My Philip Rivers Blog

The current AFC West Division Champions of the NFL, the San Diego Chargers, defeated the Indianapolis Colts in overtime 23-17. This win was a surprise for the fans since the Chargers were struggling at the beginning of the season with a record of 4-8. However, the Chargers have found their winning ways and have steak together. Besides, his coach Norv Turner has also steak to the plan and has support his players even when things don't go their way. That was shown in Saturday's game especially in overtime, when Darren Sproles did a 22-yard touchdown that gave the Chargers the victory.

During the game things were equally managed by the two teams; the Colts had the great presence of their superstar and MVP quarterback Peyton Manning, who had a solid performance by converting 25 of 42 for 310 yards with no interceptions and completing a touchdown. Their running back Joseph Addai was not clearly good as he only got 44 rushing yards on 16 carries. Team's receiver Reggie Wayne for his part, after some absence in the first half, appeared in great way in the second half ending with 4 receptions for 129 yards. Wayne also converted a key touchdown of 72-yards to give the lead to the Colts at the beginning of the third quarter.

On the other hand, the Chargers had great performances from their running back Darren Sproles, who substituted starting running back LaDainian Tomlinson and who gained 105 yards on the ground and 45 yards on five receptions in the game. This 5-6 ft running back also converted two touchdowns, one of 9-yards and the 22-yard winner touchdown in overtime. Sproles was a real headache for the Colts the whole game, and Indianapolis couldn't find a way to stop him. Another key player for the Chargers was their punter Mike Scifres, who was really amazing by averaging 52.7 yards on 6 punts inside the 20, and also averaging a net of 51.7 yards. With this Scifres also broke a couple of post season's records, the best net average and the 5 punts in a NFL playoff game that Green Bay's Craig Hentrich set in 1998.

The effort of these players, along with that of their quarterback Philip Rivers, who controlled the Chargers' offense, and the contribution of rest of their teammates, gave the team a positive result and the victory at the end.

The coach of the Chargers, Norv Turner, was really pleased with his team's effort and how they are finding their winning ways again. On the other hand, Colts' coach Tony Dungy was really disappointed with his team, especially because they converted too many doubt penalties and didn't convert some key plays. Dungy also expressed that Scifres was a key player for the Chargers. "He was the difference in the game," recognized Colts coach Tony Dungy. "He just punted us in the hole all night long with long, high punts, stopping inside the 10-yard line."

The next playoff game for the San Diego Chargers will be on Sunday January 11th against the Pittsburgh Steelers at the Heinz Field.

About the Author -
Cindy Ferguson is a high-ranking sports writer, currently writing reviews on the NFL Football for the sports betting industry. Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety on your site, make sure to leave all links in place and do not modify any of the content.