A TIME TO CELEBRATE RAIDERS TOP CHARGERS AND WIN AFC WEST OAKLAND 13, SAN DIEGO 6.

Byline: Matthew Kredell Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO - Jerry Rice faked to the outside, made a move back to the middle of the field and watched the defender slip to the ground, setting him free for a 40-yard touchdown-pass play.

It was vintage Rice. The moves that followed, those were new. Rice palmed the ball in one hand, crouched as though he was about to pounce on his prey and did a little strut in celebration.

It wasn't Deion Sanders or even Terrell Owens. But for a guy who has been there a few times and usually acts matter-of-factly, this was not subtle.

Rice's 197th career touchdown extended his own NFL record and put the Oakland Raiders ahead for good in the third quarter of a 13-6 victory Saturday over the San Diego Chargers before 67,349 at Qualcomm Stadium.

The victory improved the Raiders' record to 10-3, earned them their second AFC West championship in two years and sends them to the playoffs. They are the first NFL team to win a playoff position.

``It's nothing that I practice,'' Rice said of his theatrics. ``It was just a natural reaction. It was a big play at that time and hopefully we can just move on from this.''

Quarterback Rich Gannon threw for 221 yards, completing 20 of 28 passes, and now has 3,042 yards this season. It's the third year in a row Gannon has thrown for more than 3,000 yards.

Rice, meanwhile, had 93 yards on eight catches, leaving him 107 yards short of reaching 1,000 yards for the 12th time in his career.

San Diego's defense held the Raiders under their AFC-leading 28.1 points a game, but the Chargers had costly turnovers while losing for the seventh consecutive game. The Chargers are 5-9 and were booed by the crowd, second-largest in stadium history, that probably was 50 percent Raiders fans. Perhaps for good reason.

Quarterback Doug Flutie was intercepted three times in the second half, twice in the red zone.

The backbreaker was when the Chargers elected to pass on 2nd-and-goal from their own 2, and linebacker William Thomas intercepted Flutie in the end zone with six minutes remaining. It was Thomas' second interception of the game. Linebacker Darrell Russell, who grew up in San Diego and went to USC, also had an interception, vindicating a defense that had been criticized the past couple of weeks.

``It feels a lot better,'' Thomas said of the team's defensive effort. ``The feeling will be (even) better if we keep on doing it.''

``We haven't gotten many (turnovers) from the defense in the last month,'' said Raiders coach Jon Gruden. ``We needed them and we got them and that's why we won today, there's no question.''

San Diego had one last chance in the final minute after Sebastian Janikowski's second field goal put the Raiders ahead by seven points. Ronney Jenkins returned the kickoff 38 yards to the San Diego 42 and Flutie's 34-yard pass to Curtis Conway put the Chargers at the Oakland 24.

But Flutie's fourth-down pass to Jeff Graham was dropped with 15 seconds remaining.

``That's a game we should have won,'' Flutie said. ``This one's on me.''

Oakland's defense held San Diego to 274 total yards (206 passing, 68 running). The Raiders had allowed an average of 194.6 yards rushing in the past five games.

``You win championships with defense and they rose to the occasion today,'' Rice said.

The game was delayed for about 20 minutes after Carl Robbins, 70, a member of the chain crew, had an apparent heart attack and collapsed on the Chargers' sideline in the first half. He was taken to a hospital.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Raider Charlie Garner (25) joins in celebrating teammate Jerry Rice's touchdown Saturday in San Diego.

(2) A frustrated Doug Flutie picks himself up after throwing the third of his three interceptions against the Raiders.

Denis Poroy/Associated Press