Darren Sporles: San Diego's Hero

5 ft. 6 inches. 181 pounds. Not exactly your prototypical NFL stock running back. Don't tell that to Darren Sproles - as last night he took over for the San Diego Chargers and paced them to a victory over the red-hot Indianapolis Colts. With feature RB, LaDainian Tomlinson, wearing a baseball cap more than a helmet in the 2nd half the Chargers needed a spark - and Sproles provided more than enough.

For the second straight year Tomlinson is being hampered by nagging injuries to close out the season. And for the second year, his back up is filling in quite nicely. Last year it was Michael Turner (he finished a close second in this year's MVP voting), and this year Sproles is proving to all that he is more than just a change-of-pace back and a returner. In week 17 against the Denver Broncos, Sproles put up 114 yards on the ground. In round one of the playoffs Sproles came up just as big - 23 carries for 105 yards and two touchdowns, including the game winning 22 yard dash late in the game.

With his backups doing so well you have to wonder how future hall-of-famer LaDainian Tomlinson feels. His long time back up, Michael Turner, flourished this season with the Atlanta Falcons. Turner finished the regular season finishing second in NFL MVP voting while rushing for 1,699 yards (2nd behind Minnesota's Adrian Peterson) and 17 rushing touchdowns (2nd behind Carolina's DeAngelo Williams). Now, Sproles is stepping up and seeming to outshine Tomlinson when it counts. Tomlinson finished this season with career lows in total rushing yards (1,110) and yards per game (69.4). Sproles appeared in 16 games during the regular season for the Chargers in 2008 and garnered 330 yards on 61 carries for a stellar 5.4 yards per carry as the change-of-pace back. San Diego will need him to continue his outstanding performance if they want to continue their playoff run this year.