San Diego, CA -- (Sports Network) - Philip Rivers threw for 306 yards and three touchdowns as the San Diego Chargers dominated the New England Patriots, 30-10, exacting some revenge in a rematch of last season's AFC Championship game.

Rivers hit on 18-of-27 pass attempts, and the Chargers' receivers stepped up in the absence of the team's top wideout, Chris Chambers, who was sidelined with an ankle injury. Vincent Jackson hauled in five passes for 134 yards and a score while Malcolm Floyd caught three passes for 75 yards and a touchdown. Antonio Gates grabbed Rivers' other scoring throw.

LaDainian Tomlinson, who continues to battle a nagging turf toe injury, gained 74 yards on 20 carries and caught three passes for 44 yards, but much of his contribution came with the game already decided.

San Diego (3-3) had stumbled in the early-going this season and was coming off a disappointing 17-10 loss to the Dolphins in Miami. However, with a Denver loss to Jacksonville earlier Sunday, the Bolts now sit only one game behind the Broncos for first place in the AFC West, with a road test against the AFC East-leading Bills next on the schedule.

"We owed these guys, we really did," Rivers said of the Chargers' recent woes against the Pats. "This doesn't replace or take away the three prior games -- what they meant to us -- it but it (the win) meant a lot."

Matt Cassel struggled to generate an offensive threat, with eight of 12 possessions going for 20 yards or less. Cassel completed 22-of-38 passes for 203 yards, with an interception and a lost fumble, and he missed opportunities on drives that did progress down the field.

Wes Welker had nine grabs for 73 yards while Sammy Morris scored a rushing TD for New England (3-2), which recovered from an ugly loss to Miami in Week 3 to defeat the 49ers coming off the bye week. Having now fallen into a tie for second with the New York Jets in the AFC East, the Pats will next host Denver on Monday night.

"San Diego obviously did a good job, a lot better than we did," head coach Bill Belichick said. "They got the deep balls, did a good job with field position and kept us out of the end zone until the end."

San Diego opened with a 73-yard drive down to the Patriots' seven but had to settle for a 25-yard field goal from Nate Kaeding.

Cassel responded by moving New England into field goal range on its first turn, but Stephen Gostkowski missed a 48-yard attempt wide left.

The Chargers took over on their own 38, and on 3rd-and-4 Rivers quickly made it a 10-0 game by finding Floyd, who worked down the seam on Deltha O'Neal and the wideout pulled down a 49-yard TD with just under four minutes left in the first.

Kaeding struck the left upright with a 44-yard attempt late in the first and Gostkowski nailed one from 47 yards midway through the second to make it a 10-3 game.

Punter Mike Scifres then pinned the Pats at their own six and a three-and-out gave San Diego a drive starting at New England's 31-yard-line just before the two-minute warning. Four plays later Rivers hit Jackson for a four-yard score and the Bolts took a 17-3 lead into the locker room.

New England emerged from the break with the ball and embarked on its best drive of the game. Cassel missed a chance to hit Randy Moss for a score when the wideout broke clear of a defender on 2nd-and-2 from the San Diego 32, but Cassel scrambled for a first down on the next play, then got a 28-yard gain on a dump off to Morris to the one-yard-line.

Things broke down from there, though, with an incompletion on first down. Morris was then stuffed for no gain and Cassel threw an uncatchable ball at the feet of Morris on third down. Belichick decided to go for it on fourth- down, but Cassel couldn't find an open receiver and tucked the ball away too late, losing a yard on the play.

Rivers hit Jackson on a deep ball up the right sideline for a 59-yard gain on 2nd-and-6 of the ensuing drive and Ellis Hobbs was flagged for pass interference on the next play, a 32-yard gain, moving the ball to the one. Gates caught a one-yard TD to make it a 24-3 game at the midway point of the third.

After Cassel missed Welker with a poorly thrown ball and was picked off on the Pats' first play of their turn, Kaeding nailed a 35-yard field goal for a 27-3 game after three quarters.

Kaeding booted a 23-yarder to open the fourth, and after the Patriots recovered a fumble near midfield with just under nine minutes left to play, Morris found the end zone from one yard out.

Game Notes

New England has a 18-14-2 lead in its all-time regular season series against San Diego...The Pats last won a regular season game at Qualcomm in 1996, when they prevailed, 45-7...Moss had three catches for 26 yards while Kevin Faulk led the Pats' rushing attack with 48 yards on eight carries...Gates finished with four receptions for 35 yards...Tomlinson eclipsed 11,000 yards rushing for his career.