Box Score: Denver Broncos at San Diego Chargers Posted: Mon December 1, 1997 at 12:12 a.m EST NFL FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL DENVER 7 21 7 3 38 SAN DIEGO 0 7 7 14 28 FINAL SCORING SUMMARY 1ST QUARTER: DEN - TD, ED MCCAFFREY 4 YD PASS FROM JOHN ELWAY (JASON ELAM KICK), 10:04. Drive: 6 plays, 43 yards in 2:37. Key plays: Braxton 20-yard interception return to San Diego 43; R Smith 21-yard run on 3rd-and-3 to San Diego 15; Davis 10-yard run to San Diego 5. DENVER 7-0 2ND QUARTER: DEN - TD, ROD SMITH 5 YD PASS FROM JOHN ELWAY (JASON ELAM KICK), 3:18. Drive: 10 plays, 74 yards in 4:42. Key plays: Davis 12-yard run to Denver 48; Elway 29-yard pass to McCaffrey to San Diego 23; Elway 6-yard pass to McCaffrey on 3rd-and-3 to San Diego 10. DENVER 14-0 SDG - TD, TONY MARTIN 4 YD PASS FROM CRAIG WHELIHAN (GREG DAVIS KICK), 9:09. Drive: 10 plays, 40 yards in 5:51. Key plays: Bynum 57-yard kickoff return to Denver 40; Whelihan 12-yard pass to Martin to Denver 16; Brown 9-yard run to Denver 7. DENVER 14-7 DEN - TD, TERRELL DAVIS 5 YD RUN (JASON ELAM KICK), 13:45. Drive: 9 plays, 64 yards in 4:36. Key plays: Elway 13-yard pass to R Smith to Denver 49; Elway 15-yard pass to Davis to San Diego 36; Davis 9-yard run to San Diego 20; Davis 6-yard run on 3rd-and-2 to San Diego 5. DENVER 21-7 DEN - TD, STEVE ATWATER 22 YD INTERCEPTION RETURN (JASON ELAM KICK), 13:59. DENVER 28-7 3RD QUARTER: SDG - TD, ERIC METCALF 83 YD PUNT RETURN (GREG DAVIS KICK), 2:19. DENVER 28-14 DEN - TD, ED MCCAFFREY 21 YD PASS FROM JOHN ELWAY (JASON ELAM KICK), 5:51. Drive: 8 plays, 75 yards in 3:22. Key plays: Elway 17-yard pass to McCaffrey to Denver 42; Elway 16-yard pass to Davis to San Diego 36; Elway 9-yard pass to Sharpe to San Diego 27. DENVER 35-14 4TH QUARTER: SDG - TD, GARY BROWN 1 YD RUN (GREG DAVIS KICK), 8:41. Drive: 25 plays, 98 yards in 9:33. Key plays: Whelihan 25-yard pss to Fletcher on 3rd-and-10 to San Diego 42; Whelihan 10-yard pass to Fletcher on 3rd-and-7 to Denver 45; Whelihan 19-yard pass to Martin on 4th-and-8 to Denver 24; Whelihan 15-yard pass to Metcalf on 3rd-and-2 to Denver 4. DENVER 35-21 DEN - FG, JASON ELAM 32 YD, 10:44. Drive: 5 plays, 31 yards in 2:04. Key plays: Burns recovery of onsides kick at San Diego 44; Davis 24-yard run to San Diego 20. DENVER 38-21 SDG - TD, ERIC METCALF 11 YD PASS FROM CRAIG WHELIHAN (GREG DAVIS KICK), 14:32. Drive: 15 plays, 67 yards in 3:48. Key plays: Traylor 5-yard offsides penalty on 4th-and-2 to San Diego 46; Whelihan 3-yard run on 4th-and-1 to Denver 42; Whelihan 14-yard pass to Martin plus Crockett 5-yard facemask penalty on 3rd-and-15 to Denver 28. DENVER 38-28 TEAM STATISTICS DEN SDG FIRST DOWNS 28 22 Rushing 12 5 Passing 14 10 Penalty 2 7 3RD-DOWN EFFICIENCY 5-9 7-17 4TH-DOWN EFFICIENCY 0-1 3-3 TOTAL NET YARDS 438 269 Total plays 62 73 Average gain 7.1 3.7 NET YARDS RUSHING 198 47 Rushes 29 21 Average per rush 6.8 2.2 NET YARDS PASSING 240 222 Completed-attempted 20-33 23-51 Yards per pass 7.3 4.3 Sacked-yards lost 0-0 1-0 Had intercepted 0 2 PUNTS-AVERAGE 1-50.0 4-43.8 RETURN YARDAGE 130 241 Punts-returns 2-24 1-83 Kickoffs-returns 3-64 7-158 Interceptions-returns 2-42 0-0 PENALTIES-YARDS 12-92 10-71 FUMBLES-LOST 0-0 2-0 TIME OF POSSESSION 29:59 30:01 PLAYER STATISTICS Missed field goals: Denver (Jason Elam 35). Denver rushing: Terrell Davis 26-178, Rod Smith 1-21, Howard Griffith 1-0, John Elway 1-minus 1. San Diego rushing: Gary Brown 12-21, Terrell Fletcher 6-17, Craig Whelihan 2-9, Aaron Craver 1-0. Denver passing: John Elway 20-33 for 240 yards, 0 INT, 3 TD. San Diego passing: Craig Whelihan 23-51 for 222 yards, 2 INT, 2 TD. Denver receiving: Ed Mccaffrey 7-111, Shannon Sharpe 4-46, Rod Smith 4-40, Terrell Davis 4-36, Dwayne Carswell 1-7. San Diego receiving: Tony Martin 8-78, Bryan Still 4-44, Eric Metcalf 4-38, Terrell Fletcher 3-32, Frank Hartley 2-17, Charlie Jones 1-9, Freddie Jones 1-4. Denver tackles-assists-sacks (unofficial): Ray Crockett 6-1-0, Bill Romanowski 6-0-0, Darrien Gordon 6-0-0, John Mobley 3-2-0, Tyrone Braxton 4-0-0, Trevor Pryce 4-0-0, Steve Atwater 3-1-0, Neil Smith 3-0-1, Allen Aldridge 2-0-0, Darrius Johnson 3-0-0, Alfred Williams 2-0-0, Keith Traylor 1-1-0, Keith Burns 2-0-0, Mike Lodish 0-1-0, Dwayne Carswell 1-0-0, Jason Elam 1-0-0, David Gamble 1-0-0, Tony Veland 2-0-0. San Diego tackles-assists-sacks (unofficial): Michael Dumas 15-0-0, Rodney Harrison 4-4-0, Terrance Shaw 5-0-0, Dwayne Harper 4-1-0, Junior Seau 5-1-0, James Burgess 3-0-0, Shawn Lee 2-0-0, John Parrella 2-0-0, Michael Swift 2-0-0, Lewis Bush 1-0-0, Marco Coleman 1-0-0, William Fuller 1-0-0, Patrick Sapp 1-0-0, Norman Hand 0-1-0, Robert Chauncey 1-0-0, Aaron Craver 1-0-0, Terrell Fletcher 1-0-0, Frank Hartley 1-0-0. Interceptions: Denver (Steve Atwater 1 for 22 yards, Tyrone Braxton 1 for 20 yards). Fumbles lost: None. Opponent's fumbles recovered: None. Officials: Referee-Gerard Austin, Umpire-Scott Dawson, Head linesman-Tom Johnson, Line judge-Ron Baynes, Back judge-Keven Mack, Side judge-Dave Wyant, Field judge-Jack Vaughan. A: 54,245; T: 3:17.