SAN DIEGO - The result of every NFL game can usually be traced back to just a handful or so of plays which, upon reflection, made all the difference, whether it was for the losing or winning team.

Sunday night's Patriots-Chargers game was no different.

For New England offensively, it was their opening drive in the second half which may have tipped the balance: The Patriots had first-and-goal from the 1-yard line and couldn't get the ball in from the end zone in four tries.

The Chargers marched 98 yards for a touchdown on their ensuing possession, causing a 14-point swing that propelled them to a 30-10 victory against their rivals from the East Coast.

"It was huge. Huge," Rodney Harrison said of the Chargers' goal-line stand. "It sucked all the wind out of us. We just couldn't recover."

The Patriots were down 17-3 at halftime after two huge pass plays from San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers, first to Vincent Jackson on the opening play of the game that set up a Chargers' chip-shot field goal, and the second a 49-yard touchdown bomb to third-string receiver Malcolm Floyd.

To open the third, New England was in the shotgun, and Matt Cassel and the offense started to move the ball. On first down from the Chargers' 29, Cassel hit Sammy Morris with a screen on the left sideline; Morris curled back toward the middle of the field and picked up 28 yards before being dragged down by Matt Wilhelm.

On first-and-goal, Cassel had to throw the ball away. On second-and-goal, he handed the ball off to Morris, but the play went nowhere when Luis Castillo plowed through Dan Koppen and dropped Morris. On third-and-goal, Cassel's pass to Morris, who had motioned out of the backfield, landed at the running back's feet.

And on fourth-and-goal, it appeared Morris and Benjamin Watson were both open for the pass, but Cassel decided to keep the ball and try and take it in himself. Instead, he was pushed back for a one-yard loss.

San Diego got the ball, Rivers hit Jackson for a 59-yard completion on second down, Ellis Hobbs was whistled for pass interference in the end zone, and a play later a wide open Antonio Gates caught Rivers' lob pass.

It was just the second time in the last decade that New England has allowed a 98-yard or better scoring drive.

"That was great," Chargers linebacker and former University of Maine standout Stephen Cooper said of the stand. "Being on the defensive side of the ball, whenever you stop an offense on all four downs, it's big. It takes a lot of air out of them on offense and gives us a lot of air on defense."

The loss ended an 11-game win streak in the month of October for the Patriots, and also ended their 12-game streak of road victories.

New England's failure to score from a yard out was emblematic of the offense's problems, but defensively, the Patriots' Achilles heel was the long ball.

And that was exposed on the very first play of the game. Quarterback Philip Rivers, who had his best game by far against New England in four career starts, dropped back and hit Jackson in stride for a 48-yard reception. Jackson beat Deltha O'Neal on the play, and the Chargers seemed to target O'Neal quite a bit throughout the night.

"It certainly gave us a spark," Rivers said. "Vincent made a great play on the ball. It wasn't one of my better throws down the field, but it was big. It got us going. We talk about starting fast and I think it just kind of got us going."

O'Neal, who was also in coverage on Floyd's touchdown, refused to talk after the game.

In all, San Diego had five pass plays for 20 or more yards.

"We did a terrible job of playing the deep balls. You just can't win in the National Football League giving up 40-, 50-, 60-yard bombs," Harrison said.

In his first three starts against New England, Rivers completed just 52.5 percent of his passes, had two touchdowns (both in the same game) and five interceptions. Last night, he connected on two-thirds of his passes and had three touchdowns with no picks.