Philip Rivers broke the San Diego Chargers’ all-time career passing touchdown record of 254 Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals, but the Chargers lost the penalty-marred game, 24-19.
Rivers’ record-breaking touchdown to pass Dan Fouts came in the third quarter on a 10-yard strike to Stevie Johnson
“Obviously it’s crazy to think about really,” Rivers said to Chargers.com after the game. “It’s not as sweet right now because you lose the game but I’ll look back one day or look back tomorrow morning and take a deep breath and be thankful that I’ve played that long to throw that many, and really be thankful for all the guys who contributed to those.”
That touchdown brought the Chargers to within one, 14-13, but after the team recovered a Jeremy Hill fumble, Josh Lambo missed a 47-yard field goal that would have given the Chargers the lead.
Cincinnati then went on to score 10 unanswered points on a field goal and a nine-yard touchdown pass to tight end Tyler Eifert.
Malcolm Floyd caught a 40-yard touchdown to cut the score to 24-19 late in the fourth quarter, but Rivers was picked off on the team’s final drive of the game, pushing the Chargers to 1-1 on the season.
Rivers finished the day 21-for-27 with two touchdowns and an interception, while his running back Melvin Gordon rushed for 88 yards on 16 carries.
Danny Woodhead led all players with six receptions for 68 yards.
Cincinnati quarterback Andy Dalton passed for all three of the Bengals’ touchdowns, the longest being a 45-yard pass to Marvin Jones in the second quarter.
Keenan Allen takes a step back
After his career day Week 1 against Detroit, Keenan Allen struggled on special teams and as a receiver in Sunday’s loss.
Due to Jacoby Jones being inactive with an injury, Allen was forced to take over punt return duties and muffed his first attempt of the game, which lead to a 16-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Green.
Allen was also a lot less active in the receiving game compared to last week, hauling in two catches for 16 yards.
Last week Allen was targeted 17 times, which led to 15 catches for 166 yards, one of the best days by a wide receiver in the team’s history.
The touchdown that almost was
A turning point in the game came just before the end of the first half, when it appeared Manti Te’o jarred the ball loose from Dalton and Jerry Attaochu scooped it up and ran it for a 36-yard touchdown.
However, after a review the referees ruled that Dalton’s arm was moving forward and ruled the play an incomplete pass, rather than a fumble.
The touchdown would have brought the score to 14-13 at the time with the Chargers also receiving the kickoff to begin the second half.
Te’o tied with Eric Weddle for a team-high of 10 total tackles on the day.
Penalties hurt the Bolts
The Chargers committed eight penalties for 64 yards, which wasn’t as bad as the Bengals (9-75), but it was the timing that hurt them.
One of them was a facemask by Jason Verrett on a 3rd-and-11 midway through the second quarter, which extended a drive ending in a touchdown for Cincinnati.
Another came by Melvin Ingram who was called for illegal contact on a 4th-and-10 in the third quarter, which led to a Cincinnati field goal.
“When you’re playing a good team, you can’t give them extra chances,” Te’o said to Chargers.com. “We did our thing, had some good stops and then let them go.”
