NFL Week 11: San Diego Chargers Defeat Denver Broncos, 35-14

After the Denver Broncos scored a quick touchdown in the opening minutes of the game, the next couple of drives for both teams didn't result in much. But when the San Diego Chargers had a fourth down, Mike Scifres looked ready to punt the ball.

Instead, Scifres took the ball and did his best imitation of quarterback Philip Rivers. He found an open Mike Tolbert running across the middle of the field, threw a strike to him and gained 28 yards for the first down. That play took the Broncos out the game.

A few plays later, Philip Rivers connected with receiver Malcom Floyd in the end zone for a six-yard touchdown play. Tied at seven now, the Chargers would go on to score an unanswered 28 more points. The Broncos didn't score a second touchdown until the fourth quarter, when Kyle Orton and Brandon Lloyd hooked up for a 13-yard touchdown.

The Denver Broncos lost 35-14 and are now 3-7 for the season. The playoffs are all but a pipe dream right now.

h/t to SB Nation

A 35-14 loss to the San Diego Chargers was not want the Denver Broncos wanted after a 49-29 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs a week ago. Yet, that was exactly what happened on Monday Night Football. Despite a promising start, the Denver Broncos showed themselves to be more like the team that played horribly before the bye week.

The Broncos had a quick scoring drive to open the game when offense went 69 yards on six plays, capped by a Knowshon Moreno four-yard touchdown run. He had 22 rushing yards on that drive alone, and then finished with 58 yards on 13 carries at the end of the game. The offense fizzled after that.

Kyle Orton was 24-of-38 for 217 yards and a touchdown, but he also threw an interception into the waiting hands of cornerback Antoine Cason. That was partly due to pressure from the defensive line, partly due to a lack of adequate pass protection and partly to Brandon Lloyd running a bad route. Lloyd hauled in six catches for 78 yards and a touchdown reception, which came in the fourth quarter. Also, Knowshon Moreno was the beneficiary of seven passes for 62 yards.

The San Diego Chargers scored 35 straight points before Orton and Lloyd hooked up for that touchdown in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Philip Rivers continued his hot season with four touchdown passes and 233 passing yards. Punter Mike Scifres had a key pass completion when he completed a 28-yard pass to Mike Tolbert. That eventually set up Philip Rivers' first touchdown pass, a six-yard completion to Malcom Floyd. He also had touchdown passes to Darren Sproles (57 yards), Patrick Crayton (40 yards in a total of 105) and Jacob Hester (three yards).

Mike Tolbert started at running back in place of the injured Ryan Mathews and contributed greatly to the winning effort. He racked up 111 yards on the ground, including a one-yard touchdown run, and caught two passes for 42 yards.

Champ Bailey made an interception on deep pass by Philip Rivers to Malcom Floyd. Bailey kept his eyes trained on the ball and made the leaping grab over Floyd to haul in his 48th career interception. It was his 30th with the Broncos, tied for sixth all-time with Dennis Smith in the franchise's record book.

Here are the latest AFC West standings:

The Broncos will need a miracle of epic proportions to make a run at the playoffs now after this loss. The Broncos host the 4-6 St. Louis Rams this Sunday at Invesco Field at Mile High.

Will the Denver Broncos put up a fight in the last minutes of the game? If so, Kyle Orton and Brandon Lloyd will be leading the charge. The two just hooked up for a 13-yard touchdown. This scoring drive also saw some key plays involving Knowshon Moreno. On the first two plays of the drive, Moreno caught a 14-yard pass and then ran for a 12-yard gain. He also caught a six-yard pass, but that gain was negated on the next play when Orton was sacked for a seven-yard loss.

The Broncos are down, 35-14, in the fourth quarter.

The San Diego Chargers are blowing out the Denver Broncos, 35-7. The Chargers just scored their 35th unanswered point since the Broncos had a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. This latest scoring drive started on San Diego’s own 47-yard line and took 53 yards on 11 plays to result in a Philip Rivers three-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Hester. Six and one-half minutes came off the clock during that drive.

Rivers now has four passing touchdowns, equaling the number he had two weeks ago against the Houston Texans.

The San Diego Chargers wasted no time in adding to their already large lead over the Denver Broncos. It took only two minutes and a 57-yard reception by Darren Sproles to increase the Chargers’ lead to 28-7. Sproles was off to the races once he caught that pass.

Broncos safety Briand Dawkins has not looked good out there tonight.

The Denver Broncos started this game off quickly with a Knowshon Moreno touchdown run, but the team cooled off considerably after that opening drive. By the end of the half, the San Diego defense squelched the Denver Broncos offense.

The San Diego Chargers scored 21 unanswered points, 14 in the second quarter. Philip Rivers was 9-of-15 for 138 yards with two touchdowns and an interception, but it was Mike Scifres’ pass on a fake punt that got things going for the Chargers. Scifres completed a 28-yard pass to Mike Tolbert that eventually set up a six-yard touchdown pass to Malcom Floyd.

Rivers has found a connection tonight with receiver Patrick Crayton, accounting for a total of 105 yards in the air and a touchdown. Mike Tolbert, starting with Ryan Mathews out, scored the Chargers’ third touchdown of the game.

For the Broncos, Kyle Orton was 12-of-21 with 134 passing yards and an interception. On that interception, receiver Brandon Lloyd ran a bad route and poor pass protection led Kyle Orton to force a throw to escape the pressure. Knowshon Moreno has had several good runs (including his one for a touchdown), but he has only nine rushes for 39 yards.

Champ Bailey made a leaping interception on Malcom Floyd and Philip Rivers for the 48th of his career. As a Bronco, Bailey is now tied for sixth in Denver Broncos history with 30 interceptions. He is tied with Dennis Smith.

Make that 21 unanswered points for the San Diego Chargers after Philip Rivers made a short dump pass to Patrick Crayton. Crayton then ran the ball 40 yards for the touchdown. With tight end Antonio Gates out, Patrick Crayton has become a playmaker for the Chargers.

The Denver Broncos’ Champ Bailey made his 48th career interception when vied for the ball in the air with Chargers wider receiver Malcom Floyd. Philip Rivers had launched a deep pass, but Bailey had his eye on the ball the entire time and was able to make the play on Floyd.

The San Diego Chargers have scored 14 unanswered points to take a 14-7 lead in the second quarter. This scoring drive featured a 16-yard pass play by Philip Rivers to Patrick Crayton, which then had 15 yards tacked on to it because Ryan McBean committed a personal foul. That was immediately followed by another Rivers-to-Crayton play for 49 yards.

One play later, Jacob Hester ran for one yard, but the Broncos’ Kevin Vickerson committed a personal foul against Chargers’ tackle Ryan McNeill. Two plays later Mike Tolbert scored a touchdown to put the Chargers up, 14-7.

Only moments after Kyle Orton made a deep, incomplete pass to Brandon Lloyd in the end zone, the quarterback threw an interception that landed in the hands of Antoine Cason at San Diego’s 32-yard line. He returned it to Denver’s 40-yard line.

Brandon Lloyd, it appears, misplayed his route and there was poor pass protection as well.

In the two drives after Knowshon Moreno put the Broncos up by seven, neither team was able to do anything on the next two drives. However, the Chargers started something on their next drive. Facing a 4th-and-14, Chargers punter Mike Scifres successfully completed a fake punt pass to Mike Tolbert for 28 yards. Tolbert then rushed for another 16 yards before Philip Rivers and Malcom Floyd connected for a six-yard touchdown reception.

The Broncos and Chargers are tied at seven.

The Denver Broncos jumped out to an early lead for the second straight week when Knowshon Moreno ran four yards for a touchdown, putting the Bronos up 7-0. Kyle Orton and Brandon Lloyd had two key completions for 21 yards and 18 yards to help set up Moreno near the goal line. Moreno had a total of three rushing plays for 22 yards.

San Diego running back Mike Tolbert wasted no team in providing the Denver Broncos with some choice sound bytes prior to their Monday night contest.

Their demeanor. Ever since they've gotten a new coach, their demeanor is high and mighty and we want to knock them off their high horse," Tolbert said. "Everybody calls us one of the most talented teams in the NFL and we want to go out and prove it every Sunday. This time we get to do it on Monday in front of millions and millions of people.

Tolbert will most likely be starting for a Chargers team that is facing a rising number of injuries. He and quarterback Phillip Rivers will need to be mistake free against a Bronco team that has shown a pretty consistent ability to put up some points. People can argue whether or not a little trash talk can help a professional team find a little extra motivation in a divisional match-up like this, but it certainly can't help the Chargers case at all.