By Tony Desiere
PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

DENVER (Ticker) -- After watching a game in which the teams
combined for nearly 1,000 yards of offense, Denver Broncos coach
Mike Shanahan wanted no part of overtime.

Jay Cutler completed a two-point conversion pass to Eddie Royal
with 24 seconds remaining to complete the Broncos' comeback.

Denver (2-0) became only the third team to win on a game on a
two-point conversion in the final minute while San Diego (0-2)
suffered a second straight heart-breaking loss.

"You just got a gut sometimes," Shanahan said. "I didn't want
them to catch us on the coin flip. I wanted to do it then, and
obviously it worked out."

The gamble came after the Broncos benefited from a favorable
ruling that left the Chargers shaking their heads.

Three plays earlier, Cutler fumbled when the ball slipped out of
his hands and was recovered by San Diego at the 10-yard line.
But the officials ruled the play dead after an inadvertent
whistle and gave the ball back to Denver.

On fourth down, Cutler tossed a 4-yard TD pass to Royal to bring
the Broncos within 38-37.

"It was clearly a fumble," said San Diego coach Norv Turner,
whose team suffered a 26-24 loss to Carolina last week when Jake
Delhomme tossed a 14-yard TD pass on the final play of the game.

"Ed (Hochuli), the official, came over to me and said he blew
the whistle, and that is not acceptable to me. This is a
high-level performance sport and it is not acceptable to have
the refs decide it on that play."

Hochuli said the ruling on the field was an incomplete pass and
that the replays rules in that instance do not allow the
referees to award the ball to the other team.

"All we can do to fix it is put the ball at the spot that it hit
the ground, which is why we moved it back to the 10-yard line
and the down counts and it becomes third down," he said

Brandon Marshall set a Broncos' franchise record with 18 pass
receptions , but he almost was overshadowed by San Diego's
Darren Sproles, who scored two long touchdowns.

Last season, the Chargers swept the Broncos by a combined score
of 64-6. In a 23-3 loss at San Diego in December, the Broncos
were taunted by San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers. Sunday was
payback.

"All of my goals are to break all the records," Marshall said.
"I'm out here to play to win, and for me it was personal in this
game because it was the San Diego Chargers."

Sproles tied a franchise record with a 103-yard kickoff return
in the second quarter and caught a 66-yard touchdown pass from
Rivers with 4:36 remaining in the contest to give San Diego
(0-2) a 38-31

"Offensively, we put up 38 points," said Rivers. "Our goal as an
offense is to score one more point than the other team and this
was the second straight week that we didn't do it. If they score
39, we need to score 40. We had our chances and didn't do it."

Cutler was 36-for-50 for 350 yards and four touchdowns, with
tight end Tony Scheffler catching two scoring passes for Denver.

"The coaches got us into the right position and we made the
adjustments to get into position," Scheffler said. "This meant a
lot because it was the first win over San Diego for the 2006
draft class."

Rivers finished 21-of-33 for 377 yards with three touchdowns,
including two to Chris Chambers.

LaDainian Tomlinson, who was limited in practice all week with a
toe injury, carried the ball 10 times for only 26 yards. Sproles
picked up the slack with 53 yards on the ground and 72 yards
receiving.

"It was tough," Tomlinson said. "It was something I had to fight
though. Having Darren there was huge, both offense and special
teams. He did a great job for us."

The game was an offensive display for both teams. Denver
finished the game with 486 yards and the Chargers 456.

After an early punt, the Broncos scored four touchdowns and a
field goal on their next five possessions to open a 31-17
halftime lead. They led, 21-3, early in the second quarter.