Seahawks vs Chargers final score: Seattle upset by Antonio Gates, San Diego, 30-21
The San Diego Chargers knocked off the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks behind a masterful coaching job by Mike McCoy and a vintage performance from tight end Antonio Gates to win 30-21 in their home opener.
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Philip Rivers connected with Gates three times for touchdowns as he looked like his old self with 96 yards and three touchdowns on seven receptions.
His 21-yard touchdown in the third quarter to give the Chargers a 27-14 lead will go on his Hall of Fame reel after he brought the ball in with one hand for an incredible individual effort that proved to be the difference in the game.
McCoy devised a great game plan to defeat Russell Wilson, Marshawn Lynch and the vaunted Seattle defense. His ball-control philosophy controlled the clock and Rivers challenged All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman as he used the entire field to open up room for Gates to dominate.
The Chargers ran 75 plays and had the ball for 42:31 compared to 38 and 17:29 for the Seahawks. San Diego went right at the Seattle defense and was 10-17 on third down to stay on the field and continue wearing down the league’s best defense.
Rivers finished 28-of-27 for 284 yards, the three touchdowns to Gates and was only sacked once by Michael Bennett.
San Diego only ran the ball for 2.8 yards per carry, but they didn’t abandon the run and the 37 attempts kept the clock ticking which gave Wilson, Lynch and the Seahawks very little time to make plays and score points.
Percy Harvin had an explosive 51-yard run in the first quarter following a Nick Novak field goal to put Seattle up 7-3, at the 1:27 mark int eh first quarter but that was the last time they would hold the lead on the day.
Two Gates touchdowns and a Novak field goal gave San Diego the confidence they needed to win this one and despite a Robert Turbin touchdown in the final seconds of the first half did not let up and continued to execute McCoy’s blueprint to perfection.
Wilson finished with two touchdowns and 202 yards passing but Lynch was held to only 26 yards on an astonishingly low six carries as Seattle was unable to get their workhorse running back involved in the offense.
The only thing that went wrong for the Chargers on the day was they lost running back Ryan Matthews in the fourth quarter with a knee injury after he was hit trying to recover his fumble and was carted off the field. Matthews finished with 31 yards on 11 carries.