Rex Ryan is rolling.

The rookie head coach for the Jets, who declared that his team was a Super Bowl favorite after figuring out his team was still in the post season, is only one win away to prove his psychic powers.

Ryan’s Jets are still in the playoffs.

Rookies Shonn Greene and Mark Sanchez led the Jets to a 17-14 stunning upset of the Chargers in Sunday’s divisional playoff game. During the fourth quarter, each of them provided a touchdown marking another post season shortfall for San Diego.

The round, jovial Ryan isn’t ever afraid of saying what he’s thinking. Heading into their AFC Championship Game versus Indianapolis and Peyton Manning on Sunday, the Jets players are following his lead.

Ryan said, it’s a matchup probably nobody want to have. Here we come. Too bad.

What Ryan meant was, we are coming again.

The Colts were the team that pulled Manning along with other starters during the second half in the Week 16 game versus the Jets, allowing New York to rally and get a win and let them control their destiny in the playoffs.

Before the game, Ryan’s wish for the holidays was that Indianapolis would rest Manning and company.

Ryan said, Santa Claus probably won’t be that good for me again. I want to say though I would love this week seeing Peyton Manning not playing.

Once the Jets did clinch their spot in the playoff by routing the Bengals the next week, the Jets coach made an itinerary for the post season for his players. It included being in Miami for the Super Bowl and two days later a parade.

Ryan might just be onto something.

This week maybe he will predict who the opponent for the Jets will for the Super Bowl.

Ryan said, this whole time we believed, all year. It wasn’t probably the popular choice. There’s no need for us to apologize to anybody.

For the Jets (11-7), the upstart team that’s won seven games out of the last eight, it was their first advance into the AFC Championship Game since 1999.

Sanchez said, for our franchise this is a very big win. We’re not done yet.

Bart Scott, referring to his coach said, don’t pay a lot of attention to what words he uses. What you should pay attention to is his content. This isn’t the old Jets. We want to change how people think about us.

While gloomy Chargers fans were heading into a night that was equally grim, there were several thousand Jets fans crowded together in the stands right behind their team’s bench chanting, Jets, Jets, Jets.

There was one fan holding a sign that said, I don’t have 41 more years, referring to the team’s only Super Bowl win, the one predicted by Joe Namath.

They’re hoping another one might be looming.

Early fourth quarter Sanchez threw the go-ahead touchdown pass of 2 yards over to Dustin Keller, tight end. Then on the next possession for the Jets, Green scored on a run of 53 yards.

The Chargers allowed the Jets to hang around. Then finally the Jets stopped getting in their own way and became the only team on the road to win a divisional round game.

With 2:14 remaining Philip Rivers scored a touchdown on a quarterback sneak of one yard, pulling San Diego to within three points. However, the onside kick was recovered by the Jets.

With 1:09 remaining on fourth down and one at the 29 yard line, New York called a timeout. Ryan made the decision to go for it. Then Thomas Jones was able to bull his way through the line of the Chargers and gain 2 yards.

Alan Faneca, guard, said that symbolized what our team is about. We are hard nosed. We come at you. That’s the kind of team we are.

Sanchez reacted by pumping his fist into the air and pointing his hand toward the first down sign.

Ryan, over on the sideline, lifted up the smaller Brian Schottenheimer, offensive coordinator, and gave him a bear hug.

Marty Schottenheimer, father of Brian, was with the Chargers for two playoff losses. One came versus the Jets following the 2004 season. The other following the 2006 season was versus New England, where the top seeded Chargers fell apart with an avalanche of mistakes.

This game just as big of a nightmare, with many predicting that San Diego would win their first Super Bowl.

Norv Turner, Chargers coach who was attempting to lead his No. 2 seeded team into their second title game in the AFC over three seasons said, obviously we didn’t play our best. It’s very disappointing.

The winning streak for San Diego (13-4) stopped at 11 games.

LaDainian Tomlinson, who might have been playing in his last game for the Chargers after nine seasons said, they were the best defense that I’ve played against this year. They are very prepared, run or pass. My hat is off to them.

Native Southern Californian Mark Sanchez changed from looking like a rookie to a guy with two road playoff wins.

Mid third quarter, Quentin Jammer intercepted Sanchez. However the Jets were able to get the football right back from an interception of their own. The football bounced off of Vincent Jackson and landed in the hands of Darrelle Revis, Jets cornerback, with both playing sprawled out on the ground.

On that interception the Jets didn’t capitalize. However the second interception of Rivers’ was costly. Rivers, on second down and 9 from the 5 yards line, under threw Antonio Gates. Jim Leonhard, safety, intercepted the ball and returned it down to the 16 yard line.

Sanchez on third down, rolled to his right and threw a pass into the end zone to Keller, who was able to shed Tim Dobbins, linebacker and make a sprawling catch of 2 yards to give the Jets a 10-7 lead.

Sanchez along with the other Jets raced over and congratulated Keller. The rookie quarterback then ran over to the bench. He made one stop for celebrating with one of his teammates.

During the next drive, the Jets went to their first ranked running game. Greene, the Jets third round draft pick out of Iowa, was able to break a long run to score up the middle. He ran over Eric Weddle, safety, along the way.

Greene said, after I made it into the secondary, there was one tackle left for me to break. I did that and then was off for the end zone. Greene rushed for 128 yards in 3 carries. Lots of people didn’t know who I was, but they do know who the Jets are.

In the playoff win last week versus the Bengals, Greene had 135 yards rushing and scored a touchdown.

Nate Kaeding, the All Pro kicker for San Diego, missed three three field goal attempts. On the second possession for San Diego he was wide left on a 36 yard attempt and as the first half expired he was short on an attempt from 57 yards. With 4:38 remaining in the game and San Diego trailing by 10 points, he was wide to the right on a 40 yard attempt.

After the third miss of Kaeding’s Ryan was pumping his fist.

The last time the two teams faced off in the playoffs following the 2004 season, Kaeding, a rookie at the time, missed wide right in overtime on a wet field from 40 yards out. The Jets were then able to move down field to win the game 20-17 on a field goal of 28 yards from Doug Brien.

The Jets, five years later, were able to leave Qualcomm Stadium as winners once again.

Faneca said, we aren’t supposed to even be here. All week people have been saying thanks for providing the game. We just went out there and took it.

The Chargers are heading into the playoffs with a winning streak of 11 games, mostly due to their backup players.

Jim Zorn is facing being fired after the Redskins lost yet another game.

With 35 seconds remaining, Billy Volek connected with Mike Tolbert, fullback, on a touchdown pass of 2 yards to rally the Chargers to their 23-20 win on Sunday over the Redskins in the last game for Zorn as Washington’s head coach.

According to the Associated Press, an NFL official says that Washington (4-12) on Monday plans to fire Zorn. There has been no formal announcement and the official was speaking anonymously. For months it’s been expected that Zorn would be fired.

According to Zorn he hasn’t been informed that he is being fired.

Zorn said, I’m still reeling over this loss. If I said anything concerning my future here, that would just be a bunch of babbling.

San Diego (13-3), champions of the AFC West, had clinched the No. 2 AFC playoff seed as well bye in the first round already. They didn’t have anything to play for with the exception of avoiding injuries. Once the starters all left, it felt more like an exhibition game.

Five starters, players who had played while hurt, were deactivated by San Diego. The Chargers also pulled most of their starters quickly, including Philip Rivers, Pro Bowlers quarterback, LaDainian Tomlinson, running back, as well as their offensive line.

Norv Turner, Chargers coach who the Redskins fired during the 2000 season after 13 games said, you work hard getting here. You work hard positioning yourself and work hard getting the bye and game at home. We want to be able to take advantage now.

The players who sat out to heal included Shawne Merriman, outside linebacker, Vincent Jackson, wide receiver, Jacob Hester, fullback, Eric Weddle, safety, and Jacques Cesaire, defensive end.

After their first two possessions San Diego had a 10-0 lead. Rivers was replaced by Volek, who hasn’t had any significant amount of playing time since he lead the Chargers on their winning drive two seasons ago in their 28-24 victory over Indianapolis in the division round playoffs.

Volek said, it fell good getting hit again.

Until the last drive, Volek was mostly unimpressive. Then with 4:25 remaining he led San Diego from their own 42 yard line. Volek was 19 for 30 for a total of 216 yards passing and had one interception.

Volek, who almost got picked off five plays before his winning touchdown pass said, hopefully I won’t be playing during the playoffs. I want Philip to be healthy. However, if they call my number, I need to just get out there and executive whatever plays they call. We’ve been waiting for a long time to get onto the field again. It felt good getting a chance to show fans what we are able to do.

San Diego took the lead on a field goal of 47 yards from Nate Kaeding, and a scoring pass of 12 yards from Rivers to Antonio Gates, Pro Bowler tight end. Rivers had several overthrows and went 9 for 15 for a total of 99 yards passing.

River said, anytime you put your uniform on you want to get a win. We had guys get more time playing than they usually get, but also guys from all year that you never know if or when they will get called upon. We’re heading into the playoffs and have won 11 games in a row. Going forward that doesn’t mean anything necessarily. It a clean slate for all of us. It was great getting the win though.

Early on Washington looked very inept. Late first quarter they even chose to punt when on the 34 yard line of the Chargers.

Early second quarter a Kaeding field goal from 24 yards out gave the Chargers a lead of 13-0.

Washington scored on back to back drives during the second quarter, taking the lead at 14-13. Jason Campbell connected on a touchdown pass of 2 yards to Todd Yoder. On the next drive for the Skins on the first play, Campbell threw a pass of 84 yards to Malcolm Kelly down to the 4 yard line of the Chargers. Campbell, three plays later found a wide open Mike Sellers inside the end zone.

During the second half for the Redskins Graham Gano had field goals of 26 and 22 yards, Kaeding kicked one from 45 yards for the Chargers.

Campbell went 28 for 42 for a total of 281 yards passing.

Kelly said, that was a bad loss. A terrible loss really. With all that’s gone on for the team, it kind of just sums things up today. You get down to the end once again having the game won but lose it once again. We need to find some way of putting it all together. We will I think. I think this year we should have been able to do it much sooner.

Firing Zorn probably won’t be the Redskins only change.

Campbell said, the team in lots of ways will be broken up.

San Diego got their bye for the first round and Philip Rivers still has a perfect December record.

Tennessee lost their bid to make NFL history along with their dream of a post season. They looked more like the team starting out their season at 0-6.

Philip Rivers passed for two touchdowns and LaDainian Tomlinson had two running touchdowns, as the Chargers defeated the Titans on Friday night 42-17 and became the No. 2 seed in the AFC and got a bye in the playoffs first round.

Rivers said, it’s nice getting the number two seed. Also keeping our December streak going and positioning ourselves for the post season. It really says a lot about coach Turner and our guys.

The champs of the AFC West won their 10th consecutive game, tying the 1970-74 Dolphins with the most consecutive victories for a month. They have won 18 games in a row during the month of December since 2006. Miami won 18 consecutive games during November.

Running back Darren Sproles ran for two touchdowns and also caught a pass for a touchdown to help the Chargers (12-3) shatter the dreams of the Titans to become the first team in the NFL to start 0-6 for the season and then make it into the playoffs. The Titans (7-8) were hoping to beat what the Chargers were able to do in 1994 when they made it to the playoffs after starting the season 0-4.

The Chargers were on a roll, out gaining the Titans 425 to 270 total offensive yards and held the football for 39 minutes. Turner gave credit to his offensive line, featuring the return of Nick Hardwick at center after he had been out since the opening game, with allowing Rivers to play.

Turner said, he does it well. Our guys obviously right now are playing with lots of confidence. A run of 10 wins, I don’t think we’ve felt that we are on a 10 game winning streak. We’ve been winning our games one by one. It’s a cliché, I know, but that’s what we have done. I am most proudest of that.

The quest by Chris Johnson to become just the sixth player in the NFL to ever run for 2,000 yards during one season is alive. It’s the only goal Tennessee has left. Johnson had one running touchdown and 142 yards rushing to give him 1,872 yards. He has the season finale in Seattle remaining. Johnson also had his tenth 100 yard running game in a row, trailing only Barry Sanders with 14 games and Marcus Allen with 11.

Johnson is only 234 short of the single season rushing record held by Eric Dickerson at 2,105 yards.

Johnson said, anything is doable. I think I can do that.

Jeff Fisher, Titans coach, hasn’t beat San Diego yet.

Fisher said, this team had life. Lots of life. We kind of just lost it.

Tennessee who was missing starting linebackers David Thornton and Keith Bullock due to injuries, fell apart. Vince Young did run to get a touchdown. However the Chargers were able to get 21 points off of Young’s three turnovers. The Titans also had a season high nine penalties in the game.

Young said, I had too many turnovers. That was definitely pretty much it. Every time we started to get into any kind of rhythm, I had a turnover. I can’t do that.

Rivers, a native of Alabama, had a cheering section of his own of approximately 70 friend and family. Rivers gave them lots to celebrate over.

Rivers, who was playing only two hours from his childhood home said, it had a feeling of playing in my own backyard.

The Chargers quarterback passed for 264 yards, going over the 4,000 yards passing mark for the second season in a row. He led San Diego to touchdowns on six drives out of seven before he left the game early fourth quarter. The only exception was when he kneeled down to close out the first half. The third rate passer in the NFL was able to pick apart the Titans defense, which is ranked next to last for yards allowed in the NFL.

Rivers said, our rhythm was as good as we’ve had all year. It’s like a guy hitting a few 3 point baskets in a row or something.

Tomlinson scored two touchdowns on runs from one yard out. The first score gave the Chargers a 7-3 lead. They never lost it. It was also the 137th rushing touchdown for Tomlinson this decade, surpassing Emmit Smith’s 136 touchdowns for most in one decade that he made during the 1990s. The second touchdown for Tomlinson gave him 138.

On the first touchdown drive for San Diego in the game, three Titan players received neutral zone penalties. The Titans also received two 15 yard penalties on the same play during another San Diego touchdown drive. William Hayes, defensive end, shoved Rivers late. The officials then flagged Chuck Cecil, Titans defensive coordinator, for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Fisher said, Philip does a great job with his snap count at the line, but there is any need for that. It’s borderline selfish. All we need to do is play football. When the ball starts to move, then move. Don’t just guess.

Since Young came off the bench, he had been almost perfect playing at home. He had a 7-1 record starting and had just four turnovers. On successive drives during the second quarter he turned the ball over twice. First Brandon Siler intercepted a pass on the 19 yard line of the Titans. Then he fumbled while scrambling at midfield.

After both of the mistakes by Young, Rivers made Tennessee pay. After scrambling he spotted a wide open Antonio Gates to a touchdown pass of 36 yards. The score was upheld by a review. Fisher challenged the play questioning whether Rivers was over the line when he threw the ball. After the fumble by Young, Rivers threw a touchdown pass of 3 yards over to Sproles.

By the time San Diego was able to breathe, they had clinched the AFC West title for the fourth year in a row and pulled a dramatic win out over a grieving Bengals team.

Late Sunday afternoon at Qualcomm, it was crazy there for several minutes.

With three seconds remaining Nate Kaeding booted a field goal of 52 yards, and San Diego rallied to defeat the Bengals 27-24, who just 51 seconds earlier had gotten a field goal from 34 yards from Shayne Graham to tie the game.

After the Chargers (11-3) won their game, a few minutes later with thousands of fans still inside the stadium, San Diego clinched their division title when the Broncos lost to the Raiders.

Kaeding said, it’s all a blur. Dean Spanos, team president, walked by and gave the kicker his division championship cap as he talked to reporters.

Some of the Charger players were watching the television as Denver, who on October 19 led San Diego by a margin of 3 ½ games, lost to Oakland 20-19.

Shawne Merriman, outside linebacker said, this feels incredible.

San Diego improved their December record since 2006 to 17-0.

The winning kick from Kaeding came after Rivers had led San Diego down field 46 yards in just 51 seconds without having any timeouts and after Dennis Norman, the backup center came into snap after starter Scott Mruckzkowski sprained his ankle.

Rivers said, we did what we need to do to get things done. For the game Rivers had three touchdown passes, with two of them going to Vincent Jackson.

Kaeding said, Philip is the man, adding that had been one of the biggest kicks for him. I wouldn’t want anyone else in there under center for us.

In that type of situation, there was lots of adrenaline with everything coming right down to the last minute to go for the win. Once it went off my foot, then I knew it would be good. From there the mayhem ensued.

Due to other results, before halftime the Chargers had a playoff spot clinched already.

The Bengals (9-5) for the second week in a row failed to clinch the title for the AFC North. They were playing just three days following the death of Chris Henry, their receiver. He died on Thursday, the day after he fell from the back of a truck in Charlotte, N.C. while in the middle of what was described by police as a domestic dispute between him and his finance. Henry had been on the injured reserve list for the season.

Andre Whitworth, Bengals tackle said, the main thing that we’d people to understand is Chris is someone who was able to turn his life around. Our football team did the same thing. He is a symbol of what we after.

Early third quarter after Chad Ochocinco scored a touchdown on a pass of 49 yards from Carson Palmer giving Cincinnati a lead of 10-7, Ochocinco got down on his knees and with his right hand touched his heart.

Ochocinco said, it was an empty feeling. Without him it was more than football. I was playing today with an extra heart, extra pair of legs, and extra two hands.

The Bengals wore No. 15 decals, Henry’s number, on their helmets. Bengals fans had signs to remember Henry, including one that said RIP 15.

Carson Palmer, Bengals quarterback, said he had never experienced a stretch of four days like that before. He said that having Henry die and then having to play was surreal. He said until the team attended the funeral for Henry on Tuesday that it wouldn’t sink in.

It appeared that the Bengals were driving to get the go-ahead touchdown. However they ended up being lucky just to get a field goal to tie the game.

On first down and 16 from San Diego’s 25 yard line, Palmer connected on a pass with Andrew Caldwell. Eric Weddle hit Caldwell then Tim Dobbins, linebacker, knocked the ball out with his helmet. The football sailed backwards to the 45 yard line. Palmer recovered the ball and then with two completions got Cincinnati to within field goal range.

Mid third quarter, with the Bengals trailing 14-13, Palmer missed on a pass intended for Ochocinco with the ball going straight to Quentin Jammer, Chargers cornerback. Jackson two plays later was able to get behind Leon Hall, cornerback, and caught a touchdown pass of 34 yards to give San Diego a lead of 21-13.

A field goal of 33 yards was added by Kaeding to increase the Chargers lead to 11 points.

Early fourth quarter Philip Rivers was intercepted by Keith Rivers, setting up a touchdown pass of 2 yards from Palmer to Laveranues Coles. Palmer than ran the ball in for the two point conversion to make the score 24-21.

At halftime, the Chargers had a 14-13 lead. Rivers had touchdown passes to Antonio Gates for 3 yards and Jackson for 21 yards.

Ochocinco had his 49 yard touchdown catch. Twice the Bengals were forced to settle for Graham field goals after having drives get bottled up while inside the 10 yard line of the Chargers.

The December trends are holding: the Chargers and Philip Rivers are perfect, and the Cowboys and Tony Romo are miserable during the regular season’s most important month.

Rivers broke a tie in the fourth quarter with a touchdown pass of 14 yards to Antonio Gates. After that he followed things up with a drive eating up over seven minutes of the game clock that ended with a field goal, as the Chargers defeated the Cowboys on Sunday 20-17 keeping San Diego on a roll and Dallas reeling as the playoffs approach.

The Chargers (19-3) won their eighth game in a row and are right on the verge to clinching another AFC West title. Since Rivers became San Diego’s starting quarterback, San Diego has a 16-0 record in the month of December.

Rivers said, in December you want to peak not fade out. During the past several years we’ve done that. We just haven’t been able to keep that going in January. This year hopefully we will keep things going into 2010.

The last ll wins in December for San Diego have come with Norv Turner as their coach, the man Jerry Jones, Cowboys owner, decided against hiring last time the Dallas head coaching position was open. Instead Jones selected Wade Phillips. In December he hasn’t gotten what he paid for. After this loss they are 3-7 in December. Over three Novembers, Octobers and Septembers he lost seven games in total.

All week the players talked about wanting to get a win to boost the job security of Phillips. However during key points in the game they failed on both defense and offense.

Dallas (8-5) now for the very first time during the season have consecutive losses. They head to New Orleans for their show down on Saturday night with the undefeated Saints. They may have to play without DeMarcus Ware, their star linebacker. In the fourth quarter Ware sprained his neck and was hospitalized.

Romo said, it might not appear we are playing our best football, but that can get turned around quickly. I think out football team can do that.

Although the game did get decided late, things did tilt in the favor of San Diego during the first half. San Diego held Dallas to just one field goal over drives featuring first downs at the 27, 16 and 3 yard lines.

The first good scoring opportunity for Dallas ended with the Cowboys scoring a field goal to give them a 3-0 lead. On the next long drive for the Cowboys, Marion Barber was able to get to the one yard line on first down. However on three straight runs after that he was stuffed. On fourth down, Dallas moved him to halfback from fullback. However no one was fooled.

Tim Dobbins, Chargers linebacker who was part of all of the three tackles said, they don’t pay him to block. We knew the play would be a dive or flip. I don’t know what the Cowboys were thinking. Do they watch game film?

Rivers was intercepted while throwing inside his end zone, giving the Cowboys another scoring opportunity. It was wasted when a field goal attempt of 42 yards was missed by Folk. It’s the fifth game in the row that Folk has missed a field goal. This season he’s missed more field goals than he did during the first two years of his career combined.

Phillips said, you need to make a good percentage of those. He isn’t making the percentage.

On the third quarter’s final play, Dallas tied the score 10-10. The 99 yard drive was capped by Romo throwing a touchdown pass of 6 yards to Miles Austin. Play was halted soon after that for several minutes when Ware lay out on the turf following him ramming his helmet into a San Diego lineman’s leg while running at full speed.

As the stretcher neared the ambulance, Ware flashed the “W” using his fingers. The crowd of 90,552 got so loud with their cheering that a false start was called on the Chargers.

Rivers on third down and 12 at the 47 yards line connected on a pass of 39 yards to Vincent Jackson, before throwing the touchdown pass for the go ahead score to Gates.

After Romo and the Cowboys failed to respond, San Diego iced the win with a drive of 15 plays that lasted 7:17 minutes. It was capped by a Nate Kaeding field goal from 34 yards. Nine of LaDainian Tomlinson’s 21 carries, along with 27 of his total 50 yards came on the drive.

Tomlinson said, there’s nothing that is more satisfying then doing it like that.

With 1:56 remaining in the game and trailing by 10 points, Romo did manage a touchdown. However the Cowboys didn’t score until there were only 2 second remaining in the game. Gates then caught the onside kick attempt to prevent the Cowboys from getting a last opportunity.

Jones said, this pill is a bitter one to swallow.

Rivers went 21 for 32 for a total of 272 yards passing and had one touchdown. It was the 100th touchdown of his career. His interception was the first for him in five games.

Gates had 44 receiving yards, passing the 1,000 yard mark for the second time, while Jackson had seven catches for a total of 120 yards.

Tomlinson got his 10th touchdown for the season, extending his NFL record to nine consecutive years that he’s hit the mark. It occurred in just his second game played in Dallas. Tomlinson is native of Waco and played his college ball in Fort Worth at TCU.

Romo went 19 for 30 for a total of 249 yards passing and had two touchdowns and no interceptions. His December record still went to 5-10.

He did fine as a holder on extra points and field goals for the very first time since the January 2007 playoff game when he had his infamous flub.

When LaDainian Tomlinson went back to the Chargers locker room, there was a special guest waiting for him that wanted to offer his congratulations.

It was Jim Brown.

Tomlinson, as he was heading for the team bus of the Chargers said, yes it was a perfect day. For a long time I have thought about this day coming. If I passed Jim I wanted it to happen in Cleveland. I wanted to be able to talk after the game inside the locker room with him.

Tomlinson stiff-armed the Hall of Famer from Cleveland from the eighth position on the NFL’s all-time career rushing list. He also scored the 150th touchdown of his career on a run of 4 yards as San Diego won their seventh consecutive game and 15th straight in December with their 30-23 defeat of the Browns on Sunday.

Tomlinson was able to fulfill a dream from childhood when he moved past Brown. It started out playing touch football games in Texas.

Tomlinson said, when I was playing football as a kid out in my back yard, I always look to those great running backs. Lots of days out there I would be Jim Brown out on the field. It’s extra special being able to do this right here in Cleveland. It’s hard to tell you what this means. It seems like it was meant to happen in Cleveland.

During the fourth quarter when Tomlinson passed by Brown with his run of 11 yards up the middle, the Chargers running back pointed at Brown sitting up in his luxury suite. Tomlinson patted his heart then saluted him.

Brown says, he’s a very classy guy. We really love each other. The reason I came to the locker room was to show my respect. It doesn’t matter what my position in history is to me. However the respect I give and get is very important to me. I couldn’t ever do what Hugh McElhenny or Walter Payton or Barry Sanders did. They were completely different from me. Trying to make moves like Barry Sanders would break my legs.

Antonio Gates had 167 receiving yards, his career high, for San Diego (9-3). They got off to a slow start and at halftime had only a 13-7 lead. However during the third quarter Philip Rivers led the Chargers on drives for touchdowns of 83 and 85 yards in nine minutes to open their lead up to 27-7.

With 5:58 remaining third quarter the touchdown by Tomlinson gave the Chargers a 20 point lead, and placed him in some elite company with some the greatest NFL players.

Tomlinson scored his 150th touchdown faster than anyone in NFL history, reaching that milestone during his 137th game played. It took Emmit Smith 160 games and Jerry Rice 167 games to reach 150 touchdowns scored.

Tomlinson said, scoring touchdowns is what I enjoy doing more than anything else. One of the reasons is because that’s how you win- by scoring touchdowns. What I always say if if I am scoring touchdowns, I think we are winning. That is special.

Tomlinson was asked if surpassing Brown or scoring his 150th touchdown was better.

Tomlinson said passing Jim Brown. I remember my father talked about Jim Brown when I was a kid. Dad really loved him. Everyone love Jim Brown. Rightfully so. Today even when you are talking about great running backs, most people say Jim Brown was the greatest.

Tomlinson rushed for 64 yards in 20 carries. He now has a total of 12,321 rushing yards in his career. In seventh place all time is Tony Dorsett with his 12,739 career rushing yards.

Rivers had two touchdown passes, both to running backs on short routes, as San Diego continues to surge after starting at 2-3.

With the Cowboys and Bengals looming on their schedule, the Chargers wouldn’t afford overlooking Cleveland (1-11), who has lost seven games in a row with injuries mounting.

At halftime the Chargers appeared to be in some trouble.

However, by the time the third quarter had ended San Diego didn’t have much to be concerned about.

Rivers said, the game got close. Close enough for us to be uncomfortable.

During the third quarter the Chargers dominated the Browns thoroughly. They out gained Cleveland 208 yards to 10 and in passing yards 164 to 0, as they held the football for 12:06 minutes.

During the third quarter Rivers went 7 out of 8 and had four completed passes to Gates for a total of 114 yards. The aerial assault of San Diego’s was highlighted when Gates, a former basketball star at Kent State, boxed Hank Poteat and Abram Elam out to grab the pass of 56 yards.

Tomlinson said, he never stops amazing me. He’s so dominant. He can’t be covered one on one. Antonio looks just like he did when playing basketball. His mindset when the balls’ in the air is it’s all mine.

For the Browns Brady Quinn had three touchdown passes. Cleveland has lost 10 home games in a row, a franchise record. They will need to prepare to play the Steelers, an angry team, on Thursday. On Sunday, Pittsburgh lost to Oakland at home 27-24.

David Bowens, Browns linebacker said, they made lots of big plays. That was key to this game. They’ve got lots of weapons. Gates made big catches and L.T. Is a really great player.

Cleveland, how during the first half had a very cost turnover, was able to make the score respectable when they scored 16 points during the fourth quarter. Quinn connected with Jerome Harrison, running back, on two touchdown scores.

A field goal of 49 yards from Phil Dawson made the score 30-23. However the onside kick was recovered by Tomlinson with 38 seconds left to play.

Tomlinson said, that was the most important play of the game. It sealed the victory.

Along with his perfect day.

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.