Chargers join crowd in West
After Adrian Phillips’ late interception sealed the Los Angeles Chargers’ third straight victory, their 0-4 start to the season seemed years ago.
Philip Rivers passed for 344 yards and hit Keenan Allen for a touchdown, and the surging Chargers moved into a tie for first in the AFC West with a 19-10 victory over the visiting Browns on Sunday.
“No one ever flinched,” Chargers coach Anthony Lynn said. “At 0-4, we still had a lot of football left, and that’s how we’ve always looked at it. To be in this position doesn’t surprise me at all, because guys have worked hard and they’re committed to the process. They never stopped believing.”
New kicker Travis Coons hit four field goals as the Chargers held off the Browns (0-12), whose only victory in their previous 30 games was a 20-17 win over the then-San Diego Chargers on Christmas Eve last season.
Allen had 10 catches for 105 yards in the third straight big game for the former Cal receiver. The Chargers (6-6) have won six of eight to pull even with the Raiders and Kansas City atop the division with four games to go.
Josh Gordon had four catches for 84 yards in his first NFL game since 2014 for the Browns. The 2013 AllPro receiver had been suspended for over 2½ seasons for numerous violations of the NFL’s substance abuse policies, but was reinstated last month.