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Chargers seek encore against Colts

Jan 13, 2008 - 12:29 PM San Diego (12-5) at Indianapolis (13-3) Sunday 1:00 pm EST

INDIANAPOLIS (Ticker) -- The San Diego Chargers are one of the few teams to have an edge on the Indianapolis Colts in recent years.

The Chargers will be looking to continue that trend when they visit the defending Super Bowl champions in an AFC divisional playoff contest on Sunday.

Riding a seven-game winning streak, San Diego goes for its third consecutive victory over the Colts, including a 23-21 win on November 11.

The Chargers took advantage of a career-worst performance by Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, who threw a stunning six interceptions, three of which were picked off by cornerback Antonio Cromartie.

Darren Sproles returned both a kickoff and a punt for a touchdown as San Diego bolted to a 23-0 second-quarter lead before holding off a furious rally by Indianapolis.

Despite the horrendous effort by Manning, he had the Colts in position to win, only to watch Adam Vinatieri - the most clutch kicker in NFL history - misfire on a 29-yard field goal with 91 seconds to play.

It marked only the second time in his career that Vinatieri has missed a field goal under 30 yards in the fourth quarter.

Chargers coach Norv Turner knows he cannot expect a similar performance from Indianapolis, which became the first team in league history to post five straight 12-win seasons.

"This is a whole new scenario because of being in the playoffs and the importance of that game," Turner said. "I know it's a challenge. Because of what's happened in the league, people have kind of forgotten that Indianapolis won the Super Bowl last year.

"They were the best team in the league last year and they were about four minutes away from beating who everyone perceives as the best team in the league this year. We've got our work cut out for us."

San Diego also caught the Colts at the most opportune time, with a banged-up Indianapolis coming off a loss to the New England Patriots in what had been a battle of undefeated teams.

Still, since starting the season 1-3, the Chargers have won 11 of their last 13 and are coming off Sunday's 17-6 wild card playoff win over the Tennessee Titans.

Despite an injury to All-Pro tight end Antonio Gates and having reigning Most Valuable Player LaDainian Tomlinson limited to 42 yards on 21 rushes, San Diego got huge production from its passing game.

Wide receivers Chris Chambers and Vincent Jackson combined for 11 catches and 235 yards as Philip Rivers completed five passes of at least 25 yards and threw for 292 overall.

"His confidence is going to be higher," Tomlinson said of Rivers. "The momentum of going into this playoff game is going to be a big thing for us. We are coming off a fresh win last week. Keeping that momentum of playing football and not talking any time off, that's going to help us."

The Chargers are not strangers to playing big games at Indianapolis. In 2005, visiting San Diego jumped out to a 16-0 lead and held on for a 26-17 victory, ending the Colts' 13-game winning streak to start the season.

"I think we're both really different teams," Turner said. "I think we're a different team than when we played them, however long ago it was, eight weeks ago. I just think it's a new game and it's a new matchup. Guys I think are going into the game with confidence, but there's a great respect, too. We know what the challenge is."

Indianapolis had won six consecutive games before dropping a meaningless 16-10 decision to the Titans in the regular-season finale.

Since the debacle against the Chargers in November, Manning has thrown for 15 touchdown passes against just four interceptions.

With perennial All-Pro Marvin Harrison missing the final 10 games with a knee injury, fellow wideout Reggie Wayne has flourished with 104 receptions and 10 TD catches.

Wayne torched San Diego for 10 receptions and 140 yards, including a touchdown, in the last meeting for the Colts, who are 4-1 at home in the playoffs under coach Tony Dungy.