a touchdown.

Oliver said, the ball bounced right at me. The play was about as easy as possible.

On Sunday, San Diego scored four times on turnovers during their 43-14 victory over the Chiefs, running their winning streak up to six games in a row.

Two touchdowns were scored by LaDainian Tomlinson and he also moved into 10th place on the all time NFL rushing list. Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers connected with Antonio Gates on two touchdowns, as San Diego improved their record to 8-3.

Kansas City (3-8) lost one week after they stunned the Steelers, defending Super Bowl champs, with their overtime victory.

The win for the Chargers was led by their dominant defensive despite the fact that they lost Shawne Merriman, outside linebacker, during the second quarter with an injured foot. Quentin Jammer, cornerback, intercepted a pass and also forced a fumble, while Larry English and Brandon Siler recovered fumbles as well.

Oliver’s play was the most spectacular. Late second quarter, Cassel dropped back to pass, but the ball slipped from his hand. Oliver was able to grab the ball out of the air. At first he bobbled it but was able to gain control and ran the ball back 40 yards to score, giving the Chargers a lead of 28-7.

Oliver said, I came from the corner and saw that he was getting ready to throw. The ball popped up then and bounced right over to me. All I needed to do after than was run the ball in. When I turned I felt I was about to fall. Then it was like I was inside the end zone.

For San Diego it was their second touchdown in the space of 20 seconds. Right before then, Rivers threw a scoring pass of 15 yards to Gates, capping a drive set up by Jammer when he forced Jamaal Charles to fumble. Siler recovered the ball on the 39 yard line of San Diego’s.

Oliver said, we were able to put our offense into good field position. We helped out in any way we could. During the first half the game was close. Then we got the turnovers and were able to capitalize on every one of them.

Norv Turner said, those plays are created when you have an attacking mentality.

Kansas City, after winning two games in a row, got knocked back again.

Todd Haley, rookie Chiefs coach, said the team was attempting to take one more baby step.

However, if you turn over the ball, things can get really out of hand very quickly. That’s exactly what happened, said Haley.

Cassel said, you just can’t give a team that good who is playing really well 28 points from turnovers.

The winning streak for the Chargers started on October 25 in Kansas City when they routed the Chiefs 37-7.

Tomlinson said, I think our team is pretty good. We have the ability to challenge any team I think. And we can beat any team. It shows the type of team we are I think, when we come in and play the way we did versus a team that we should beat.

Coming into the game, Tomlinson was 12th on the NFL all-time rushing list with his 12,218 yards. During the first quarter on a carry of 5 yards he passed by the 12,243 yards of Marcus Allen, and during the second quarter passed up Edgerrin James and his 12,246 yards.

Tomlinson rushed for a total of 39 yards in 13 carries. His career total is now 12,257 yards. Marshall Faulk is up next with his 12,279 yards in ninth spot.

Early third quarter the Chiefs got their fourth turnover when a snap from the shotgun soared over the head of Cassel on third down and 1 from the 31 yard line of the Chiefs. English recovered the ball on the 10 yard line. Two plays later Tomlinson scored on a run of 3 yards to make the score 35-7.

The first touchdown for San Diego, a 19 yard Rivers pass over to Gates, got set up by the Jammer interception. Gates caught seven passes for 118 yards receiving.

The only touchdown that San Diego scored that didn’t follow a turnover was the one yard run by Tomlinson early second quarter. That touchdown was set up on a 53 yard pass play from Rivers to Malcolm Floyd. It appeared that Floyd tumbled into the end zone. However he was ruled down on the one yard line.

Chris Chambers, who a month ago was released by San Diego and then signed quickly by Kansas City, caught a touchdown pass of 7 yards during the second quarter to tie the game at 7-7. During the third quarter Charles had a run of 4 yards to score a touchdown.

Early fourth quarter Tomlinson fumbled the ball right as he was getting ready to plow inside the end zone. Brandon Flowers, Chiefs cornerback, caused and then recovered the fumble.

Rivers went 21 for 28 for a total of 317 yards passing and had no interceptions. His quarterback rating was 135.6 and was not sacked in the game.

During the third quarter San Diego kicker Nate Kaeding booted a field goal from 55 yards, the second longest field goal in Chargers team history. The longest was his field goal of 57 yards that he hit at Tampa Bay last year. During the fourth quarter he added a field goal of 23 yards.

Cassel went 19 for 31 for a total of 178 yards passing. He got sacked one time.

LaDainian Tomlinson just did what he always does versus Oakland.

It was the first time Shawne Merriman got to break his “Lights Out” spasmodic sack dance out since 2007.

For the Chargers, it was just business as usual. Tomlinson scored two touchdowns, one from the Wildcat formation, as San Diego defeated Oakland on Sunday 24-16. It was their 13 win in a row versus the Raiders, the longest active winning streak in the NFL of one team against another.

San Diego (4-3) for their sixth season in a row has swept the series. Many of the Chargers players, including Philip Rivers, haven’t ever lost against Oakland (2-6). For the Chargers is was their seventh consecutive win at home versus the Raiders.

Tomlinson who San Diego drafted in 2001 said, when I first came to San Diego, the atmosphere and intensity of the game kind of rubbed me wrong. Defeating them 13 times in a row means that 13 times Raiders fans went home hanging their heads.

Tom Cable, Raiders coach said, it’s a big hump that we need to get over. This year we had two good chances. We are closer. However until you are able to get over that hump, you don’t have anything.

With Denver losing at Baltimore 30-7, San Diego was able to pull within two games for the lead in the AFC West. The Chargers are attempting to win their fourth consecutive division title.

For Shawne Merriman, his two sacks were his first since 2007. Late second quarter he dropped JaMarcus Russell, and then in the fourth quarter he did it again. San Diego’s outside linebacker is attempting to recover from knee surgery, which last year kept him out of 15 games during the regular season along with two playoff games.

Merriman said, it was a long time coming. I don’t emphasize sacks as much as everyone else. However they are important. In order for our defense to be better I need to get the sacks and make plays. As long as I do that and pressure the quarterback and force him into doing things he doesn’t want to, we will be a better defense.

The Chargers had five sacks, their season high, and allowed only 180 yard, their season low. Shaun Phillips, the Chargers other outside linebacker, had two sacks as well.

Rivers only got sacked once and was very impressive with his defense.

Rivers said, it’s not like they haven’t been pressuring, but still it’s very good to see. Getting the quarterback down on the ground, there something to it. It’s huge I think. Sacks, from what I see from the sideline, in these games these guys have been forceful. When there aren’t sacks, they don’t get as much attention.

With sacks it’s funny because there can be a spurt of a few games. Then suddenly they have six or seven. It just shows I think what a pro he really is, all of the guys are. They just keep on hammering away.

San Diego didn’t need to rally to get the victory like they did in Oakland during the season opener where they got beaten up physically by Oakland, but still won the game 24-20.

Antonio Cromartie, cornerback, intercepted a Russell pass when Zach Miller, Raiders tight end, fell down. For Cromartie, it was his first interception in 20 games. In 2007 he had 10 interceptions, but last season had only two.

The first play for the Chargers from the line of scrimmage was a Rivers pass of 53 yards to Malcom Floyd, a replacement for Chris Chambers who had been struggling, into the starting lineup. The play gave the Chargers first down and goal from the 6 yard line. Tomlinson took the snap directly and ran to the right to score and give San Diego the lead at 7-0.

Early second quarter, the Raiders tied the game after a pass from Rivers intended for Vincent Jackson bounced off of the wide receiver’s hands. Chris Johnson intercepted the pass and returned the ball 20 yards down to the 27 yard line of San Diego. Justin Fargas ran 3 yards to score the touchdown for the Raiders.

On their next two drives San Diego scored and took a 21-7 lead. Rivers connected with Jackson, who was wide open, on a scoring pass of 8 yards. Tomlinson scored the other touchdown on a run of 10 yards.

Rivers went 16 for 25 for a total of 249 yards passing. Tomlinson had 56 rushing yards in 18 carries. Fargas rushed for 59 yards in 18 carries.

During his career of nine years, Tomlinson has scored 28 touchdowns versus the Raiders: 22 rushing, three passing, and three receiving.

For the rest of the game, the Raiders could only manage three Sebastian Janikowski field goals from 28, 41 and 48 yards out.

Russell, who a week earlier had been benched in the team’s 38-0 loss at home to the Jets, went 14 out of 22 for a total of 109 yards passing.

Cable said, today he seemed to be very in control. A few of his throws he would probably love to have back. However, overall today he gave us the chance to win.

On Sunday, no matter which quarterback was thrown out there by the Broncos it didn’t matter. The surging Chargers were able to bottle up both a hobbled Kyle Orton and rusty Chris Simms.

A dominant Chargers defense and Philip Rivers gave San Diego sole possession of the AFC West’s top spot with their 32-3 thrashing of Denver, who wasn’t able to effectively move the ball behind either one of their quarterbacks on Sunday.

Shawne Merriman, Chargers linebacker said, we were ready whether it was Orton or Simms.

San Diego (7-3) has won five games in a row and Denver (6-4) has lost four consecutive games, turning the race in the division upside down. Only five weeks ago, Denver had a 3 1/2 game lead over San Diego.

The AFC West balance of power has seen a dramatic shift.

Rivers looked very crisp, going 17 out of 22 and leading the Chargers to score on 7 out of their 10 drives. Kicker Nate Kaeding booted four field goals. San Diego was also able to recover an onside kick, forced three turnovers and recorded three sacks as well.

Denver drew nine penalty flags while San Diego only had one. During the final minute an extra point attempt was blocked by Marcus Thomas.

The game wasn’t anything like the one last month when the Broncos defeated the Chargers in San Diego by a score of 34-23.

Rivers said, the guys playing up front the last four weeks have been unbelievable. This game the Broncos didn’t blitz as much. We were kind of surprised they didn’t bring stuff from the earlier game. Our guys also handled their good pass rushers really well. I only remember getting touched one time.

The first start for Simms since almost getting killed three years ago during a game didn’t last very long. After he was sacked twice and lost a fumble with the Broncos falling behind early in the game, Orton replaced him, despite not having taken any snaps last week during practice due to a sprained ankle.

Chris Simms only went 2 out of 4 for a total of 10 yards passing. The first six times he handed off the ball . When he attempted to pass for the first time from the 17 yard line of the Chargers, Shaun Phillips, San Diego linebacker, sacked him and raked the football from his left hand.

Steve Gregory, safety, recovered the ball and San Diego drove the ball down field to score a touchdown.

Merriman said, it set the game’s tone. We pressured him the very first time he tried to pass. We got a turnover. They didn’t get a score but we did.

After Denver had three ineffective drives, leading to a deficit of 13-0, Josh McDaniels, Denver coach, brought in Orton. All week he didn’t practice, but looked good enough during his warm-ups to try.

Merriman said, I thought that was kind of a tactic that was desperate. Or he was brought in to try and move the football.

Orton was able to drive the Broncos quickly 60 yards down field with three pass completions. However on first down and goal from the 4 yard line, Knowshon Moreno, rookie running back, fumbled the ball. Russ Hochstein, left guard, jarred the football lose after slipping with his knee.

As the Chargers were celebrating the recovery by Gregory inside the end zone, Denver’s frustrations came out. Brandon Marshall, wide receiver, got into the face of Moreno, who responded by shoving Marshall with two hands. It was the most fight displayed by the Broncos all day.

Marshall said, those kinds of plays kill drives. Next time we need to punch the ball in. Marshall described the game as the most frustrating one he had ever played in.

Moreno did take the blame for attempting to reach the football on first down across the goal line. However he brushed the sideline spat off as just something happening in the heat of the moment. Marshall didn’t apologize.

Marshall said, I don’t have any regrets. This is like a playoff game. On the sideline there were guys that weren’t angry. They weren’t showing much emotion. They need to take a look at the mirror at themselves. This game we had to have it. We can’t make terrible plays.

When a reporter said that it appeared his own teammate had caused the fumble then asked if he had known that if he would still have berated Moreno, Marshall got agitated.

Marshall said, I didn’t see that play. I’m not sure. A single play isn’t what beat us. I’m not sure what you are attempting to accomplish. It’s not any one guy’s fault, not Knowshon’s fault. The team lost as a whole. If I drop the football, if I make some big mistake, then I expect the guys will get on me about it. You need to know the way to approach every guy. For every guy it’s different. I might have handled things wrong. We’ll see.

Orton went 15 for 29 for a total of 171 yards passing and had one interception. They played from the shotgun almost exclusively. Denver called on him after deciding to abandon their game plan when they trailed 13-0 and went to an air game. According to Orton he didn’t suffer any setbacks despite receiving a scary hit from Merriman to his injured leg. He said this week he’d be able to practice and make the start versus the Giants on Thursday night.

The last start for Simms was on September 24, 2006 while playing for the Buccaneers. The Panthers battered him so badly that he need to have emergency surgery done and have his spleen removed.

This game was painful in a different way. The big blind side hit came from his own coach instead of the Chargers. Simms didn’t see the quick hook from McDaniels coming.

Simms said, I didn’t expect it. I was a little surprised, yeah.

For the Chargers, their motivation came in several different forms on Sunday, everything from Denver losing to the surprise that LaDainian Tomlinson found in his locker from his wife.

The career of Tomlinson definitely isn’t over and the race in the AFC west isn’t either.

Tomlinson rushed for 96 yards, his season high, and also scored two touchdown while continuing to add to his career scoring and rushing totals, as the Chargers defeated the Eagles 31-23 to tie a slumping Denver team for the AFC West lead.

When Tomlinson was asked if something had give him some motivation, he got emotional.

Tomlinson said, I’m not sure if I really would like to discuss this. I found out right before the game that my wife’s pregnant. In my locker she left me a present. Open immediately it said. I thought it would be a necklace, but it’s a pregnancy test.

This will be the couple’s first child. In 2005 LaTorsha Tomlinson had a miscarriage.

Tomlinson, fired up about becoming a father, passed by Franco Harris and Thurman Thomas to move into 12th place with 12,145 rushing yards for his career. The two touchdowns he scored gave him 146 total, moving him into third place all-time past Marcus Allen.

Tomlinson speaking of his latest accomplishments said, it’s surreal. He noted that in a trophy case he has a Harris autographed football. When I was growing up I watched all these guys. Being third all-time is mind boggling to me.

For a short time during the offseason it appeared that Tomlinson might become a casualty of the salary cap. However finally the two sides agreed to a contract that was reworked. In June he turned 30. During San Diego’s win in the season opener in Oakland he suffered a right ankle sprain, causing him to miss two games. It was the very time during his entire brilliant career that Tomlinson had missed a regular season game because of an injury.

All that really counts is I’m still effective, Tomlinson said. I still find ways to help my team win.

In San Diego, just minutes before the kickoff, Washington’s defeat of the Bronco 27-17 was announced. After that the Chargers won their fourth consecutive game.

Next Sunday the Broncos and Chargers, both with 6-3 records, will face off in Denver. San Diego four weeks ago seemed to be dead. They trailed the Broncos by 3 ½ games after losing to then undefeated Denver 34-23.

Philip Rivers, Chargers quarterback said, we didn’t realize things would change so fast. We did believe we could get back into it.

Brian Westbrook, Eagles running back, got knocked out of the game with another concussion. Westbrook had missed the two games prior to that after suffering a concussion on October 26 when the Eagles defeated Washington.

Andy Reid, Eagles coach said, with these kinds of circumstances, football is secondary. You need to look after this kid as well as his future to make sure that everything for him is OK before he goes back out there.

Eagle’s quarterback Donovan McNabb passed for 450 yards, his season high. He went 35 out of 55 and had two touchdowns late in the game. On the last play of the game Antonio Cromartie intercepted his pass inside the end zone.

Philadelphia (5-4) made it within the 10 yard line of the Chargers three times, but each time had to settle for David Akers field goals.

McNabb said, when you have an chances to score, that’s when you need to pound the ball in. We tried, definitely, but they deserve a lot of credit. Obviously they stopped us from being able to run the ball in.

On October 23, 2005, the lat time San Diego played Philadelphia, Tomlinson had only 7 yards rushing in 17 carries. For a game in the regular season it was his career low.

His previous high this season came three weeks ago in Kansas City when he rushed for 71 yards.

Early second quarter Tomlinson scored a touchdown on a run of 3 yards to give San Diego a lead of 14-0. Mid third quarter he ran right for 20 yards through the defense of the Eagles to make the score 21-6.

Rivers had a pair of 20 yard touchdown passes. During the first quarter he connected with Mike Tolbert, fullback, who was wide open. During the third quarter he threw his second touchdown pass to Legedu Naanee. Rivers went 20 for 25 for a total of 231 yards passing and had no interceptions. His quarterback rating for the game was 131.8.

Naanee got penalized for excessive celebration after he knelt in front of one of the Chargers’ cheerleaders and handed the ball to her. San Diego was forced to kick off at their 15 yard line. Naanee said he did it spontaneously.

The first three times the Eagles had the ball they got stuffed inside the 10 yard line of San Diego’s, including the time they had the football with first down and goal at the one yard line after Quentin Jammer was called for pass interference during the second quarter from the end zone. Philadelphia was forced to settle for field goals from 25, 25, and 18 yards.

Early fourth quarter McNabb connected with Jeremy Maclin on a pass of 5 yards, and then a 6 yard pass play to Brent Celek, tight end, with 7:12 remaining to get Philadelphia to within 28-23.

Philip Rivers, five years after he was traded away during a swap on draft day for Eli Manning, came back to stick it to New York.

Rivers connected on a pass of 18 yards to Vincent Jackson, capping off a drive of 80 yards with 21 seconds remaining in the game, as the Chargers shocked the Giants on Sunday with their 21-20 victory. For San Diego it was their third win in a row, while New York lost its fourth consecutive game.

For the second part of the season, the Chargers (5-3) are in a good position. New York (5-4) after blowing the first 5-0 start for them since 1990, is shaking their heads with disbelief.

Rivers, who had 209 passing and threw three touchdowns said, this win is emotional for us. There’s no real reason for it, but it ranks with winning in Indianapolis in 2009 during the playoffs. There will always be a link between Eli and me. So it is special, yeah. Any time that you get to play versus a team who has won a Super Bowl it is going to be fun. The trade wasn’t weighing on my mind. I wasn’t thinking about it, but it was probably there somewhere.

The Giants gave Rivers the opportunity for pulling the game out.

With 3:14 remaining in the game Terrell Thomas, Giants cornerback, intercepted a pass and returned the ball 33 yards down to the 4 yard line of the Chargers. If Manning and the Giants had scored a touchdown, they could have sealed the game.

However on first down, Chris Snee got called for holding, pushing the Giants back 10 yards. New York ended up settling for a field goal from 22 yards, Lawrence Tyne’s second, with 2:07 remaining in the game. It gave the Giants a lead of 6 points.

Manning, who went 25 for 33 and threw two touchdowns said, we had an opportunity. You can’t leave the Chargers in the game. You can’t give them an opening like that. They have too much talent and are too good. If you are given the opportunity to end the game, you need to end it.

That’s exactly what Rivers was able to do. On the march to win the game, Rivers went 6 for 8 passing. He connected on a 12 yard pass with Malcolm Floyd, on two passes with Antonio Gates, and then a 21 yard pass over to Darren Sproles, placing the ball on the 18 yard line. Rivers on the very next play spotted Jackson inside the end zone to score the winning touchdown.

Rivers said, Vince got open. He was able to separate from his defender. He was probably on that play the last option for getting the ball with the way the play was set up. However there was all that field that we had. All I wanted was to give him the chance to catch it.

During the second quarter Jackson also had a touchdown catch of 10 yards.

Jackson referring to Rivers said, he is confident and calm. It rubs off on everybody else. It doesn’t matter how much time is left or what the score is. We just know we will get it done.

The game ended appropriately wit Manning getting sacked by Shawne Merriman. The linebacker was drafted by the Chargers in 2005, using one of the draft picks that San Diego received in the deal for Manning from the Giants.

Merriman said, our team showed a lot of character in being able to bounce back. We don’t want to get off to a slow start ever, but we have learned what we need to do in order to hit our stride.

During the third quarter Rivers connected on a touchdown pass of 2 yards with Kris Wilson to give the Chargers a lead of 14-7 in a game where the defense of the Giants rebounded after having three miserable efforts in a row.

On their very next possession Manning led the Giants on a drive of 10 plays and 60 yards. Early fourth quarter Tynes kicked a field goal from 38 yards to close to within 14-10.

The defense for the Giants, which during their previous three games had surrendered 112 points, helped New York take a lead. They recorded three tackles in a row for losses and forced San Diego to punt the ball from their 4 yard line.

Domenik Hixon received the punt and returned the football down to the 39 yard line of San Diego. It only took Manning six plays to give the Giants the lead. He connected on a touchdown pass of 8 yards with Kevin Boss. On the play San Diego was offside.

On the opening drive for the Giants a bizzare play cost New York three points. The Giants lined up for the field goal attempt from 39 yards. However Tynes didn’t get a kick off. The snap was taken by Feagles who had both of his hands on the football, preventing Tynes from being able to kick the ball.

Tom Coughlin, Giants coach said, we are very upset and very disappointed about the loss obviously. We played hard. We did lots of good things. Obviously though what we did wasn’t enough to get the win.

To open the second quarter, Rivers gave San Diego a lead of 7-0 with his first touchdown pass with Jackson, capping a drive of 45 yards following a short Feagles punt.

On the following series, New York tied the game on a touchdown pass of 6 yards from Manning over to Steve Smith. Manning and Smith had kept the drive of almost 11 minutes alive with a pass completion of 19 yards on third down and 18 at the 44 yard line of the Chargers.