Chargers Get a Big Boost From Carney’s Boots : AFC: His field goals in final minutes are difference in 27-24 victory over Colts.
John Carney kicked defending AFC champion San Diego back into the playoff picture.
Carney, who missed two field goals earlier in the game, kicked two in the final two minutes Sunday, including a 43-yarder with three seconds to go to beat the Indianapolis Colts, 27-24.
“I’ve been around long enough, fortunately, to know it’s never over until that final bell rings. So I stayed prepared,” Carney said. “I thought it might come down to maybe even overtime.”
It was the fourth consecutive victory for the Chargers (8-7), who finish the regular season next week on the road against the New York Giants. The Colts (8-7) need a victory at home against New England for a chance for their first playoff appearance since 1987.
The Chargers appeared to have the Colts beaten after a 33-yard field goal by Carney with 1:59 to go. But Jim Harbaugh completed three passes in a row and Cary Blanchard kicked a career-long 50-yarder to tie the game, 24-24, with 48 seconds remaining.
A 26-yard pass from Stan Humphries to tight end Alfred Pupunu took San Diego to the Indianapolis 49. The Colts lost a possible chance to win, or at least send the game to overtime, when Quentin Coryatt dropped a would-be interception with 27 seconds left. Humphries passed 17 yards to Ronnie Harmon on the next play and Aaron Hayden ran seven yards to the 25 before Carney kicked the winning field goal, a club-record 148th of his career.
“I just wanted to slow down and make good contact. They have a very good inside rush, so the ball needed to get up,” Carney said. “Again, in a pressure situation, kickers usually rush themselves, so it’s a matter of slowing yourself down.”
Humphries accounted for all three of the Chargers’ touchdowns with a one-yard run in the third quarter and pass plays to Tony Martin of 51 and 38 yards. He was 21 for 40 for 272 yards but said the long completion to Pupunu was the most important.
“I just scrambled around. I went through about the first two or three guys and didn’t see anything,” Humphries said. “Then I stepped up and acted like I was going to run, and the guys came at me and I kind of went sideways to stay behind the line of scrimmage and threw the ball to him. That’s the big play of the game. Without that play, we probably don’t get down there and get the field goal.”
Martin finished with a season-high 168 yards on 10 catches, four yards short of his career-high 172 yards against San Francisco last year.
The Chargers’ Natrone Means, who had not played since Nov. 5 because of a groin injury, carried three times for six yards.
