Sanders finds kernel in victory

DENVER – Emmanuel Sanders waited six long weeks to join the list of players who have caught a touchdown pass from Peyton Manning. Now, he has four in less than a week.

Manning and Sanders connected for a trio of touchdowns Thursday night in the Denver Broncos’ 35-21 victory over the San Diego Chargers.

With the Chargers’ banged-up secondary double-teaming red-hot receiver Demaryius Thomas, Sanders caught TD throws of 2, 31 and 3 yards. The last one followed Chris Harris Jr.’s interception of a flustered Philip Rivers.

“Every week we don’t know where the ball is going to go,” Sanders said. “The defense really dictates that and what Peyton is seeing. And tonight was just my night.”

Rookie running back Juwan Thompson added two TD runs as the Broncos (6-1) tightened their grip on the AFC West over the Chargers (5-3), who lost their second straight game.

Manning finished 25 of 35 for 286 yards. Sanders caught nine passes for 120 yards, and Ronnie Hillman added 109 yards on 20 carries.

Sanders’ speed, combined with Hillman’s second gear, is the juice GM John Elway had in mind when he said the Broncos could be better this year than they were last season, when they became the first team in NFL history to top 600 points in a season.

One of Elway’s prized free agent acquisitions last offseason, Sanders called this “wide receivers’ heaven” when he joined the Broncos in the spring. He spent his first five games in a Broncos uniform piling up the yards – 473 of them – but wistfully wishing to become the 45th player to catch a TD pass from Manning.

He finally did it by hauling in the first of Manning’s four TD throws Sunday night when the five-time MVP broke Brett Favre’s career touchdown throw total (510 to 508).

Each time Thompson scored, Rivers and the Chargers responded with 80-yard drives that ended with touchdown catches by tight end Antonio Gates.

His two scores gave him an NFL-best nine, tied with Denver’s star tight end, Julius Thomas, who was held out of the end zone for the second straight game.

Gates’ first score was a 4-yard grab on fourth down, his second a 10-yard catch with 9 1/2 minutes left that made it 35-21.

Rivers finished 30 of 41 for 252 yards with three TDs and two interceptions.

Brandon McManus missed a 53-yard field goal with six minutes remaining, giving the Chargers great field position, but safety Rahim Moore intercepted Rivers’ pass to Malcolm Floyd at the Denver 4 and the Broncos grounded it out from there.

Demaryius Thomas quietly topped 100 yards himself for the fourth straight week, finishing with 105 yards on eight catches. He now has 626 yards in his last four games.

Broncos 35, Chargers 21

San Diego	0	7	7	7	–	21
Denver	0	14	14	7	–	35

Den – Sanders 2 pass from Manning (McManus kick)

SD – Allen 2 pass from Rivers (Novak kick)

Den – Sanders 31 pass from Manning (McManus kick)

Den – Sanders 3 pass from Manning (McManus kick)

Den – Thompson 2 run (McManus kick)

SD – Gates 4 pass from Rivers (Novak kick)

Den – Thompson 1 run (McManus kick)

SD – Gates 10 pass from Rivers (Novak kick)

	SD	Den
First downs	22	27
Total Net Yards	306	425
Rushes-yards	15-61	30-139
Passing	245	286
Punt Returns	1-6	2-18
Kickoff Returns	0-0	2-64
Interceptions Ret.	0-0	2-1
Comp-Att-Int	30-41-2	25-35-0
Sacked-Yards Lost	2-7	0-0
Punts	4-49.3	4-40.5
Fumbles-Lost	0-0	2-0
Penalties-Yards	7-77	9-71
Time of Possession	29:14	30:46

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – San Diego, Oliver 13-36, Rivers 1-17, R.Brown 1-8. Denver, Hillman 20-109, Thompson 7-24, Sanders 1-6, Anderson 1-0, Manning 1-0.

PASSING – San Diego, Rivers 30-41-2-252. Denver, Manning 25-35-0-286.

RECEIVING – San Diego, Allen 9-73, Oliver 7-27, Gates 5-54, Floyd 4-58, Royal 3-29, Green 1-9, R.Brown 1-2. Denver, Sanders 9-120, D.Thomas 8-105, Hillman 3-29, J.Thomas 2-23, Welker 2-5, Tamme 1-4.