Philip Rivers threw three touchdown passes, two to Antonio Gates, and Antonio Cromartie scored on two Texans turnovers in the first half as the Chargers blew out Houston early and cruised to a 35-10 victory on Sunday.
When the wind-whipped wildfires first started sweeping San Diego County a week earlier, no one thought this game could be played in Qualcomm Stadium. Not with more than 10,000 evacuees taking shelter at the big concrete stadium and the air fouled by smoke.
Some 46 players, coaches and others in the Chargers organization had to evacuate their homes - including Rivers, Gates and coach Norv Turner. The team left the smoky air behind and spent three days practicing in Arizona.
Once the game started, the Chargers (4-3) didn’t seem fazed at all. And the Texans (3-5) looked completely outclassed, losing for the fifth time in six games.
Houston committed five turnovers after coughing up six last week in a 38-36 loss to Tennessee.
“It’s about as bad as it could be,” said Texans coach Gary Kubiak said. “We looked like a very tired, slow football team out there. Mentally tired or something because the mistakes we’re making each week are unacceptable.”
The Texans outgained the Chargers 367-237 and dominated most of the statistics. But most of their numbers came in the second half, when the outcome had already been decided.
Midway through the first quarter, Rivers started the rout with a 49-yard touchdown pass to Gates, who was wide open behind the Houston defense.
At the end of Houston’s next possession, Bryan Pittman snapped the ball over punter Matt Turk’s head and it rolled into the end zone. Turk stumbled trying to recover it and Cromartie pounced on the loose ball for a 14-0 lead.
Following Kris Brown’s 40-yard field goal, Rivers found Gates open again for a 31-yard score.
Later in the second quarter, San Diego linebacker Shawne Merriman tipped a Matt Schaub pass and Cromartie picked it off. Cromartie stayed on his feet, worked his way across the field and finished off his 70-yard TD run down the left sideline.
Cromartie intercepted Schaub again five plays later. That set up Rivers’ 14-yard touchdown pass to Chris Chambers, the wide receiver’s first score since joining the Chargers in a bye-week trade with Miami.
“It’s like the floodgates are open,” Kubiak said. “We start making mistakes in the first half, and everything starts to snowball.”
On the interception, Schaub took a helmet-to-helmet hit from linebacker Stephen Cooper, who was called for a personal foul. Schaub was replaced the next series by Sage Rosenfels, who threw a 28-yard TD pass to Joel Dreessen in the fourth quarter.
Schaub was already hurting coming into the game, with a tender ankle and sore hip from hits in last week’s game. He never returned to the game and his status for next week’s game against Oakland was uncertain.
“He got banged up pretty good,” Kubiak said. Asked if Schaub had a concussion, Kubiak said: “I don’t know. I don’t want to pass judgment. He’s at the hospital getting tests done.”
The Texans trailed 32-7 last week against Tennessee and scored 29 points in the fourth quarter to briefly take the lead, before losing on a last-second field goal.
They never came close to rallying this time against a highly motivated opponent.
“It was kind of like a win for the San Diego Chargers, but at the same time it was a win for San Diego itself,” said Gates, the All-Pro tight end. “Football was secondary compared to the things that were going on in San Diego. We were just glad we could come up with a win to uplift this city.”
Houston opened 2-0, raising the hopes of fans who hadn’t seen a playoff game in their city since 1993. The Texans have lost five of six and most of their key offensive players to injuries since the promising start.
Running back Ahman Green was a last-minute scratch with a knee injury. Green has missed three of Houston’s last five games after signing a four-year, $23 million contract in the offseason.
Receiver Andre Johnson sat out for the sixth consecutive game with a knee sprain.
And after Schaub left Sunday’s game, receiver Andre Davis left the game with a rib injury.
