He might be as tall as Speedy Gonzalez, but he's also just as fast. And he proved it Saturday night.After LaDainian Tomlinson went down midway through the second quarter of Saturday night's wild card game against Indianapolis, Chargers Head Coach Norv Turner turned to Darren Sproles and told him to "be ready."
"I just didn't have the burst," said Tomlinson after the game. "I couldn't get my foot in the ground and get off like I wanted to."
Ready would be an understatement as the other backup to L.T. racked a total of 328 all-purpose yards, including a game-clinching 22-yard touchdown run as San Diego shocked the Colts 23-17.
Sproles, just 5-foot 6-inches tall and all of 186 pounds, gained the third highest amount of all-purpose yards in NFL playoff history. He had 23 carries for 105 yards and two touchdowns, five catches for 45 yards, 106 yards on four kick returns and 72 yards on three punt returns.
Sproles relief of an injured LaDainian Tomlinson, who started the night, but only had five carries for 25 yards, sent the Chargers into the AFC divisional championship for the second time in consecutive years and gave the Chargers back-to-back playoff victories against Indianapolis. The Chargers beat Indianapolis at the RCA dome 28-24 in last year's playoffs, only to lose to New England the week after. Tomlinson took much criticism last season in that AFC Championship game for not fighting through a knee injury and playing, even though quarterback Philip Rivers almost won the game with his knee injury.
"He was unbelieveable," said Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers after the game.
For a guy that's one of the smallest, if not the smallest players in the league, I'd agree.
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