AFC Wild-Card Playoff: Chargers 23, Colts 17 (OT)

PREGAME
Bad news for the Colts: I'm picking them to win this game after missing the first game today.

LaDainian Tomlinson's groin is the most talked-about one since Britney Spears', and though I ripped him mercilessly for his postseason no-show last year, if he has the groin tear I've heard reported, I'm impressed the guy can walk, let alone play football against NFL opposition. I don't think he should even suit up. Chargers beat the Colts in last year's playoffs without him (or Philip Rivers or Antonio Gates) anyway. :)

FIRST QUARTER
San Diego receives the opening kickoff; Indy stops Darren Sproles at the 22.
A visibly-limping Tomlinson sweeps around right end for 13.
Bob Sanders submarines LT after 2 more.
Short pass to Gates for 6. 3rd-and-2.
Chargers are PASSING and Robert Mathis smushes Philip Rivers for a sack. Fathead Madden blames RT Jeremey Clary for not "getting the job done", when Mathis cut inside of Mike Goff, overwhelmed by the DT, to get the sack. That sack's on Goff, fathead.

I hate John Madden.

Punt is fair-caught at the 9.
Manning to Harrison for 8.
Draw to Addai shut down for no gain, it looked like by LB Jyles Tucker.
With plenty of time, Manning hits Anthony Gonzalez on a slant for 12. Gonzalez invited bad karma by not announcing he was from "THE Ohio State University" in the player intros.
Safety blitz forces a throwaway. 2nd-10.
False start, Ugoh. 2nd-15.
RON WINTER is refereeing a playoff game? Boy, is refereeing getting worse.
Manning long and incomplete for Harrison, but Marvin lobbies the officials for DPI. That call put the "tick" in "ticky-tack". 30 gift yards for Indianapolis.
Addai plunges for 2 from the SD 44.
Manning up top for a VERY open Reggie Wayne, who got turned around while the ball was in midair. Incomplete, 3rd-and-8.
DROP by Wayne over the middle, almost as bad as DT Ryon Bingham coming in clean at Manning and STOPPING his pass rush.
Nice attempt at a deep pin by the Colts, but the ref calls touchback.

Colts have the first-down screen pass covered and Rivers dumps it incomplete.
Colts swamp the backfield and stuff Sproles for no gain.
Dumpoff to Gates is good for only 7. Clary false-started anyway. Second straight 3-and-out for S.D.

Deep kick returned to the 19. Wasn't expecting a defensive struggle here, either, but we're getting one so far.
Federkeil (K-Fed?), the RG from the University of Calgary, false starts.
4 to Dallas Clark in the flat. Shoutout to Clark for having two great weeks for me in the fantasy football playoffs!
Short over the middle to Gonzalez for 6 more. 3rd-and-5.
Bubble screen to Wayne for 8 and a first down.
Addai over the left side for 3.
Clark dodges a tackle and gains 9. Michaels inexplicably said that was a 3rd-and-2 play. IT WAS SECOND AND 7!!!!!
Colts at their 44. Manning gets all day, hits Gonzalez about 8 yards downfield, and AG speeds and weaves through the Charger secondary for 35. Manning hits him again on the Charger sideline at the 2 yard line. First and goal.
Addai pumps down to the 1.
Inside handoff to Addai for an easy TD. 7-0, Colts.
Manning was 6-6 that drive, 81 yards.

Sproles gets BLOWN UP at the Charger 25 on the kickoff return.
Rivers to Gates for 6.
Rivers has all night before finally getting flushed right and then misses MANU WIDE OPEN by a mile. Chargers were illegally downfield anyway, Goff, who's not off to a great start tonight.
Rivers falls leaning away from Freeney's pressure and his throw is low and incomplete.
So then Sproles RUNS for the first down, a 13-yard draw through traffic. THAT IS INEXCUSABLE that the Colts let SD RUN for a first down on THIRD AND NINE.
LT up the middle for 3.
Sproles up the middle for 3 more. 3rd-and-4.
Someone named Melvin Bullitt breaks up a quick slant to Chambers. Nice play, MELVIN.
The quarter expires on the punt, which San Diego downs inside the 5.

SECOND QUARTER
Dominic Rhodes gains 1 out to the 4.
Quick pass to TE Robinson against a blitz gains only 2.
Pressure right up the middle from Castillo as the completion to Gonzalez comes up a yard short. That probably saved a first down.
Terrific punt by Smith, easily over 50 yards, but Sproles brings it back into Colt territory.

Chargers from the Colt 44. Play-action, bootleg right to Gates for 9.
LT gets the first down down to the 33.
Slant to Gates, who breaks TERRIBLE tackles by Kelvin Hayden and Antoine Bethea and rumbles behind the Colt secondary down to the 3-yard line. 30 yards. Should have been 8.
Tomlinson coasts over the left side for an easy TD. Chargers 7, Colts 7. Key block by Jacob Hester, who Madden describes as an undersized fullback. That means Hester's already made more effective blocks in his career than Brian Leonard has.

Lord, I love the Charger cheerleaders.

SHORT kickoff returned by the upman to the 33 as idiot Nate Kaeding FALLS during the kick. Trust me, Kaeding will find any way he can to make non-clutch plays in this postseason game.

Amazing grab by Gonzalez, full extension fingertip catch for 20. Blitz pickup by Addai.
Addai whirls in the middle for maybe 1.
Manning with plenty of time to Addai for 8.
END AROUND TO CLARK ON THIRD AND ONE is good for 6. That's an effed-up call, but the Colts got all the Chargers looking left while Clark whirled around to their right.
Incomplete deep for Wayne.
2nd-10 from the 29. DROP over the middle by Gonzalez.
Colts no-huddle, but good Charger pressure forces Manning to dump off short for Clark. Colts will try a FG.
Adam Vinatieri hits from 43 to put the Colts ahead 10-7.

Sproles gets hit HARD again and upended at the 28 on the kick return and is lucky not to fumble.
And he's stuffed for no gain on first down.
OH MY GOD WHY DO YOU HAVE MANU TRYING TO BLOCK DWIGHT FREENEY seven yard sack.
3rd-and-16, more good pressure forces a dumpoff to Sproles. Chargers punting.

MOON SHOT by Scifres checks up at the 5; 67-yard punt. Colts take over at their 7.

We get to hear about Norv Turner complaining that Scifres didn't make the Pro Bowl. Hey, at least the guy who beat him out was the #1 punter in HIS conference. Signed, the disgrunted president of the Donnie Jones for MVP campaign.

Rhodes up the middle for 3.
Incomplete for Wayne on the sideline, as he was juggling it. Also had a toe on the line.
3rd-7. Colts are challenging the catch? TERRIBLE decision. All Dungy's doing here is throwing away a timeout. Call is confirmed.
Stupid screen to Clark is good for nothing. Chargers outwitted Manning here, checking out of a blitz after Manning audibled to a blitz call. Nice.

TERRIBLE punt by Smith downed at the Colt 45. San Diego is winning the battle of field position decisively this quarter.
3:01 till halftime.
Sproles darts left and cuts back for 11.
Rivers to Chambers on the sideline with a diving catch for 12. First Charger completion to a WR.
2:00 warning, Chargers at the 22.
Huh, Chambers DIDN'T get his toes down on that catch. Too bad Dungy already STUPIDLY wasted a challenge earlier and needs to keep one for the second half.
Sproles for 3.
Naked bootleg for Gates is overthrown. 3rd-7.
Rivers completes to Chambers at the 9 for first-and-goal.
Sproles gets a nice crease and drives through an ankle tackle for a 9-yard TD. Chargers 14, Colts 10. Key blocks by Hester (again) and Clary.

Here we go again with the Chargers having the Colts' number. 42 seconds till halftime.

And now Chad Simpson coughs up the kick return. Kassim Osgood ripped it loose. The call on the field is that Simpson was down, but THAT IS WRONG. Simpson is less close to being down than Michael Turner was on the fumble Ron Bartell stripped last week. Should be Chargers ball AGAIN inside the Colt 20.

WOW they are calling that the runner was down. The ball was clearly MOVING when his knee was down! Colts ball at the 20.

Out route to Clark nearly picked off by Eric Weddle.
Inside handoff to Addai for 3. CHARGERS call time out. So much for running out the clock for Indy.
Another draw to Addai, who gains about 11 and runs out of bounds with 15 seconds left.
Manning throws it away with 11 seconds left. It's been some time since the Colts have gotten anything going downfield.
Play action, Gonzalez wasn't looking for the throw. 3rd-10.
Draw to Addai ends the half.

Chargers 14, Colts 10 at halftime

I'm running behind so I'll need to cut halftime analysis short. To their credit, the Chargers have shut down the Colt running game and have pretty much taken Reggie Wayne out of the game. Manning had success getting the ball downfield early but is getting nothing now. Can't say San Diego should change a thing. Colts have got to get Wayne involved and have to be able to get some draws and screens against the increasing Charger pressure.

Things happening in opposite when the Chargers had the ball, as their offense got more and more effective. They're benefiting from great field position more than anything else. The Colts are getting to Rivers, and they're stuffing Sproles and getting good licks on him from time to time. He's also slipping away for some nice gains, but I don't know that the Colts have to change a lot in the second half, either, other than not getting caught near their own goal line so much. I don't see anything special the Chargers are doing, but they have Sproles rolling going into halftime and should stay with him.

At halftime, Costas asks Peter King about the NFL's four coaching vacancies: Browns, Broncos, Lions, Jets. That's how far the food chain the Rams have fallen: Bob Costas doesn't even count the coaching vacancy of his HOMETOWN TEAM!

THIRD QUARTER
Colts start at their 27. With Addai picking up the blitz, Manning hits Wayne on a corner route for 31. Wayne Torry Holts it for about 10 yards; I thought he had a chance to make that an even bigger play.
Addai over left guard for a couple.
Clark picks up the blitz as Manning hits Addai for almost 8.
3rd-inches. Addai loses at least a yard. Whole Charger left side was in the Colt backfield.
GOING FOR IT on 4th down, Manning gets flushed right and can't hit Robinson on a comeback pass, broken up by Weddle. Tough chance at best. AWFUL play-calling sequence by whoever's calling the shots in Indy.

Colts stuff Sproles at the 33.
Dumpoff to Sproles for about 4.
Freeney gets a hand on Rivers but he hits Chambers for 8 and a first.
From the 45, Rivers play-fakes and throws it away after getting flushed.
Draw to Sproles, running hard for 8.
Rivers is hit as he throws and Chambers drops it. San Diego's still set up to pin the Colts deep and resume the field position pattern they had going in the first half.
Fair catch at the 9. Mike Scifres may indeed be the MVP of this game.

I am totally looking into getting a St. Louis Sling Dog franchise.

Quick slant to Harrison for 8. My God is Jamal Williams fat. Addai up the middle for 5.
Bomb for Wayne incomplete, Cromartie has him well-covered. Little Joseph Addai is terrific at picking up blitzes, by the way. Any reason Steven Jackson can't do that on a consistent basis?
Offsides, Chargers. 2nd-5.
Weddle hits Wayne early but no call. Incomplete, 3rd-5.
But Manning gets the Colts lined up for a quick snap, catching the Chargers confused, and Wayne gets behind the Chargers secondary for a 67-yard TD bomb. Brilliant work by Manning; Chargers really should have called a timeout there. And that's on the coaching staff. Anybody over there could have called one and saved themselves a TD. 17-14, Colts.

Touchback starts the Chargers at the 20. Rivers beats good pressure and hits Hester for 6.
Super open-field tackle by Hayden stops Sproles for a loss. 3rd-6.
Rivers scrambles left and hits a WIDE OPEN Chambers for 25. TERRIBLE coverage by Indy.
Sproles to midfield for maybe 1.
Sproles breaks through the middle this time for 12. Key blocks by Goff and Dielman.
Rivers throws it away on first down. And now it's MICHAEL BENNETT up the middle for 12?
Chargers at the Indy 28. I don't know if there were any pancakes on that play, but Bennett is being sued by a guy who alleges he and another Buc player beat him up in the parking lot of a Tampa IHOP.
Rivers rolls right and throws it away. 2nd down pass is a dart between two guys to Legedu Naanee inside the 10.
Clint Session(?) stuffs Sproles at the 9.
Screen to Sproles... he squirts down to the 1 and the ball comes out, with Raheem Brock recovering it in the end zone. Call on the field looks correct to me. What a critical fumble by Sproles, who had done everything right tonight up to this point! The Colt who forced the fumble was Tim Jennings, who I misheard earlier as "Ken Jennings". Too much Jeopardy!

God bless Coors for bringing the Jim Mora commercial back. PLAYOFFS?

Colts at their 20 after the big turnover. Manning to Clark in the flat for 3. Cromartie drops an interception chance on 2nd down. Manning's nearly picked off again on 3rd down, as Steve (No Last Name) Gregory jumps a pass for Harrison. Big stop for San Diego.

Decent punt by Smith this time but Sproles brings it all the way out to the 45. Smith outkicked his coverage with the 58-yard boot. I understand why that happens since Smith has been so inconsistent tonight.

Sproles gets a big hole on the right side for 9. Key blocks by Gates and Clary.
Sproles gets all the way down to the Colt 38. I swore he was down 5 yards before that. First down San Diego as the quarter runs out.

FOURTH QUARTER
Quarter starts with a huge play by the Colts as Freeney spins Marcus MacNeil silly and sacks Rivers at midfield. Draw to Bennett for 5. 3rd-and-13. Sproles was down at the 41 on his earlier run, btw; terrible call by Michaels.
Rivers steps up and scrambles toward the home sideline and DIVES for the marker, coming up just a little short. It's 4th and a yard at most.
San Diego GOES FOR IT. The QB sneak may not have worked; NBC was ridiculously late getting back to live play. Rivers got it by a nose.
From the Colt 32, Rivers appears to have Chambers open in the end zone but misses him and it's INTERCEPTED by Bethea. There's a flag, but it's for an illegal block on the return. The second time tonight the Chargers appeared on their way to an imminent score and came away from it with NOTHING.

Colts need to score here and put this game away. They'll start at the 21. Clark turns the corner with a short pass and gets up the sideline for 20+, but it's coming back for a tripping penalty on Jeff Saturday. Colts go back to their 11.
Fake draw and screen to Clark again, but only for 4.
Manning beats big blitz and hits Wayne for 16.
Addai weaves up the middle for 4. 6 to Clark in the flat for the first down.
Rhodes for 5 after Ryan Diem gets away with a big fat false start.
Another Diem false start not called as Manning hits Harrison for 3.
Diem AND Saturday flinch on 3rd down with no call. Rhodes slides by on the left side for 3 yards and the first.
Colts at the SD 46. Addai picks up ANOTHER blitz, but it's ANOTHER DROP by Gonzalez over the middle. Antoine Cason short-hops it. Good call. 2nd-10, Colts.
Manning chucks it into the stands under pressure. But holding on Ugoh sets them back to 2nd-20.
Draw to Addai loses a yard as d-line gets a great jump. 3rd-21.
Dumpoff for Addai is incomplete and Colts held again anyway. Chargers came up with super pressure the last few plays when they really needed it.
BLOODY TERRIBLE KICK by Hunter Smith travels ONLY 28 YARDS.

Chargers, who I'm betting take the lead this drive, start from their 29. Rivers dumps off to Sproles, who motors after the catch for 17.
5:25 left. Sproles right for maybe 3.
Rivers rolls left and should have been picked off deep by Ken Jennings. What is "off his hands", Alex? 3rd-and-7. Dumpoff to Bennett, who splits THREE Colt defenders after the catch and appears to have dived for the first down. Ref gives him a first down by a couple of pebbles on the grain of the leather. Spot was off by a foot.
1st down from the Colt 45, they cut Bennett down for only 1.
Rivers, who has been great at making time for himself in the pocket tonight, does it again, and Naanee has his man beaten by a step down the Colt sideline, but it's underthrown and broken up. 3rd-and-9. Timeout, Chargers. 3:15 left.
HUGE SACK by the Colts. Freeney gets a ton of pressure up the middle, and Mathis wheels around Clary to take Rivers down.
Scifres' punt BEAUTIFULLY checks up and makes a left turn toward the sideline at the 1. The Charger who grabbed the ball and slid out of bounds with it kicked the pylon, though. That SHOULD be a touchback, we'll find out after the commercial break. 2:41 left.

The call is NOT made, and the Colts have it at their 1-yard line after the 52-yard punt. Big hole on the right for Addai for 6. Give credit to K-Fed the Calgary guy for the block. Timeout, Chargers; I believe they have one left.
Big split by San Diego made that last run possible, too.
Handoff left to Addai gains just 2. Third-and-2, 2:29 left as the Chargers use their last timeout.
Empty backfield and Manning gets SACKED at the 1, never seeing Tim Dobbins coming. Addai's been picking up blitzes all night; how can you empty the backfield there? What the bloody hell would have been wrong with RUNNING on 3rd-and-2? And now, with 2:00 left, Smith's punting from the very back of his end zone? The Colts will be lucky if that spaz gets the ball across the 20!

Michaels brings up the idea of the Colts just taking the safety. He always thinks of that, to his credit. The Colts punt, though, and Smith, naturally after I've ridden him for ten minutes, BLASTS it 63 yards. There's no Colt within 30 yards of him, though, and he returns it all the way to the Indy 38 with 1:48 left.

The Chargers can tie the game without even getting a first down, if Kaeding has any clutch in him.

Sproles gets knocked down on an attempted screen pass and Rivers has to ground it (legally).
Gates gets what I think is his first catch of the second half and waltzes inside Freddie Keiaho for 11 and a first.
Rivers to Gates for 12 more, down to the Colt 21. 1:00 left and counting. Rivers spikes at 0:53.
Rivers gets all night, scrambles right, throws it away. 0:46.
DRAW TO SPROLES FROM THE 16 IS GOOD FOR NEARLY NINE. Colts get caught with their pants down on a third down run AGAIN. Looks like San Diego will settle for the chippie FG and the tie, though. Call a timeout if you're Indianapolis? Go for it if you're San Diego? 4th-and-1 at the seven.
Dungy does get a timeout with 34 seconds left.
Bad snap, great hold by Scifres, and Kaeding ties the game at 17 with a 26-yard FG.

31 seconds left. Simpson only gets out to the 18 with the kick return and burns seven seconds doing it.

My TiVo is set to record for four hours, by the way.

Fake draw, useless dump to Addai for 7, timeout. Overtime appears to be coming.
Indy gets their timeout back because a Charger player was injured.
From their 25, Manning hits Addai near the sideline for 7 and Indy uses a timeout again.
:08 left. Manning launches deep and Cromartie knocks it down with :01 left.
Colts kneel and we're going to overtime.

FIRST OVERTIME
Chargers win the toss. Colt D better be stiffer than it was most of the 2nd half or this'll be a 20-17 final pretty quickly.

Sproles returns a very deep kickoff out to the 25.
Brock stuffs a draw to Sproles for -1.
Rivers has to throw away a play action pass, 3rd-and-11.
Rivers goes hot read to Sproles, who sprints upfield for 13 and a first down. Huge defensive fail right there.
Bennett up the middle for 6.
From the 43, there's a flag as Hagler takes Sproles down for a loss. It's DEFENSIVE HOLDING on Eric Foster.
First down Chargers at the Colt 48. Indy needs a stop RIGHT NOW.
Sproles is engulfed at midfield for 2.
Gates lumbers for 8 and another FIRST DOWN at the Colt 42, actually recovering his own fumble on the play.
Colts blow up a screen and want intentional grounding, but Rivers got it reasonably close to Hester.
2nd-and-10. Darrell Reid drops Sproles for a 1-yard gain. 3rd-and-9. Play of the game coming up.
Rivers shot puts one for Chambers as Jennings gets called for holding. Yep, play of the game.
First down Chargers at the Colt 37. Sproles for 2, and A FACE MASK ON SESSION puts the Chargers at the 20. Colts have MELTED DOWN here in overtime.
Sanders WALLOPS Sproles for a loss of 3.

GAME OVER
Sproles 22 TD. Chargers win, 23-17.
Keyunta Dawson missed a chance in the backfield and Sproles just ran around the corner and by everybody else for the TD. The Colts were blitzing and Sanders was in the box so there was no help downfield. San Diego held the ball for 6:30. Manning never got the ball.

The Colts' postseason misery continues at the hands of the San Diego Chargers. At least for getting in the playoffs with a miserable 8-8 record, San Diego's done damage while they're in there.

MVP of the game, with a nod to punter Mike Scifres, is Sproles, with 2 TDs, around 100 yards rushing and a bunch of good punt returns, one of the overlooked stories of the live broadcast, by NBC and me. The two teams playing tonight were the league's hottest; Tennessee or Pittsburgh will not have a walkover if they have the Chargers for an opponent next week.

NATURALLY, Michaels and Madden put Sproles and Scifres on the horse trailer. Why do they even put one box on that thing for each game? Why not four or five like they usually end up rewarding?

Should I mention here that Mike Martz passed on Darren Sproles in the 4th round in 2005 to draft the injured, and always broken-down afterward, Jerome Carter?

In the playoffs, you have to be able to run the ball and defend the run. The Colts were not good enough at either to carry the day today. They have a pretty well-regarded offensive line to have rushed as poorly as they did today. Tony Ugoh was Alex Barron-like today, Ryan Diem didn't do much, and Jeff Saturday looks as overrated as the rest of the line. But I'd probably count on them to bounce back next year, and like I recommended for the Falcons after the first game, go all defense in the 09 draft. They're getting by with a bunch of nobodies who really can't play. They got nothing today out of their LBs and their secondary, the CBs in particular, are mediocre at best. If they beef up the D, and maybe buy Gonzalez some stickum, they'll be fine again next year. And probably lose to San Diego again in the playoffs.

Two super games today, hope tomorrow's 6-3 matchups can live up to today but I very much doubt it. And bad news, Eagles, Dolphins; you're the teams I picked in the football pool for tomorrow, and I was 0-for-2 today.

I can't possibly go 0-for-4, can I?

Ravens-Dolphins live blog around lunchtime tomorrow.