Philip Rivers leads San Diego Chargers comeback
San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers furthered his case for league MVP by leading his team back from being down 23-14 to win 29-23 against the Houston Texans on Sunday, 7 November.
How it happened
Houston Texans running back Arian Foster ran for 127 yards on the day and scored two touchdowns in the first half as the Texans led 20-14 going into half time.
All of San Diego's scores came through the air as Rivers threw touchdown passes to receiver Seyi Ajirotutu and tight end Randy McMichael in each half.
Rivers, once again, put together a tremendous performance throwing for 295 yards and four touchdowns, with most of his starting receiving corps out of the lineup, including Antonio Gates, Malcolm Floyd
and Legedu Naanee.
What they're saying
With so many receivers out of the lineup, the Chargers made room in their roster for Ajirotutu, who had an impressive day with four catches for 111 yards including a 55-yard touchdown catch in the first
half.
"I'm going to hold onto this for a while," the 23-year-old rookie said. "I'll probably let it go after the bye week. I'm just glad I was able to get it. There was a lot of people that helped contribute
to this win and I'm just glad I was able to get one."
Nine games into the season and Rivers is just 56 yards shy of 3000 yards and remains on pace to shatter Dan Marino's single season passing record.
"He can make any throw," Turner said head coach Nerv Turner. "He understands what we're doing. He makes a lot of guys look like real good players, and we got some young guys that are going to be good players."
What it all means
After a horrendous start to the season, the Chargers have finally pieced together two wins in a row. With the Oakland Raiders beating the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, the Chargers now find themselves
very much back in the thick of things in the AFC West after improving their record to 4-5.
Things aren't nearly as bleak as they were two weeks ago, but the Chargers are still under pressure to win just about every game from here on in if they hope to make the play-offs for a fifth-straight
season. They now go into their bye week and play host to the Denver Broncos on Monday, 22 November.
Unlike the Chargers, the Texans seem headed in the opposite direction after now losing two in a row. At 4-4, they find themselves in last place in the ultra-competitive AFC South Division. They have a
must-win game against division rivals the Jacksonville Jaguars next Sunday, 14 November.
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