Novak puts boot to out-of-Luck Colts

Chargers kicker paces offense as San Diego whips Indianapolis

Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers kept Andrew Luck on the sideline most of the night, giving the Indianapolis Colts quarterback no chance for another comeback.

Rivers threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to rookie Keenan Allen and Nick Novak kicked four field goals to give the Chargers a 19-9 victory against the Colts on Monday night.

Rivers methodically moved the Chargers (3-3) on three scoring drives of at least 74 yards as he rebounded from a three-interception performance in a dismal loss at Oakland last week.

That, and a lot of dropped passes by Colts receivers, kept Indianapolis (4-2) from taking a two-game lead over Tennessee in the AFC South.

A week earlier, Luck helped rally the Colts to a 34-28 victory over Seattle.

"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."

All the talk entering the game was about the Colts' offense.

"I wasn't sure who the Colts were playing this week, based on all the ads I saw," Rivers joked.

Luck had no real chance because of two long drives in the second quarter that helped contribute to the Chargers dominating the time of possession 38:31 to 21:29.

Allen got behind safety Delano Howell and cornerback Vontae Davis on a post route for the TD, completing a 12-play, 74-yard march that took 6:14 and gave San Diego a 7-3 lead.

It was Allen's second TD catch of the season.

Novak's first field goal capped a drive that went 79 yards in 17 plays in 7:58.

The drive was kept alive when cornerback Greg Toler was whistled for illegal contact for pushing receiver Lavelle Hawkins out of bounds on third-and-six from the Chargers 45.

Luck then completed four straight passes to move the Colts into Chargers territory before Coby Fleener dropped a pass at the 25. Luck scrambled for six yards and threw an incompletion before Adam Vinatieri kicked a 50-yard field goal as time expired.

On the Colts' only other possession of the second quarter, Darrius Heyward-Bey dropped what likely would have been a long touchdown pass down the right sideline.

Novak also had field goals of 33, 34 and 50 yards, with the final one coming with 1:55 left.

Rivers was 22 of 33 for 237 yards and no interceptions. Luck was 18 of 30 for 202 yards.

(China Daily 10/16/2013 page23)