Coming off an upset win against the Seattle Seahawks, the San Diego Chargers traveled Sunday to face a surprising Buffalo Bills team that was off to a 2-0 start. Before the day was over, the Chargers were flying home in first place along with last year’s AFC Champions, the Denver Broncos who lost to the Seahawks on Sunday.

The Chargers were dominant again led by Philip Rivers who connected with wide receiver Eddie Royal for two touchdown passes. In addition, the Chargers defense was solid and held the Bills offense to only 10 points. The Chargers started off very quickly and never looked back in their 22-10 victory over the Bills.

The Chargers will carry their strong play into next week where they will face a much depleted Jacksonville Jaguars team that has yet to win a game this season. If they win this game, as they should, it should be in fairly easy fashion and should keep them at least tied for first place in their division.

Coming off a major confidence boosting win the previous week, the Chargers looked to ride the momentum against the Buffalo Bills. The Charger’s started quickly as Rivers found Royal for a three-yard touchdown pass on the opening drive of the game. The offense ensued to slow down a bit and did not score for the rest of the first quarter; however, the Chargers defense completely shut down the Bills offense to keep the Chargers seven point lead in the first quarter.

Rivers got the offense back in sync again as he marched the Chargers offense deep into Bills territory. Although the Chargers were unable to convert their drives into touchdowns, their field goal kicker, Nick Novak, hit two perfect field goal kicks from 19 and 37 yards. Again, the Chargers defense that has been consistent all year held the Bills to only one field goal to ensure the Charger’s 13-3 lead at halftime.

To start the second half Rivers looked in top form as he marched the offense down the field and capped off a time consuming 80-yard drive with another five yard touchdown pass to Royal.  The Chargers took a 20-3 lead as Novak added the extra point. From there on, the Chargers basically shut down the game and attempted to run down the clock so they could ensure a victory.

They did just that as the Chargers running back Donald Brown, who was stepping in for the injured Ryan Matthews and Danny Woodhead (injured earlier in game), rushed the ball 31 times. Although he only ran for 62 yards, he kept the clock running and the Bills never really got back in the game. Bills quarterback EJ Manuel did throw an 11-yard touchdown pass, but it was in garbage time and turned out to be too little too late as the Chargers won 22-10 to improve their record to 2-1 for the third time in the last four seasons.

There were many positives from the game including Royal’s strong performance, their other wide receiver Malcolm Floyd catching two deep passes for 98 yards, and their defense dominating an explosive Bills offense from the beginning to end. However, the loss of Woodhead could be potentially devastating for the Chargers offense as he has been a key contributor in the pass and run game.

The Bills offense struggled all game as Manuel was off sync with his receiving core including first round draft pick, wide receiver Sammy Watkins, who looked to be living up to his college reputation through the first two weeks.

Overall, the Chargers looked very dominant on both offense and defense again and are proving that they could potentially make a push into the playoffs if they can keep up the consistency that they have shown through the first three weeks.