The San Diego Chargers have been chopping wood all season. Sunday they finally chopped down everyone in the AFC West.

The Chargers' remarkable resurrection continued with a 34-31 victory over the Chiefs, who they beat in Kansas City for the first time in their last eight tries.

That victory came at the most opportune of times, putting San Diego alone atop the AFC West after the Denver Broncos' surprising 25-24 last minute loss to the Oakland Raiders. The Broncos and Chargers meet in San Diego in a season-defining showdown next weekend.

San Diego has not reached the playoffs in a decade and still has more skeptical fans than loyal ones after a long run of failures. But at 8-3, the Chargers have come from nowhere to the cusp of a remarkable turnaround after going 4-12 last season.

As has been the case all year, quarterback Drew Brees made the big plays, throwing for 378 yards and two touchdowns. The biggest of Brees' scoring passes was a fourth quarter throw to tight end Antonio Gates, who has become Brees' most reliable target.

Gates leads all tight ends in catches and touchdowns and was all but unstoppable by the painfully porous Chiefs' defense. Their consistent inability to stop big plays, coupled with their penchant for turning the ball over, left the Chargers in control of their future with five weeks to go.

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The Broncos are in a similar position even though they now trail San Diego by a game in the AFC West standings. Denver allowed Oakland's Jerry Porter to make three touchdown catches, including two in single coverage against All-Pro cornerback Champ Bailey in Sunday night's loss.

The Raiders receivers repeatedly got behind the Denver secondary and Kerry Collins for once had the time to find them.

By the time he was done the Raiders had come from behind to knock off the Broncos and put the Chargers in the division lead with a showdown game coming Sunday in San Diego.

Nothing changed in the AFC East however, where the powerful Patriots improved to 10-1 by dominating the Baltimore Ravens, 24-3. New England did it by not only stifling the Ravens' struggling offense but also by pushing their defense around in the second half. The win allowed New England to maintain a two-game lead over the second-place Jets, who barely got by Arizona to improve to 8-3.

For the second week in a row the Jets won the hard way, scoring only one touchdown for the second-straight game, yet finding a way to make it hold up when Quincy Carter delivered a 69-yard scoring pass to Santana Moss that broke the game open.

The Jets' crosstown rivals, the Giants, were not as fortunate as they were blistered by the Eagles in a 27-6 victory that clinched Philadelphia the NFC East title for the fifth straight year. Although quarterback Donovan McNabb had another strong performance, this time it was the Eagles defense that carried the day by holding the Giants to 47 total yards in the second half while the offense was scoring 20 unanswered points.

Chief among the Eagles' victims was Giants' rookie quarterback Eli Manning, who threw for only 14 yards in the second half in a game in which he was sacked five times, threw three interceptions and finished with just six completions.

"For us to continue to reload and battle and come out and win it so fast says a lot after what happened to us the last three years,'' McNabb said of the Eagles' division crown. He was referring to Philadelphia's three straight defeats in the conference championship game, a game they intend to return to and finally conquer this season.

"This isn't our goal,'' McNabb said of the division title. "It's just a step.''

The Seattle Seahawks also took a step. But it was a step backwards when they allowed the Buffalo Bills to travel across the country and beat them senseless at home, 38-9. That loss was the worst in the six-year tenure of head coach Mike Holmgren and one he called "an embarassment.''

With Drew Bledsoe often operating out of a no-huddle offense and running back Willis McGahee running for four touchdowns, the Bills won for the fifth time in the last six weeks while breaking a six-game losing streak on the road.

"I don't think there was much good by anybody today,'' Holmgren said as he watched his team slip to 6-5 while giving the St. Louis Rams a chance to regain a tie in the NFC West if they can defeat the Packers Monday night.

Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck returned to the lineup with a sore thigh, but his presence didn't help. He finished 19 of 38 and led his offense to only 230 yards, more than 200 less than the Bills wracked up.

While the Seahawks disappointed, the Steelers didn't. Pittsburgh's rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger struggled for the second straight week, but it didn't mean a thing to the Steelers, who used their rock-ribbed defense and the running of Jerome Bettis to pound out a 16-7 victory over the fading Redskins.

Bettis was not expected to start, but when Duce Staley's leg continued to bother him, Bettis was again given the nod and ran for 100 yards for the fourth straight game.

Defensively, the Steelers allowed the Redskins only 156 yards, including 51 yards rushing. But inexplicably, Redskins head coach Joe Gibbs held Clinton Portis out for much of the second half and he finished with 17 yards on six carries.

Portis, who rushed for more than 1,500 yards in each of the last two seasons in Denver, has now gained only 54 yards over the past two weeks. His struggles were more mysterious than the dip in Roethlisberger's performance the past two Sundays.

At some point all rookie quarterbacks struggle, and Roethlisberger is no exception. He has now led his team to nine straight wins as a starter, but Sunday he was carried to the finish line by his teammates after being sacked four times and completing only nine of 20 passes for 131 yards.

The Jacksonville Jaguars continued to fade far more seriously, losing to Minnesota, 27-16. The Jaguars are 6-5, and their six wins have come by a total of 22 points (less than four points a game). That thin margin for error seems to have finally caught up with Jacksonville, which has lost three of its last four and slipped seriously behind the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC South.

The Vikings are the other side of that story however. The return of wide receiver Randy Moss seemed to revitalize them, helping to push his team to 7-4 and put the pressure on the Packers Monday night against St. Louis to keep pace in the NFC North race.

"His presence is humonguos for us,'' Vikings' running back Onterrio Smith said of Moss, who caught four passes and scored once, his first receptions in six weeks after suffering a hamstring injury.

Last but not least, the Atlanta Falcons scored with 1:22 to play to defeat the New Orleans Saints, 24-21, and put a stranglehold on the NFC South standings. Not surprisingly, the winning score came from the hand of Michael Vick, who is the most valuable player in the league.

Vick found his favorite target, tight end Alge Crumpler, with a 20-yard scoring strike after he'd scrambled away from trouble. He snuck it into Crumpler near the edge of the end zone despite tight coverage.

Vick finished the day 15 of 22 for 212 yards and two scores and ran for a third touchdown while leading the Falcons in rushing with 69 yards.

Vick thus had a hand (or two feet) in on every Falcons score and the bulk of their yardage.

"He's from another world,'' New Orleans cornerback Mike McKenzie said.

He's also soon going to put his team in another world -- the world of playoff football, which could happen as early as this coming Sunday if Atlanta wins again. None of this comes as a surprises to Vick however.

"I have confidence I can do almost anything when I'm out there,'' Vick said.

The Falcons seem to feel the same way.

NFL game stories Quick look at Week 17 games TITANS 16, COLTS 10: Collins leads way after Young hurt BEARS 33, SAINTS 25: Chicago eliminates New Orleans REDSKINS 27, COWBOYS 6: Washington storms into playoffs BROWNS 20, 49ERS 7: Quinn makes debut; Cleveland must hope CHARGERS 30, RAIDERS 17: Rivers, L.T. lead S.D. to 6th straight TEXANS 42, JAGUARS 28: Davis returns 2 kickoffs for touchdowns BENGALS 38, DOLPHINS 25: Tuna era starts badly, Miami ends 1-15 PATRIOTS 38, GIANTS 35: Brady-to-Moss TD vaults team to 16-0 FALCONS 44, SEAHAWKS 41: Atlanta ends terrible year on high note PACKERS 34, LIONS 13: Green Bay rests key players, still rolls EAGLES 17, BILLS 9: Westbrook sets two records in victory BRONCOS 22, VIKINGS 19: Elam's field goal wins it in overtime JETS 13, CHIEFS 10: Nugent's FG in OT wins meaningless game PANTHERS 31, BUCS 23: Carolina sends Testaverde out a winner RAVENS 27, STEELERS 21: Pittsburgh plays it safe, rests stars CARDINALS 48, RAMS 19: Arizona has first winning season in 9 years

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