Philip Rivers was the star of the show as San Diego Chargers beat Indianapolis Colts 19-9 on Monday.
Chargers improved their position to 3-3 for the season with the win. Much of the pre-game talk was about how the Chargers will stop the much-hyped Colts' offence. However, the defence of both teams were impressive in a low-scoring match.
"We knew if we didn't turn the ball over and we sustained drives, which we did - we had some 12, 14, 16-play drives - that we'd give ourselves a chance to win," Rivers said. "We didn't go into the game saying 'Let's play ball control'".
"We wanted to score as many points as we could. We didn't score that many, but we did sustain drives. I thought Keenan Allen stepped up big. They were doubling Gatesy (Antonio Gates) a lot, and Danny Woodhead stepped up big. The offensive line was great. That's the way we need to be able to run the football. If we can mix the run in, we got a chance," he added.
Indianapolis started the game on the front foot by opening the scoring. However, the Chargers took control of the game gradually and went into the halftime leading 10-6. They continued the good work in the second half and scored their third field goal early in the fourth quarter to take the score to 16-6. The Colts, however, reduced the lead with a field goal of their own and made it 16-9.
San Diego dominated the game for most parts but were unable to put the result beyond doubt till the late stages. They struggled to score before Nick Novak drilled a 50-yard goal to take the score to 19-9. The Colts tried to get back into the game through Andrew Luck but were unable to push the Chargers.
