"It was just a dumb play by me," Gresham, a nine-year veteran, said after the game.

"I turned around and saw my guy on the ground. We're not coached to that. We're not taught that. They didn't bring me in here to do that, and it was stupid. I cost us the game."

Not entirely, but he helped.

The Chargers had plenty of culprits, too. Their six-game winning string ended when a conservative defense couldn't prevent Denver from going 86 yards in 1:51 for Brandon McManus' winning 34-yard field goal as time expired.

Los Angeles made mistakes throughout, hardly looking like a wild-card frontrunner.

Quarterback Philip Rivers threw two interceptions and on a third-down play on LA's final drive, he seemed to panic and threw the ball at a receiver's feet.

That led to a punt, but also gave Denver more time for its final drive.

The Chargers committed 14 penalties, including 10 in the first half. Mike Badgley, who booted three field goals, also missed an extra point as Denver won 23-22.

"The crucial mistakes that we've been able to stay away from, we didn't today," Rivers said.

Championship candidates avoid those, especially against a weaker opponent.

Atlanta has had plenty of reasons to struggle, particularly a slew of early-season injuries that have worn on a good roster. But the Falcons had won three straight before a poor performance in Cleveland and they exacerbated their issues with a painful-to-watch showing late in a 22-19 loss to Dallas on Sunday.

Four of the team's six losses have come either on the opponent's final possession or with the Falcons denied on their final opportunity.

Simply put, Atlanta has folded under pressure.

"It's aggravating at the end of the day," said cornerback Robert Alford. "We did some good things today. We can't just hold our heads down. But at the end of the day we've got to learn to finish games."

This time, the Cowboys had little difficulty moving 51 yards to Brett Maher's winning 42-yard kick.

If your team is going to lose late, at least do it the way Carolina did - going for it, not backing off or making egregious errors.

"When you make some errors like we made today in critical moments, you open yourselves up to get beat, and that's what happened," Rivers said.

"We had every opportunity to close it out, and we just didn't get it done."

Associated Press