SAN DIEGO — Stepping gingerly from the stage, the Chargers' LaDainian Tomlinson ceded the spotlight to his understudy, Darren Sproles, the same as he had done on the Qualcomm Stadium field earlier in the evening.
The Chargers were Tomlinson's team until this season, when he signed them over to quarterback Philip Rivers, but on Saturday night they were carried by Sproles, at 5-foot-6 the shortest player on the field.
Tomlinson, hobbled by a groin injury that may require surgery, started San Diego's American Football Conference wild-card game against the Indianapolis Colts, but he could not finish it. He said it was easier to quash his ego and call it a night knowing that Sproles was the guy waiting in the wings to take his place.
"It's never a doubt in my mind what Darren can do," he said. "That's why for me, it's not a problem coming out of the game."
Until Saturday, Sproles' role was limited largely to special teams because Tomlinson, when healthy, is a running back with few peers. But on the first possession in overtime, Sproles took a handoff from Rivers and carried it 22 yards for the winning score.
The 23-17 victory was sweet validation for the Chargers, who made the playoffs with an 8-8 record by winning the mediocre AFC West, and redemption for Sproles, who lost a fumble on the Colts' 2-yard line late in the third quarter.
Sproles was distraught after the turnover, which happened on a reception when Tim Jennings knocked the ball out of his hands and Raheem Brock fell on it in the end zone. One of the first players to get in Sproles' ear was Tomlinson, whose last carry had been a 3-yard touchdown run that tied the score at 7-7 in the second quarter. Sproles put the Chargers ahead with a 9-yard touchdown run in the final minute of the first half.
Tomlinson said he told Sproles to shake off the turnover because "basically his time was going to come again to make a play and we were going to need him to make a play."
When he saw his opening, on a second-and-12 at the Colts' 22, Sproles didn't hesitate. "I saw the end slant in, I saw the green grass outside and I just went in for the score," he said, adding, "I wanted that touchdown to make up for that fumble."
Sproles, in his fourth season out of Kansas State, said he had imagined having games like this since he entered the league. In his rookie year, he tried too hard to make a good impression. "I'd be too nervous to do anything," he said.
Norv Turner took over as the coach before Sproles' second season and has been a calming influence. "Norv makes sure you are relaxed," Sproles said last year. "When you get uptight, he tells you to go out there and just play."
On Saturday, Sproles was a pebble in the Colts' hoof. He accounted for 328 all-purpose yards with 23 carries for 105 yards, five catches, three punt returns and four kickoff returns. It was the second-most yards in the franchise's post-season history, after Keith Lincoln's 337 in the 1963 American Football League championship game.
Sproles, who will become an unrestricted free agent after the season, could follow the lead of Michael Turner, who escaped Tomlinson's shadow this season to become the Atlanta Falcons' featured running back. If that is Sproles' strategy, he most likely created more daylight for himself with each of his runs Saturday.
After the game, Turner talked about Sproles' "great heart" and "great ability to cut." He said, "He's gotten a lot better in a year and a half." Tony Dungy, the Colts' coach, said, "We missed him a few times in the open field and he did a great job."
Rivers elaborated on Sproles' elusiveness, saying he would be hard to tackle in a phone booth. He added: "Every guy in the locker room couldn't be happier for him, the kind of guy he is, the way he works, the way he practices. He earns every bit of whatever credit he receives."
Sproles' size makes him easy to overlook, which is not all bad. Sometimes, he said, opponents "can't see me when I get up in the hole."
His lack of height is not the only handicap he has had to overcome. Sproles developed a stutter as a child. He studied speech pathology in college and acts as an unofficial spokesman for the Stuttering Foundation of America. Until recently, he balked at talking in front of news media scrums, preferring one-on-ones when no cameras were rolling.
If Sproles was uncomfortable in front of the cameras Saturday, he did not show it. He spoke the way he had run — confidently and patiently. Once he found his rhythm, the words, like the yards, came easily.
