On Friday Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers celebrated his 36th birthday. That is a little bit old to playing arguably some of the best football of his career.
Rivers passed another Hall of Famer QB in leading the Chargers to a 30-13 win over the Redskins on Sunday afternoon in Carson. Rivers topped 300 yards passing for the third straight game and hit several big plays in doing it.
The Chargers got a field goal on their first possession, the first time they earned points on their opening drive in the 2017 season. On their next possession Rivers found tight end Hunter Henry for an 8-yard touchdown to cap a 10-play, 90-yard drive.
The Bolts got the ball back one play later. Redskins QB Kirk Cousins made a terrible throw that should have been intercepted by defensive back Trevor Williams but he bobbled it and linebacker Kyle Emanuel, who was hustling over on the play, grabbed it for a pick. That led to another field goal and a 13-0 lead.
Washington kept it interesting for a bit. Cousins found tight end Vernon Davis for a 23-yard touchdown but the extra point was no good so the lead was cut to 13-7.
This time it was the Chargers’ turn for a one-play possession but it ended a lot better than Washington’s. Rivers saw wideout Tyrell Williams running alone down the middle of the field and hit him for a 75-yard touchdown to pump the lead up to 20-6.
When Rivers hit Keenan Allen for an acrobatic 16-yard catch along the sideline in the 2nd quarter he moved past Hall of Famer Warren Moon into 9th place on the NFL’s all-time passing yards list.
In the 3rd quarter the Chargers put it away with a fleaflicker (I honestly have no idea if that’s supposed to be one word or two). Rivers handed off the Melvin Gordon who tossed it back to Rivers who found Keenan Allen for a 51-yard gain down the 1-yard-line. Allen went over 100 yards receiving for the 4th straight game.
Gordon scored on the next play to make it 30-6 and then the Chargers defense made it stand up. Rookie defensive back Desmond King helps stop one drive with his 4th sack of the season and Corey Liuget and Melvin Ingram shared a sack to short-circuit another drive. Washington’s best player might have been Tress Way, who was forced to punt eight times.
Rivers was pulled and replaced by backup Kellen Clemens with 11 minutes left in the game. Philip finished with 319 yards and two touchdowns with, for the 4th straight game, no turnovers. Philip also became just the third QB in NFL history to pass for at least 3,500 yards in at least 10 straight seasons. The others are named Peyton Manning and Drew Brees.
The Chargers move to 7-6 and since the Chiefs beat the Raiders are now in a two-way tie for first place in the AFC West with Kansas City heading into their meeting next Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium.
