CHARGERS: Holmes sparks Steelers with punt return

By Colin Dunlap - For the North County Times | Sunday, January 11, 2009 8:31 PM PST ∞

Pittsburgh's Santonio Holmes scores on a 67-yard punt return as the Chargers' Kris Wilson gives chase on Sunday. Photo by Jamie Scott Lytle - Staff photographer.

PITTSBURGH ---- Surely Chargers punter Mike Scifres must have wondered what he did to deserve such a raw deal.

After all, with exactly 8 minutes remaining in the first quarter of Sunday's AFC divisional playoff game against the Steelers, Scifres stood with feet firmly planted inside his team's own 10-yard line, caught the long snap, dropped the football and, squarely with his right foot, launched a high-arcing spiral more than half the distance of this frozen football field.

In one of the most quizzical paradoxes in all of sports, the guy who is paid handsomely to kick the ball a great distance might have done his job too well, kicking the ball too far.

"We figured out that (Scifres) has been over-kicking his coverage all season," said Steelers punt returner Santonio Holmes. "And he did it there, too."

Holmes raced down the sideline 67 yards for a touchdown, erasing a seven-point Chargers lead, drawing the score even and providing the kindling for what would transform into a 35-24 Steelers win.

Not that the blame belongs to Scifres.

There were a handful of missed tackles, the last of which ---- when Holmes hurdled over Legedu Naanee just a few steps from the goal line ---- was a defining moment that effectively served to bounce the momentum toward Pittsburgh.

"It sparked the team at that point," Holmes said of what was his team's longest postseason punt return in their storied history. "The guys were asking me to get this game going with a punt return. ... For me, the opportunity presented itself and I was just trying to get to the end zone as fast as possible."

Furious as they could, the Chargers were trying to halt Holmes as he was running down the sideline directly in front of them with not just the football in his hands, but the impetus of what would transform a stunned Heinz Field still reeling from the early deficit into a celebratory, towel-waving venue that rocked --- yes, the rafters actually swayed --- after the play.

"It jump-started us," said Steelers linebacker James Harrison.

Chargers linebacker Stephen Cooper understood the meaning of Holmes' punt return as well.

"I don't think it was a panic, it was more of a momentum shift," Cooper said.

"To go out there and not play special teams like we've been playing the second half of the season is very disappointing. Santonio Holmes made a good play. We had opportunities to stop him."

But the Chargers didn't.

Even as there was a lot of game to be played after that point, even as the ebb-and-flow of this playoff contest pushed in and out a few more times, that Holmes punt return prodded deep, it stung significantly.

And the toughest part for Chargers' fans might just be that, on the play, Scifres did exactly what he was supposed to do.