FanHouse Afc West

With 3:30 left in the game and his team trailing by three points, Philip Rivers had a chance.

He had a chance to win in New York with much of the nation watching. He had a chance to best Eli Manning, a man who refused to play for the Chargers and was eventually swapped for Rivers and another draft pick (which turned into Shawne Merriman). He had a chance to prove he was a winner, despite the fact that his team hasn't helped him win a ring yet. He had a chance to prove he belonged in the same conversation as the game's elite, and that he's just as qualified a quarterback as Eli.

And on the first play of the series, Rivers threw an interception. What happened next, though, rallied San Diego to a 21-20 win and defined the essence of Rivers as a player.

---

---

SAN DIEGO -- Outside linebacker Elvis Dumervil set aside any doubts that the 2009 Broncos' astonishing turnaround isn't legitimate on Monday night when he leveled Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers a second time in the contest, helping punctuate a 34-23 division victory that gave undefeated Denver a stranglehold on the AFC West.

With that, Dumervil had his NFL-leading 10th sack, putting him on pace to surpass Michael Strahan's single-season record of 22 1/2.

"It's hard to get to 10 [sacks]," said Dumervil, who was surrounded in the crowded visitors' locker room at Qualcomm Stadium by teammates hooting and calling him the next Strahan. "Every sack guy knows it's hard to get to double digits.

"But this ... it's a new team, a new regime, and everything is new. We're just trying to innovate. We're trying to build a brand of football here, what we want to be as the Denver Broncos."

With less than 30 seconds left in a home tilt against the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs had the opportunity to win their first game of the season -- which would have also been the first win of Todd Haley's head coaching career. After a Dwayne Bowe touchdown, the Chiefs trailed by the Cowboys 20-19 with a conversion on the way. They could have converted a two-pointer and won the game. Instead, they opted to kick the extra point and tie the game.

The Chiefs eventually lost in overtime to the Cowboys, so let the second-guessing begin. Should Haley have gone for the 2-pointer and the victory?

This season, FanHouse writers take their cameras to NFL stadiums to document what happens when you stop being polite and start getting real. Or something. We've cleverly titled it FanHouse in the Stands.

The Oakland Raiders fought tooth and nail for a victory Sunday afternoon in Kansas City. Afterward, offensive guard Robert Gallery provided a black cloud on an otherwise sunny Raider day. The 29-year-old guard told a throng of reporters in the locker room that he suffered a broken left fibula during the game.

Gallery is part of a solid run-blocking offensive line and he's the team's best pulling guard. Losing him for any length of time is a big blow for the team, and this injury figures to be a while. The fibula is the smaller bone in the lower leg (tibia is the big one, also known as the shin).

When the Raiders took Darrius Heyward-Bey with the seventh pick in the 2009 draft, it shook everything up. The Maryland product was considered a late first-round pick by most draft experts, but his excellent speed (a 4.3-second 40-yard dash) is just what Al Davis dreams of.

Heyward-Bey was supposed to slip further in the draft because of questionable hands. The optimistic view is that Heyward-Bey has the size and speed to be an elite receiver if he can just learn to catch better. The pessimistic view is that most receivers don't develop better hands in the NFL.

The Cincinnati Bengals had the game wrapped up. It was over. Cedric Benson's one-yard touchdown run with under a minute to play had given Cincinnati a 7-6 lead. It capped a long drive that ate much of the game's final five minutes.

Unfortunately for Cincinnati, the drive didn't eat enough time. Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton hooked up with receiver Brandon Stokley for an 87-yard score, giving the Broncos a 12-7 win in one of the more improbable finishes the NFL has ever seen.

---

---

Richard Seymour's twisted, tortured road to Oakland appeared to smooth on Saturday when the former New England Patriots defensive end said he is making his way to the Raiders' Alameda training headquarters.

"I'll be the one on top of the quarterback," Seymour told the Boston Herald, indicating he plans to play in the Raiders' season opener Monday night againt the San Diego Chargers at the Oakland Coliseum.

After months of playing out as a soap opera, Mile High Stadium 80204 if you will, the Broncos-Brandon Marshall saga is suddenly looking like a romantic comedy.

It's screenwriting 101. The two characters meet, there are sparks but obstacles are put between them which makes them hate each other, until one day one of them realizes that what they thought was hate turns out to be love after all -- sometimes after the other character changes their hairstyle or takes off their glasses -- and they live happily ever after.

Maybe there was something about the way Marshall took off his helmet at practice on Tuesday that made the Broncos see him in a whole new light. Something happened, because Adam Schefter of ESPN is reporting that the team is "exploring the possibility" of a contract extension.

---

---

Training camps have wrapped up, the NFL season is right around the corner, and it's still hot as sin outside. But instead of cooling you off with a warm island song, FanHouse break out ye old heat check for our 2009 NFL Season Previews. We'll rate each club in 5 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

After generating a significant amount of hype over the past few years, the 49ers will enter 2009 with no expectations on the board. Division rival Arizona went to the Super Bowl, while many expect a rebound from long-time division champion Seattle. To me, this makes the 49ers a dangerous team.