Philip Rivers buttoned his orange flannel shirt, slipped into some cowboy boots and slapped on a baseball cap following the San Diego Chargers 21-20 win over the Giants on Sunday at the Meadowlands. At the same time, the Chargers quarterback joked with LaDainian Tomlinson about a 14-yard run he had earlier in the day. Tomlinson, a future Hall of Fame running back, was just as surprised to see the slow-footed Rivers make it that far down the field.
It was that kind of day for San Diego (5-3), who handed the Giants their fourth straight loss after putting together a game-winning drive that wrapped up with just 21 seconds left on the clock. The go-ahead score came on an 18-yard pass from Rivers to an open Vincent Jackson in the right side of the end zone.
“Whenever somebody makes a play, it’s a team effort,” Jackson, who also caught a touchdown earlier in the game, said. “I knew I couldn’t get to it without the linemen protecting Philip and Philip throwing a great ball.”
The Giants (5-4) had an opportunity to make it a two-score game following an interception by rookie cornerback Terrell Thomas with just over three minutes to go. With the ball on the four, the Giants were pushed back to the 14 on a first-down holding penalty by guard Chris Snee. Three failed attempts later left and the Giants were left with only a Lawrence Tynes field goal and a 20-14 lead.
““We’re getting better on third down in all areas,” head coach Norv Turner said. “You play good on third down and you have a chance.”
San Diego’s defense stepped up huge during that last set, and then stood anxiously on the sideline as Rivers drove his team 80 yards with the clock ticking down.
“You put a smile on your face; you tell yourself this is what the NFL is all about,” Chargers defensive end Luis Castillo said. “It’s about big players stepping up in big moments and making big plays. You continue to believe and let it happen.”
The Meadowlands’ weather is synonymous with causing problems for opposing players. The wind changes direction in a matter of seconds and New Jersey’s frigid temps in November make it quite uncomfortable. On Sunday, however, the conditions couldn’t have been more homely for the Chargers: 70 degrees, sunny and almost no wind.
“We brought the San Diego weather with us. It was unreal,” Rivers joked. “A bunch of other coaches said that this is as calm as they’ve ever seen it. It was as good a conditions as you can get.”
Rivers and the Chargers will always be linked to the Giants. The story goes: Giants quarterback Eli Manning never wanted to play for San Diego, who held the first pick in the 2004 NFL Draft. The Chargers still drafted him, which did not go over well with the Manning clan. After some back and forth, the Giants agreed to draft Rivers and trade him to the Chargers for Manning. San Diego also received a pair draft picks in the deal, which ended up being Pro Bowlers Shawne Merriman and Nate Kaeding. Six years later, the Chargers got one heck of a trio and the Giants a Super Bowl.
What transpired that day didn’t create a personal rivalry between Manning and Rivers. In fact, the two are friendly, often exchanging text messages. It’s more or less the San Diego fans who hold ill feelings towards Manning than anything else. This was their first one-on-one meeting, and Rivers (24 of 36, 209 yards, three touchdowns, two interceptions) got the best of his former team of 30 minutes.
Manning finished the afternoon 25-for-33 with 215 yards, two touchdowns and no picks. His touchdowns came on a six-yard pass to wide receiver Steve Smith in the second quarter and an eight yard pass to tight end Kevin Boss in the fourth.
New York continued to struggle running the ball, with Brandon Jacobs garnering just 67 yards and Ahmad Bradshaw 39. Jacobs has yet to have a 100-yard rushing day this season, while Bradshaw’s last came in Week 5 against the Raiders.
The bye couldn’t come soon enough for the Giants, who fell to third place in the NFC East. They’re also now 1.5 games behind the Dallas Cowboys for the division lead.
”The bye is going to be a little more difficult with this game and having to sit there a whole week thinking about we should have finished this game differently,” Boss said. “It’s time to heal up, but it’s going to be a tough week.”
While the Giants are on a bad streak, the Chargers are moving in the complete opposite direction, having won three in a row. These type of last-minute stands help show the makeup of your team. Merriman said he could sense the momentum building in their favor at the start of this winning streak.
“That was one of those things where our backs were against the wall and we know we have to go out and win games and we’re doing that now,” the former Defensive Player of the Year said.
“This is something we’ve talked about is gaining that confidence and we’ve been in this situation before where we’ve went on a winning streak, at times 10 games before,” Tomlinson added. “This is how you do it. You win in tough places like New York, you win games at home. You just keep on building that confidence and everybody starts to buy into it and believe that no matter what happens you’re going to end up on the winning side.”
Tomlinson, who had the third-worst rushing day of his career with 22 rushing yards, said they haven’t had a come-from-behind win like this since Week 10 of last season against the Kansas City Chiefs. There, San Diego scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to grab the 20-19 victory.
San Diego’s defense played well throughout the game, picking up five sacks, including two by Merriman. The unit also had three big stops on third-and-short.
“It was as much a team win as you can get,” Rivers said. “It took all 45 guys dressed to get the win.”