SAN DIEGO — Sometime during every pregame warmup, Mike Scifres grins at Philip Rivers and says, "Now, keep me off the field today."

Sometime during Saturday night's strung-out playoff game, Scifres must have felt like telling Rivers, "Hold 'em until I get back."

Scifres is the Chargers' punter. Rivers is the quarterback. In this 23-17 overtime victory, the Chargers were unquestionably better off with Scifres on the field than with Rivers.

Not even Peyton Manning and his magic puppet show can change a game when he gets the ball at his 10-, his 3-, his 7-, his 9- and his 1-yard lines after Scifres' moonballs, which hit the turf and took Charger bounces, backward or sideways.

Because of that, the Chargers were able to take a 14-10 halftime lead on touchdown drives of only 44 and 45 yards. Because of that, Indianapolis' Hunter Smith had to punt from his own 1-yard line as the Colts were nursing a three-point lead at the end, and he can't make a football walk the dog like Scifres can. Darren Sproles' return created another short field to let Nate Kaeding tie it with a field goal.

Neither Scifres nor Manning were visible in overtime, but Sproles was, with a third-down catch-and-run and then the winning 22-yard touchdown run.

The Chargers move into the AFC's Final Four next week, mocking an irregular season that featured eight losses in the first 12 games and a 3-7 record against the part of the NFL that doesn't belong to the AFC West.

"Mike Scifres was a weapon tonight," Rivers said.

"He was the difference in the game," said Tony Dungy, who said he would decide this week whether he has coached his final game for the Colts. "He punted us in the hole all night long. We thought we had to play an even game, special teams wise."

It was anything but.

San Diego had 72 punt return yards to Indianapolis' 6, with Smith outkicking his coverage and letting Sproles motor (328 all-purpose yards, third most in NFL playoff history), and every one of Scifres' six punts put the Colts inside their own 20.

"I don't even think you can dream a game like that," Scifres said, blinking. "To put all six inside the 20 like that is unbelievable."

No other punter in postseason history has gone 6 for 6.

Scifres set a club regular-season record with a net punting average of 40.7 yards. Here, it was 51.7, which is a furlong past unbelievable and was another league playoff record.

"What was his net, anyway?" said Kassim Osgood, the special teams lifer.

"He pretends he doesn't know. That's what gets me. He can tell you what it is when he runs off the field. He's quiet-conceited that way. Nah, he's really laid back. I tell him he ought to talk about himself more."

Perhaps he would have gotten the Pro Bowl berth this year that went to Shane Lechler, who gets far more punting practice with the Raiders.

"I'll take a trip to Pittsburgh or Tennessee any day, that's not even a question," Scifres said.

The pop-up punts are no accident. Scifres observed ex-Charger punter Darren Bennett, saw the way he dropped the nose of the ball straight down.

"I asked him about everything he did," Scifres said. "I'm still working on it."

"It's his pitching wedge," Osgood said. "He's like Arnold Palmer. We work on it every day in practice. He'll tell me to go to a spot and I'll go there and that's where the ball is.

"He can go to a stadium and check the wind and know exactly what he has to do. He hasn't changed a bit, except he used to be skinny."

The last bomb, which Scifres feared would bounce in for a touchback, came with 2:41 left and San Diego down by three. Rivers had been sacked on third down by Robert Mathis. That seemed devastating, but it was a blessing. It gave Scifres more room to punt.

Three feet outside their own end line, the Colts suddenly needed first downs to reverse field position. On third down, linebacker Tim Dobbins took down Manning and put the Colts back on their one, setting up the tying sequence.

"A couple of guys switched up their coverage and disguised it and made Peyton hesitate," safety Eric Weddle said. "They made him pat the ball a time or two and that's all it took."

"A first down there," Rivers said, "and it's over."

But Scifres' my-goodness moment came in the second quarter, when he flipped the field with a 67 yarder, with a 2-yard return. When Smith punted weakly in response, San Diego had picked up 27 yards of hidden yardage, and the Chargers went up 14-10 six plays later.

"A punt is a good thing, in a lot of cases," said Rivers, who still intends to keep Scifres off the field.

Rivers will also make sure he's on the bus.