Thirteen long years after their last postseason victory, the San Diego Chargers finally came to life late in the second half to beat the Tennessee Titans 17-6 in a NFL wild-card playoff game on Sunday.
Earlier, the New York Giants muscled past the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-14 and will have a chance to avenge their only road loss this season next Sunday in Dallas against the Cowboys.
The Chargers advance to face the Indianapolis Colts next Sunday.
A gloomy, rainy afternoon never looked so good in normally sunny San Diego. Running back LaDainian Tomlinson was held to 42 yards, but got to celebrate the first playoff victory in three tries in his brilliant career.
Tennessee bottled up Tomlinson, the two-time NFL rushing champion, and dared quarterback Philip Rivers to beat them. The second-year starter did just that, throwing a 25-yard touchdown pass to Vincent Jackson late in the third quarter that gave San Diego their first lead at 10-6.
Tomlinson finally found the end zone midway through the fourth quarter, on a fourth-down leap over the pile from inside the 1-yard line that had to survive a video replay. Tomlinson went airborne and was met by linebacker Stephen Tulloch, but the running back used a second effort to get the ball over the goal line.
There would be no comeback for Vince Young and the Titans, who lost to the Chargers in overtime at Nashville five weeks ago in a tough, nasty game in which several players were hurt.
Overall, the Chargers had lost four straight postseason games dating to their ugly 49-26 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the 1995 Super Bowl.
Rivers was 19-of-30 for 292 yards, with one interception. Chris Chambers had six catches for 121 yards and Jackson had five for 114.
Young finished 16-of-29 for 138 yards.
New York improved to 8-1 on the road with a dominating victory over NFC South division champions Tampa Bay. The Giants have won every road game since falling in their season opener against Dallas. Their much bigger rematch next Sunday will be for a berth in the conference title game.
It was the first postseason win for quarterback Eli Manning, who efficiently outplayed his counterpart, Jeff Garcia. Manning went 20-for-27 for 185 yards, with almost all the damage coming after a forgettable opening quarter in which New York had minus-2 yards of offense.
The oft-criticized Manning should draw nothing but praise for his performance, which included touchdown passes of 5 yards to Brandon Jacobs and 4 yards to Amani Toomer. The score by Toomer was his seventh catch of the day and completed a clinching 92-yard, 15-play drive.
New York's defense was led by cornerback Corey Webster's interception and fumble recovery and Michael Strahan's nine tackles and a sack. Tampa Bay gained only 166 yards before a late 88-yard drive made it 24-14.
Jacobs also had an 8-yard touchdown run for the Giants, while Lawrence Tynes kicked a 25-yard field goal.
Earnest Graham ran for a 1-yard touchdown in the first quarter and Alex Smith had a late 6-yard scoring reception for the Buccaneers, who have not won a postseason game since the Super Bowl in January 2003.
Garcia, who had beaten the Giants twice in the playoffs with different teams, wound up 23-of-39 for 207 yards and two interceptions.
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