DENVER -- This time attitude, and LaDainian Tomlinson, trumped altitude.

"One thing about Denver -- we knew it would be a tough place to play," Chargers tight end Antonio Gates said. "But this is a different team, man, a different attitude. And the most important part of all of this is we play for each other."

For only the second time in their past 12 Colorado visits, the Chargers danced away winners.

For the second straight week, the Chargers dusted off a road deficit like so much lint. They rallied to defeat the Denver Broncos 35-27 before 75,506 at Invesco Field at Mile High.

"We knew in the second half we were going to come back and win this game," defensive lineman Jamal Williams said. "We know the type of team we have. I guess it was a bit of a boost of confidence last week that we could overcome anything. Seven points? Come on, with our offense."

The Chargers again rode Tomlinson like a bronco -- sorry, Denver -- as he scored four touchdowns for the second straight week. He set a slew of records on this chilly evening, the most impressive being the fastest player ever to 100 touchdowns.

"It's a phenomenal thing," Tomlinson said of passing Jim Brown and Emmitt Smith with his 100th touchdown in 89 games. "But I have a lot of guys to thank. The offensive line has played great this season, and Lorenzo Neal is the best in the league blocking.

"It's a whole team effort. I cant take all the credit, but it's been phenomenal and I'm just going along for the ride like everyone else."

Denver has long been the Chargers' Waterloo. Instead, it was the Broncos (7-3) who ended up all wet this time, letting a 24-7 third-quarter advantage slip away in this battle for the AFC West lead.

"We didn't panic when it was 24-7 and say, 'We got to score 28,' " Rivers said. "We just took seven at a time, and we're a very mature team in that sense that we don't try to get it all back in one play."

The Chargers (8-2) went ahead 28-27 for the first time when Rivers clicked with Vincent Jackson on a perfectly thrown ball in the back of the end zone with 6:45 to go. Jackson was in single coverage with Darrent Williams, and Rivers lofted a pass that Jackson was able to pluck from the air and still get both feet down for his third touchdown of the year.

Tomlinson added his fourth touchdown of the night, converting a Drayton Florence interception into a score. Then the Chargers held on in the final defensive series, despite Igor Olshansky getting thrown out of the game for unnecessary roughness and a delay of game penalty on Florence.

Shaun Phillips sacked Jake Plummer at the Chargers' 46-yard line to kill both the clock and the Denver jinx in one swoop.

"San Diego stepped up and played and coached a better game than we did," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. "We had our opportunities to put them away, and we didn't."

The momentum shifted when Rivers hit Tomlinson for a 51-yard touchdown with four minutes left in the third quarter, drawing the Chargers to 24-21.

Tomlinson caught the pass on the right side, then quickly spilt Champ Bailey and Ebenezer Ekuban.

But the Chargers couldn't stop the Broncos from getting into field-goal range on the next drive.

Jason Elam connected from 38 yards. Two big plays fueled the scoring drive: Phillips was called for offside on third-and-2 on the Denver 41, and Javon Walker made a difficult catch of a 23-yard pass with Quentin Jammer in coverage.

The game started like most the others the Chargers had dropped here, which included but two victories in their past 19 visits.

In the first quarter, the Broncos were unable to convert a rare Rivers turnover, when his pass was deflected by Gerard Warren to Nick Ferguson.

The Chargers held, with Williams tipping a Plummer pass on first down. Plummer then misfired on third down, but Paul Ernster's punt was fielded on the Chargers' 1.

The Chargers, though, didn't fret and went to work with one of their most impressive drives of the season -- and longest since a 99-yard drive Nov. 25, 2001 against Arizona.

The offense went 99 yards, with Eric Parker picking up two big first downs.

Appropriately, the 99-yard waltz was capped by Tomlinson's 99th career touchdown. Tomlinson went over from the left side from 3 yards, following a fine block by Lorenzo Neal.

The Broncos tied it to open the second quarter, with Mike Bell scoring from the 1. Twice, they converted third downs: on a 13-yard pass to Bell and a 5-yard run by Bell.

Bell put the Broncos ahead 14-7 in the first half's final minute. The touchdown was set up by Damien Nash's 22-yard run, the longest allowed in the game by the Chargers.

But in the long run, the Chargers finally left Denver with their spirits a mile high.

"This team always feels like it is still in the game, no matter what the deficit is," Tomlinson said. "We always feel like we can get it going and score points."

Even in Denver.

Contact staff writer Jay Paris at jparis8@aol.com. To comment, go to sports.nctimes.com.