Philip Rivers threw three first half touchdown passes as the San Diego Chargers took a 21-7 lead into halftime over the Houston Texans on Monday night.
Rivers completed 8 of 14 passes for 112 yards in the first half and looked comfortable and poised in the pocket for the Chargers.
Matt Schaub was intercepted by Cam Thomas on the Texans’ first play of scrimmage of the season and the Chargers were gifted a short field on offense. It took one play for the Chargers to find the end zone as Philip Rivers connected with Ryan Mathews out of the backfield for a 14-yard touchdown to take a 7-0 lead.
The Texans managed to answer on their third possession of the first quarter. Schaub led Houston on a 10-play, 71-yard drive that culminated in a 1-yard touchdown pass from Schaub to Owen Daniels of play-action to even the game at 7-7.
Rivers answered right back, leading the Chargers for the go-ahead score. Rivers connected with Eddie Royal in the corner of the end zone to give the Chargers a 14-7 advantage. After a missed 51-yard field goal by Randy Bullock, the Chargers got a chance to extend their lead again before the half.
Rivers scrambled for 18 yards and hit Antonio Gates for 34 more down to the Texans’ 5-yard line. Rivers then connected with Vincent Brown for a 5-yard score as Brown managed to dive for the pylon before going out of bounds.