McNair rallies Ravens to win over Chargers

BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- Steve McNair saved his best for last 
again.

After struggling most of the day, McNair directed a game-winning
drive in the final minutes for the second straight week as the
Baltimore Ravens edged the San Diego Chargers, 16-13, in a
battle of first-place teams.

Acquired from Tennessee in June to provide veteran leadership at
quarterback, McNair has delivered in the clutch for the Ravens,
who are 4-0 for the first time in their history.

"I just want to help the team win any way I can," McNair said.
"When you have a defense like ours it will keep you in a lot of
games and then we made some big offensive plays at the end."

Baltimore trailed 13-9 with 3:05 left when McNair engineered a
six-play, 60-yard drive, capping it with a 10-yard touchdown
pass to tight end Todd Heap with 34 seconds remaining.

The longest play in the drive was a 17-yard pass to Mark Clayton
to the San Diego 35.  McNair then scrambled for 12 yards and
found Clayton again for a 13-yard pass to the 10.

Two plays later, McNair dumped a short pass to Heap, who caught
it at the 5 and bulled into the end zone.

"It was one of the second or third reads so Steve made a great
play," Heap said.  "Because I switched my route up, a cornerback
was kind of falling off and kind of waiting for me to get into
the end zone.  It was more of a hitch route so I sat up in front
and I saw Steve's eyes and he looked at me and from then on I
knew to take off and cut in front of the defender."

Before the final drive, McNair had passed for just 115 yards
with two interceptions.

"We showed a lot of character in a 15-round boxing match,"
Ravens coach Brian Billick said.

Last week, McNair struggled as well before engineering a final
drive that led to Matt Stover's 52-yard field goal with 20
seconds remaining in a 15-14 victory at Cleveland.

"We have a quarterback that can win games late," Ravens middle
linebacker Ray Lewis said.  "That's why we brought him here."

Lewis, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year, recorded 14
tackles, one less than fellow linebacker Bart Scott.

San Diego's Shawne Merriman, the reigning AFC Defensive Rookie
of the Year, had two tackles, one sack and two quarterback
pressures.

"Any time you lose it's disappointing," Merriman said.  "We
gotta learn how to finish games.  You can play 55 minutes of
football, but the last five minutes, you've got to finish it
off.  Until we do that, we're not going to accomplish what we
need to accomplish."

The game matched two of the AFC's best defenses and the Chargers
(2-1) had the upper hand before McNair's final drive. Not only
did the Chargers intercept McNair twice, but they also limited
Jamal Lewis to 34 yards on 15 carries.

Meanwhile, LaDainian Tomlinson rushed for 98 yards on 27 carries
and Michael Turner added another 46 yards on just seven carries
against the Ravens, who had allowed a total of 20 points in
their first three games.

Philip Rivers, who is in his first season as a starter,
completed 4-of-5 passes for 60 yards on San Diego's first drive.
He hit tight end Antonio Gates with a 13-yard pass on a
3rd-and-13 before lofting a 31-yard touchdown down the right
sideline to Malcolm Floyd 4:39 into the game.

But Rivers was picked off by Scott, the AFC's Defensive Player 
of the Month, on the Chargers' next possession.  Scott returned 
the interception 24 yards to the San Diego 22.

"(Antonio) Gates ran a double move and my responsibility is not
to bite," Scott said.  "They were expecting me to bite on the
out cut.  My man went away and I had the belief that Adalius
(Thomas) would take his out away, so I got depth and he (Rivers)
he threw it right at me."

Five plays later, McNair hit tight end Daniel Wilcox with a
five-yard touchdown with 5:28 left in the first quarter.

"Steve is a cool cat, he has that air about him," Wilcox said.
"All the guys just pull together and work for him."

Nate Kaeding kicked a 34-yard field goal nine seconds into the
second quarter and converted a career-high 54-yarder with 1:51
left in the half to give the Chargers a 13-7 lead.

However, Kaeding was wide right on a 40-yard attempt in the
third quarter and a botched hold spoiled a 52-yard try in the
fourth quarter.

Rookie punter Sam Koch pinned the Chargers back at their own
with a 48-yard punt with 5:29 left in the fourth quarter.
Back-to-back false start penalties backed up the Chargers to the
2.

The Chargers were then called for an illegal man downfield when
Mike Scifres attempted to punt out of his own end zone.  Scifres
was run into by Ed Reed, who was attempting to block the punt,
but no penalty was called on Reed because of the illegal man
downfield infraction.

A hobbled Scifres didn't try to punt again.  Instead, Chargers
coach Marty Schottenheimer called for him to take a safety with
3:12 left, pulling the Ravens within 13-9.

"All in all, we played toe-to-toe with a good football team at
their place and they came out on top at the end," Schottenheimer
said.