Takeo Spikes' 8-yard sack on a second and 10 play, followed by Eric Weddle's interception of a Matt Moore pass intended for Anthony Fasano with 2:53 to play, pretty much slammed the lid on any Miami hopes of getting its first victory. The Chargers ran out the clock and came away with a 26-16 victory Sunday at Qualcomm Stadium, and at 3-1 moved into first place in the AFC West.

* * *

The Chargers burned more than seven minutes on the drive that led to Nick Novak's 38-yard field goal, his fourth of the game, and a 26-16 lead with 4:28 left.

* * *

It's now 23-16, Chargers, after Dan Carpenter kicked a 51-field goal with 11:34 left in the game. Key play in the 46-yard drive, an 18-yard pass from Matt Moore to Lex Hilliard on third-and-3 at the Dolphins' 17.

* * *

Nick Novak drilled a 23-yard field goal with 1:15 left in the third quarter to pad the Chargers' lead over Miami, 23-13, after an exchange of pass interference penalties.

Malcolm Floyd appared to have caught a 31-yard pass from Philip Rivers down to the Miami 3, but was called for "illegal touching" -- i.e., stepping out of bounds and coming back in to catch the pass. On the very next play, Floyd and Miami safety Yeremiah Bell got tangled up downfield, and Bell was called for pass interference, giving the Chargers a first down at the 13.

* * *

Igor Olshansky, the defensive tackle who played here for so long and got wild cheers every time his name was announced -- to the point where I speculated the fans were cheering the idea of an Igor Olshansky rather than anything specific he did -- was in on his first tackle late in the third quarter.

No cheers, this time, when his name was announced. Just a few scattered boos.

* * *

Dan Carpenter's 37-yard field goal with 6:46 left in the third quarter cut San Diego's lead to 20-13. It was helped along, natch, by another Chargers' miscue, rookie cornerback Marcus Gilchrist's 25-yard pass interference penalty that nullified Eric Weddle's interception and instead gave Miami a first-and-10 at the Chargers' 41.

Matt Moore found Brandon Marshall for 14 yards and a first down, setting up the field goal.

Watching the Dolphins' pass defense, it's not hard to understand why they're 0-3.

They've now allowed six Philip Rivers completions of 15 or more yards, Two of them, a 20-yarder to Vincent Brown and a 42-yard play on a short pass to Ryan Mathews, set up Mike Tolbert's touchdown leap from the 1 with 9:24 left in the third quarter, giving San Diego a 20-10 lead.

Essentially, the Dolphins' coverage and tackling ability have been lacking today. If the Chargers pay attention, they could still turn this into a rout.

* * *

Nick Novak drilled a 48-yard field goal with seven seconds left in the first half, and the Chargers left the field with a 13-10 intermission lead over the Miami Dolphins ... the 0-3 Dolphins, for those who have forgotten.

* * *

Halftime statistical notes: Vincent Jackson already has 108 receiving yards, on three catches, The Chargers have 34 rushing yards, total, but Philip Rivers has thrown for 191 yards (14 of 19) with a touchdown and no picks.

Matt Moore, the former UCLA and Oregon State quarterback summoned after Chad Henne injured his shoulder late in the first quarter, completed 8 of 9 passes for 85 yards in the half. Reggie Bush has 38 yards on 10 carries to lead all rushers so far.

Novak's 27-yard field goal with 7:55 left in the half gave the Chargers a 10-7 lead, but it was because of tackle Jeromey Clary that they had to settle for three instead of seven.

Philip Rivers' 42-yard strike down the sideline to Vincent Jackson set the Chargers up nicely, and from first-and-goal at the 9 Mike Tolbert gained three yards ... but Clary was docked 15 yards for unnecessary roughness after the play.

That made it second and goal at the 21, resulting in the field goal rather than the touchdown.

Later in the half the Chargers committed another dubious infraction. Richard Goodman received a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct pentlay for running out of bounds on Mike Scifres' punt. That, along with Davone Bess' 23-yard return, set the dolphins up with a first-and-10 at the Chargers 25.

But a 5-yard loss by Reggie Bush and a 6-yard sack by Larry English on quarterback Matt Moore pushed the Dolphins back, and they settled for Dan Carpenter's 41-yard field goal with 1:48 left, a kick that barely snuck over the uprights.
* * *

PA announcer Dennis Packer slipped early in the second quarter and referred to Reggie Bush as "Reggie Jackson."

Came the observation: "Well, it is October."

Packer knows better, anyway. He's also USC's public address announcer.

* * *

Philip Rivers just tied the game with three passes: A 15-yarder to Malcom Floyd along the sideline, a 10-yard dump over the middle to Ryan Mathews, and a 55-yard bomb to Vincent Jackson, who lost cornerback Sean Smith on an inside-out move, dove to catch the ball at the 15 and then got up and beat his pursuers to the end zone.

Nick Novak's PAT made it 7-7 with 1:35 left in the first quarter.

* * *

Miami lost quarterback Chad Henne on a busted play with just under six minutes to play in the first quarter, when he was forced to run the ball and injured his shoulder on Shaun Phillips' tackle.

His replacement, former UCLA/Oregon State quarterback Matt Moore, fired a 31-yard strike to Charles Clay on his first play, and four plays later Lex Hilliard appeared to score on a four-yard bolt off left tackle -- no pun intended -- to give Miami an early lead. But the replay official ruled his knee went down at the 1.

So Hilliard got the ball again on third-and-goal and tried to leap over the pile. That one was reviewed, as well, but the replay ref agreed with his cohorts on the field that Hillard had gotten in. Kicker Dan Carpenter's PAT made it 7-0 Dolphins with 2:47 left in the first quarter.

* * *

At game time, there are huge blocks of empty seats in he upper level at Qualcomm Stadium. Just sayin ...

* * *

For the record, it was frightfully easy to get into Qualcomm Stadium this morning, even while leaving the Inland Empire a little later than usual.

There are still plenty of tailgaters in the parking lot, but today's non-sellout (and, thus, TV blackout throughout Southern California) only raises the speculation level. Is this, indeed, just a reaction to the 0-3 opponent, to the Chargers' spotty play the first three weeks, or to the ongoing speculation that this team is ultimately headed for the shadow of LA Live, as much as the club denies it?

Meanwhile, today's inactives just came out. Antonio Gates is on the list, unsurprisingly, and so is cornerback Quentin Jammer, who suffered a hamstring injury during the second half last week against Kansas City.

Here's the complete list:

CHARGERS: WR Brian Walters, CB Quentin Jammer, RB Jordan Todman, LB Darryl Gamble, DE Jacques Cesaire, TE Antonio Gates, DE Luis Castillo.

(Marcus Gilchrist is listed as the probable starter for Jammer, while Randy McMichael is expected to start in place of gates.)

MIAMI: WR Roberto Wallace, CB Vontae Davis, RB Daniel Thomas, LB Koa Misi, C-G Ryan Cook, DT Tony McDaniel, TE Will Yeatman.

(Misi and Davis are starters. Expected to open the game in their places are Jason Taylor at strong side linebacker and Nolan Carroll at right cornerback.)

And so is tight end Antonio Gates, who is again being plagued by the plantar fasciitis that limited him to 10 games in 2010. And so is rookie defensive end Corey Liuget, who has an ankle injury. The Chargers are expected to plug in Steve Gregory to replace Sanders, Jacques Cesaire to replace Liuget and Randy McMichael to replace Gates.

The lists:

Chargers: S Paul Oliver, S Bob Sanders, RB Jordan Todman, LB Darryl Gamble, DE Luis Castillo, DE Corey Liuget.

(Incidentally, Castillo, who is out with a fractured tibia, is on the cover of the game program celebrating the Chargers' ties to the Latino community. Nice timing.)

Chiefs: QB Ricky Stanzi, S Reshard Langford, T Steve Maneri, WR Jerheme Urban, WR Jonathan Baldwin, DL Brandon Bair, DL Jerrell Powe.