Eddie Royal ran so fast even his white and brown striped socks were blurry.

On Monday night, Royal became the Broncos’ first player in franchise history to return both a punt and kickoff for touchdowns in a single game, as undefeated Denver defeated San Diego 34-23.

Royal thought that a Charger did touch him on his first quarter kickoff return of 93 yards. During the second quarter on his punt return of 71 yards he went untouched.

Speaking of his second return Royal said, man it felt great. The guys made some great blocks. I give them lots of credit. It was like hitting a home run. They really opened seams up for me.

Royal became the NFL’s 11th player to ever return a punt and kickoff for touchdowns in one game.

Darren Sproles, who is one of the players who has had a punt return and kickoff for touchdowns in a single game, returned a punt 77 yards to score for San Diego.

Three touchdown returns in the game tied an NFL record.

Royal said San Diego has special teams players that are very aggressive and Denver knew they needed to take those Chargers out.

He said, you need to believe it’s possible before you can do it. I have lots of faith in these guys that are in front. I wasn’t really surprised.

Josh McDaniels, Broncos coach, agreed with Royal.

McDaniels said, our guys really make some great blocks to give Eddie an opportunity to get started.

Norv Turner, Chargers coach said, no matter who you play, when you give two big returns up on a kickoff and punt that makes things tough.

It’s the fifth time in team history that Denver has had a 6-0 record. It’s the first time since 1998 when they went 13-0 and won their second Super Bowl in a row behind John Elway. The win gives them an AFC West 3 ½ game lead over San Diego (2-3), three time division champion.

Philip Rivers, Chargers quarterback said, it will be tough. We need to get over the loss quick. Otherwise we will get into trouble in Kansas City. This is a short week for us.

Elvis Dumervil, Broncos outside linebacker, had two sacks, extending his lead in the NFL to 10. Rivers fumbled on Dumervil’s second sack and Vinnie Holliday recovered the ball to set up a field goal of 29 yards from Matt Prater. Denver had five sacks on Rivers. Three of them occurred during the fourth quarter.

Denver didn’t score a touchdown on offense until late third quarter when Kyle Orton connected on a pass of 19 yards to Tony Scheffler, tight end, giving Denver a lead of 24-23. A Prater field goal was added by the Bronco and a touchdown catch of 5 yards by Brandon Stockley. Stokley’s touchdown was challenged but a review upheld the score.

Orton said, it’s tough losing when you get two special teams scores.

After San Diego had to settle for the field goal after a sensational late first quarter drive, Royal fielded the kickoff on the 7 yard line. At around the 35 yard line he spotted a big hole, cutting inside of Nate Kaeding, the kicker, on the 50 yard line and then ran down the sideline, giving Denver a lead of 7-3.

Royal during the second quarter fielded a punt from Mike Scifres on a bounce on the 29 yard line, then worked to the inside and outraced San Diego’s coverage on the outside. That made the score 17-10 in favor of Denver.

At first the electrifying runs of Royal silenced the fans at Qualcomm Stadium, but then had the fans booing.

Then Sproles was able to get some action. He had a 77 yard punt return to score a touchdown and give San Diego a halftime lead of 20-17. Sproles caught the punt from Brett Kern, raced down the sideline. On the 50 yard line he got a good block, then cut inside and scored.

Sproles on November 11, 2007 returned a kickoff and punt for touchdowns during San Diego’s 23-21 victory versus Indianapolis.

During the first quarter San Diego ran 22 plays, while Denver only ran six. The game appeared to be more fast break basketball instead of football.

In fact, as Dumervil was about to drag Rivers down he threw a chest pass with two hands over to LaDainian Tomlinson on the second drive for the Chargers to gain 21 yards.

It was one of Rivers’ four passes on the drive of 13 yards at least. The drive started on the 6 yard line of San Diego but stalled, leading to drama on the sideline that involved Tomlinson.

On third down and goal at the 2 yard line, Tomlinson wasn’t out on the field. Sproles got stuffed on a no gain play. Norv Turner looked chagrined and San Diego was forced to settle for a field goal of 20 yards from Kaeding.

Tomlinson paced along the sideline and then flipped his helmet. A few minutes later Turner and he spoke, but L.T. didn’t seem to be looking at his coach.

With six seconds to play first quarter, Rivers connected on a touchdown pass of 3 yards to Vincent Jackson, giving the Chargers a 10-7 lead.