SAN DIEGO - Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers saved their season and got some separation in the wild-card race with a thrilling comeback victory at Baltimore. NMD Wholesale .While moving into the AFCs No. 5 playoff spot, the playoff push only gets tougher for the Chargers (8-4).Up next is a home game against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots (9-3), who will practice in San Diego this week after losing at Green Bay on Sunday.After that is a home game against AFC West-leading Denver and road games against San Francisco and Kansas City.Every game will have playoff implications.As packed as everyone is, as close as our division is, and the AFC North is, theres a lot of teams that you could say are in a playoff mode, outside linebacker Jarret Johnson said Monday. I dont know if thats what I need to be saying, but thats reality.San Diego trails the Broncos by one game.The Chargers reached the playoffs last year by winning their final four games and getting help from Baltimore and Miami, which each lost their final two games.This December will be tougher for the Chargers than last December.Its what its all about. You want to be good in this league, youve got to beat the best, Johnson said. Weve got a tough road ahead of us, but were not worried about the four games, were worried about one game, the Patriots. Thats all we can control right now.The Patriots and Brady are an extremely hard team to play against, especially defensively, the way they attack weakness and his ability to control a game is unbelievable, Johnson said. Its going to be fun. Its going to be on a big stage. Its going to be a challenge.And the Chargers are happy they have Rivers.Down by 10 points with just more than six minutes to go, the Chargers rallied behind Rivers to beat the Ravens 34-33 on Sunday and extend their winning streak to three games.Rivers threw for 383 yards and three touchdowns, including the winning 1-yarder to Eddie Royal with 38 seconds left.It was a crazy game, as usual. Im just thankful we have Philip as our quarterback, wideout Malcom Floyd said. He did a great job of orchestrating a great drive and we got a win. It was a great plane ride home, too, unlike the Miami game.The Chargers last loss was a 37-0 stinker at Miami on Nov. 2.Johnson and Floyd said the win at Baltimore boosted the Chargers confidence.When you have a quarterback like we have, weve got a chance every week, and he was incredible yesterday, Johnson said.___Follow Bernie Wilson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/berniewilson___Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL NMD Outlet . The 49ers announced the deal Thursday. San Francisco selected Kilgore in the fifth round of the 2011 draft out of Appalachian State. He has played in 33 regular-season games, plus all six playoff games the last two seasons. NMD Clearance . -- Zach Johnson asked his short-iron approach on the par-4 18th to "Do something right, baby. https://www.cheapnmdoutlet.com/ . The stakes were higher, the competition more fierce and the atmosphere was that of a playoff game - something the young, upstart Raptors have five weeks to better prepare themselves for or the result will be eerily similar.MINNEAPOLIS -- Justin Verlander showed some rust in his return. The results werent great, albeit against a hot-hitting opponent. That award-winning right shoulder looked relaxed, though, and the sight of Verlander on the mound gave the sputtering Detroit Tigers a spark. Verlander lasted into the sixth inning, Nick Castellanos had two hits and two RBIs, and the Tigers salvaged a doubleheader split by beating the Minnesota Twins 8-6 Saturday night. "He knows how to pitch. He knows what hes doing. He can kind of contain the situation, and I think he did that well," said Torii Hunter, who had three of Detroits 17 hits. Victor Martinez and J.D. Martinez each had three hits, too, and Joe Nathan notched his 27th save in 32 attempts despite an RBI double by Brian Dozier in the ninth. Verlander (11-11) improved to 5-0 in seven career starts at Target Field. With two outs and two on in the sixth inning, manager Brad Ausmus came for the ball and was greeted with an icy stare as Blaine Hardy arrived from the bullpen. "I wanted to finish the game, but I knew what he was seeing. Obviously Ive been off for a while and fatigue was a factor there and we really couldnt let this game slip away from us," said Verlander, whose last turn was skipped because of shoulder soreness. He was removed after one inning the start before that Aug. 11 at Pittsburgh, when Ausmus said he looked like he was throwing darts to protect the joint. Here, his motion was free and easy, and his changeup was diving. "He wouldnt be Justin Verlander if he didnt push back when hes being taken out. He does not like to come out of games, and I think thats great," Ausmus said. Coupled with their 12-4 loss to the Twins in the afternoon, the Tigers dropped to a season-most three games behind first-place Kansas City in the AL Central. They also fell to a game behind Seattle for the second wild-card spot. In the opener, Twins rookie Kennys Vargas drove in five runs and starter Yohan Pino (2-5) strucck out six in five innings. NMD Cheap. So after the Tigers gave up a total of 32 runs and 34 hits while throwing a whopping 398 pitches in losing the first two games of the series, they badly needed the old Verlander to come through in this one. "Im extremely happy he got a win in his first start back," Ausmus said. Minnesota rookie Trevor May (0-3) completed five innings for the first time in four career starts, but he didnt hold his 4-2 lead after a two-run double by Trevor Plouffe in the third inning. Eugenio Suarezs broken-bat, two-run single pushed the Tigers in front 5-4, and Jared Burton was summoned from the bullpen. Castellanos hit a two-out, two-strike, two-run single in the seventh off Burton to add to the lead. Vargas finished the day with six RBIs and has driven in 23 runs in his first 22 major league games, all this month. The Twins scored seven runs in the opener off Tigers starter Buck Farmer (0-1), who managed only four outs. He gave up six runs in the second, while the Twins batted around for the third time in a span of nine innings. TRAINERS ROOM Tigers: Miguel Cabreras bothersome right ankle flared up a bit near the end of the long day, and Ausmus said hed consider keeping the slugger out of the series finale to give him two straight days off with no game Monday. "Obviously wed prefer to have Miggy in the lineup, but his health is more important," Ausmus said. Twins: Joe Mauer is still receiving daily treatment for the strained muscle on his right side that kept him out for 34 games. He stretched his streak of reaching base, the longest active in the majors, to 25 games and drove in four runs for the day. "I feel good. Im seeing the ball well," said Mauer, whos hitting .327 with 11 RBIs in 13 games since coming off the DL. UP NEXT The Tigers will try to split the series by sending reigning Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (14-4, 3.07 ERA) to the mound Sunday afternoon. Kyle Gibson (11-9, 4.13 ERA) pitches for the Twins. ' ' '