All night long, the Chargers made big plays. Mostly, by throwing the ball downfield against a Patriots secondary that got banged up throughout the game.
"We felt like we had to take some shots on these guys – just with the size advantage and single outside coverage," said San Diego QB Philip Riversin a *San Diego Union-Tribune *account. "As a quarterback, it's tough to not give these guys a jump ball every now and then."
Rivers, who went 8-for-12 for a career-high 134 yards and a touchdown in the first quarter, also spoke afterwards about how crucial his team's goal-line stand and subsequent touchdown to start the second half was.
"You go from, they have a chance to cut it to seven, to you're up 21, just like that in a five-play span," Rivers said in a *Los Angeles Times *story. "I get in the huddle ... and say, `Hey guys, let's go 98.' And then when it happens, you feel like you got them going."
On the other side of the ball, the Charger D took advantage of the relative inexperience of Pats QB Matt Cassel, as ESPN.com points out.
"He did more moving around than Brady, and with experience he'll become better with that," Chargers safety Clinton Harttold reporters. "He held the ball a lot more than Brady would've. That's inexperience.
"We put pressure on him and gave him looks that I'm pretty sure that he wasn't confident in seeing because we were moving around back there."
QUICK HITS
With two devastating losses in its first five games, the Patriots desperately miss two of their key components, as noted in a Providence Journal column.
Meanwhile, the *Boston Herald *says the Pats problems of late are not only troubling signs for the present, but the team's future as well.
Also on Sunday, Patriots owner Robert Kraftshared his thoughts with reporters about the status of injured QB **Tom Brady**.
