“I had a good night against them a few weeks ago,” Sproles said. “Hopefully I can have another one. I’ve got to be ready.”

To say that Darren Sproles' play against the defending champs in Week 10 was crucial would be the understatement of the year. His 89-yard return of the opening kickoff gave the Chargers a lead from the start. His 45-yard punt return in the first quarter made him just the ninth player in league history to score on a punt return and kickoff return in the same game.

The Chargers were able to hold on for a 23-21 victory despite gaining just 177 yards on offense, thanks to a prolific effort by the Bolts’ defense and a special night by Sproles.

“I know one thing,” Chargers fullback Lorenzo Neal said Wednesday. “They’re working on their special teams in Indy because that was pretty much the difference in the game the last time we played.”

The Chargers believe the kicking game is an area they can gain an advantage in this weekend at Indianapolis. During the regular season, the Colts gave up three kickoff returns for touchdown as well as Sproles’ punt return for a score. No other team in the NFL gave up more than four returns for touchdowns.

That has led Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy to consider tweaking his special teams units as he prepares for Sproles and the Chargers. Last year during their run to the Super Bowl, Dungy inserted a handful of starters on special teams. He’ll likely do the same this week.

“We’re going to put the best coverage units we can have out there, and that may include some of our front-line guys I would think,” Dungy said. “Especially with the linebackers, we’ll get a lot of those guys out there.”

When asked earlier this week if he’ll kick to Darren Sproles, Dungy responded, “I hope we kick it to him a lot – kickoffs,” meaning Dungy hopes his own team will light up the scoreboard enough to get the Chargers’ return unit on the field. Regardless, Chargers Head Coach Norv Turner won’t be surprised if the Colts take a cautious approach to Sproles.

“They’ve improved a great deal on special teams,” Turner said. “You can see they’ve worked on them a great deal. I’m not sure they’ll give Darren the looks that he had again but hopefully he gets his opportunity and gets a good shot at a return.”

Few stories in the Chargers’ locker room have been more special this season than that of Sproles. After a promising rookie year, he broke his leg during the opening preseason game in 2006. That meant a long year of rehabbing and working to regain his speed.

On top of the conditioning part, Sproles was determined to improve at fielding punts. As a rookie, there were times when he didn’t catch the ball as cleanly as he would have liked, which cost him valuable time as defenders closed in.

This spring, after he finished lifting weights and doing his conditioning work, he’d grab a member of the team’s equipment staff and have them feed punts on the JUGS machine.

“I’d catch 30 every day,” Sproles said. “If I dropped one I’d start back over. Early on there were some days I’d end up doing over 100. I did that three days a week for about a month. I got a lot more comfortable.”

Sproles improved his ability to judge the ball. He explained that if the ball is turning over, it will drop to his left. If it’s spiraling, it’s going to quickly drop straight down. After he became more at ease and confident securing the ball, the rest of the return was easy.

“Once I catch it, I know what to do with it,” Sproles said. “That part is natural to me.”

Darren Sproles finished seventh in the NFL in punt returns this season, averaging 9.5 yards per return. His kickoff average of 27.2 yards per return ranked fifth. He became a much more confident player and in the process became one that opponents are now well aware of.

“It’s really been one of the exciting things for me about this team to see it come together and Darren’s one of the characters,” Turner said. “To come back from the injury and to do the work he did in the offseason to get where he’s at and to break through, he had a breakthrough year. He’s so exciting.”

Source: By San Diego Chargers News Release