Sproles enjoys big day in two roles

Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson sat on the bench Sunday afternoon nursing his sore right toe when his stood in pride, clapped his hands and delivered his trademark ear-to-ear smile.

“He made some huge plays for us, both on offense and special teams,” Tomlinson said.

The “he” Tomlinson was referring to was Darren Sproles, he of 317 all-purpose yards in Sunday’s narrow defeat.

Sproles’ big afternoon started in his normal role. With the Chargers trailing 21-3 and in desperate need of a boost, “Tank” made a little history when he fielded a kickoff three yards deep in the end zone and sprinted down the sideline for a 103-yard score.

His run tied Keith Lincoln for the longest kickoff return in franchise history. Lincoln’s original mark was set in September of 1962 against the New York Titans.

“He’s a little sparkplug,” safety Clinton Hart said. “For him to do what he did was huge.”

Sproles returned the opening kickoff of the second half 41 yards, but it was what he did on the next two plays that was even more impressive. With Tomlinson’s toe bothering him, Sproles reeled off runs of five and 15 yards on the next two plays to help set up a Chargers score.

Later in the fourth quarter, Sproles gave the Chargers their first lead of the day when he caught a short swing pass from Philip Rivers and zigzagged his way across the field for a 66-yard score.

“We all see that every day in practice,” Rivers said. “He deserves it. The guy works in the offseason and in practice harder than anybody on the football team. You hate in when LT can’t go, but Sproles steps up, scores on special teams, scores on offense, makes some great plays. He was outstanding.”

While Tomlinson wanted to be on the field, he saw the effect Sproles was having on the Denver defense and thought it best to give his young understudy an opportunity. Specifically, the Broncos abandoned the eight-man fronts they’d used throughout the day to slow Tomlinson.

“Some things I did notice was, when Darren was in the game sometimes they started playing us Cover 2, pass coverage,” Tomlinson said. “Darren had a couple of big runs, so at that time I was like, ‘Hey, let them keep playing us like that.’ When I go into the game they bring the safety down and play the run. That obviously affected me not going back into the game.”

Tomlinson finished the day with 26 yards on just 10 carries, but it was Sproles’ presence that allowed him to go easy on his ailing digit.

“It’s just something I have to fight through,” Tomlinson said. “Obviously having Darren there was big where I didn’t have to go in and play, but I gave it everything I had on it and tried the best I could.”

In the week leading up to Sunday’s game, LT practiced just one day an admittedly wasn’t quite himself.

“I knew it was going to be real hard trying to cut here and there,” Tomlinson said. “But I knew if I had holes I could run straight ahead pretty good. It was just the short cuts that gave me a little bit of problems.”

Tomlinson said the contact caused his toe to swell up a bit, but he was encouraged by the way he came out of the game.

“The one thing I am happy about is it didn’t get worse after the game,” Tomlinson said. “I don’t feel any worse than I did last week, which is good. That means it’s on its way to recovery.”

LT will have an extra day to recover this week as the Chargers play on Monday Night Football in Week 3. He’s confident he’ll be ready to go, but if he needs a little help, he’s happy to have Sproles ready to step in.

“Darren was a big reason we got back in the game,” Tomlinson said. “We’re all really happy for him.”

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