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Familiar Foes Put Hot Streaks On The Line

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By BERNIE WILSON The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 3, 2009

SAN DIEGO - These guys might as well be division rivals.

Peyton Manning, voted NFL MVP for a record-tying third time, and his Indianapolis Colts face Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers for the fourth time in two seasons tonight.

Not only are the teams familiar with each other, they know all too well the consequences of facing off a second time - one team moves along in the playoffs and the other one goes home for the winter.

After fighting week-by-week to stay alive in the playoff chase, the Colts (12-4) and Chargers (8-8) should be acclimated to the pressure accompanying their wild-card showdown at Qualcomm Stadium.

"You've got two teams that have been in very similar situations, that we've essentially been playing elimination games these past five, six weeks," Manning said. "We didn't feel like we could afford to lose one because we felt like we would get behind, whether it was against New England or Baltimore, because we knew we were playing for the wild card."

The Colts' early struggles, due largely to Manning's knee problems, put them way behind the AFC South champion Tennessee Titans. But Indy more than took care of business by winning nine straight games to secure a wild-card spot while New England was shut out despite going 11-5.

The Colts' winning streak included a heartstopping 23-20 victory at San Diego on Nov. 23 on Adam Vinatieri's 51-yard field goal as time expired.

And the Bolts? After crashing to 4-8 and being written off in Norv Turner's second season as head coach, the Chargers climbed back into the race thanks to the weak AFC West. They won their last four games to clinch the division at .500. Among their December wins were a fourth-quarter comeback at doormat Kansas City, a stirring victory at Tampa Bay, and a 52-21 rout of the Broncos that contributed to Denver coach Mike Shanahan's firing.

"Obviously, San Diego was in the same boat," said Manning, whose team started 3-4. "They couldn't afford to lose one, because Denver would win the division. So there has been a lot of pressure in these last five, six weeks for both teams and it's nice to know you can kind of come through in those situations."

So here they are meeting again, 51 weeks after the Chargers kept the Colts from getting a shot at defending their Super Bowl title by knocking them off in Indy in the divisional round.

"I think both teams kind of just realized, 'We have the personnel to get the job done,'" Colts safety Bob Sanders said. "We've had guys injured and guys stepped in on both teams and have been able to make plays for us and keep us rolling. That's all we want. We just want guys to continue to get better and grow, and I think they've had the same thing."

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