The Sports Xchange
Nov 29, 2015
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Veteran quarterback Philip Rivers carved up the Jacksonville Jaguars secondary for 300 passing yards and four touchdown passes Sunday in leading the visiting San Diego Chargers to a 31-25 win over Jaguars.
Rivers picked apart the Jaguars, completing 29 of 43 passes for a passer rating of 118 in sending the Chargers to a fifth consecutive win over the Jaguars in the last six years. Three of Rivers' scoring tosses came in the second quarter.
It was his fourth and final TD pass that secured the win for the Chargers (3-8), who ended a six-game losing streak. That pass completed a 14-play march that covered 80 yards and took over six minutes off the clock late in the fourth quarter.
Rivers completed 6 of 9 passes for 61 yards in the drive, the last 5 yards coming on a pass to wide receiver Stevie Johnson in the end zone.
Rivers' biggest play may have come with his feet. He scrambled for 8 yards on a fourth-and-7 play, diving for the first-down marker to keep the drive going.
His first scoring toss was a 2-yard completion to wide receiver Dontrelle Inman to erase the Jaguars' 6-0 lead. It came on the fourth play of the second quarter.
The Jaguars retook the lead on a third field goal from Jason Meyers at 9-7, but Rivers directed a 13-play, 84-yard march. This time he connected with tight end Antonio Gates in the corner of the end zone for a 9-yard scoring play.
After the Chargers intercepted a Blake Bortles pass deep in Jaguars territory, it was the same combination of Rivers to Gates, this time from 12 yards out, to give the Chargers a 21-9 halftime advantage.
Jacksonville pulled to within five points at 24-19 when Bortles connected with tight end Julius Thomas from 21 yards out with just under 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter. But that's when Rivers put together his best drive of the day, taking 14 plays to eat up 6:13 on the clock and giving the Chargers an insurmountable 12-point lead.
The Jaguars made a late push to pull out a win, blocking a San Diego punt with 1:30 left in the game. The Jaguars scored in two plays, Bortles connecting with wide receiver Allen Robinson for an 8-yard score. But San Diego recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock.
NOTES: The Jaguars scored on their opening drive for the just the third time this year when Jason Meyers converted a 22-yard field goal. The Jaguars have two field goals and one touchdown on their 10 opening drives this season ... San Diego was without starting offensive linemen D. J. Fluker and King Dunlap due to injuries ... Jaguars wide receiver Allen Hurns was taken off the field on a stretcher late in the game after suffering a concussion. He waved to the crowd and gave a thumbs up sign as he was taken off ... Philip Rivers became the 17th quarterback in NFL history to surpass 40,000 passing yards. He did it Sunday in his 159th game, the fourth fewest games in NFL history to reach the 40,000-yard plateau ... The 21 points were the most allowed by the Jaguars in the first half this season.