"Darren Sproles was down, but not out. He remembers being temporarily dazed, but consistently conscious; more inconvenienced than incapacitated by his concussion.

"It's your brain," the Chargers running back said Sunday afternoon. "You've only got one of them. So that's why they take it so seriously."

Before he was allowed to suit up for Sunday's 31-0 splattering of the Kansas City Chiefs, Sproles was required to convince an independent neurologist that he was good enough to go. Having cleared that precautionary hurdle, Sproles then supplied his own emphatic second opinion with his most productive game of the season.

Ain't that a kick in the head?

Seven days after being sidelined by a helmet-to-helmet hit from Oakland linebacker Rolando McClain, Sproles bounced back by turning 11 touches into 104 scrimmage yards, singlehandedly outgaining the vanquished visitors on a day when the Chargers had taken pains to lighten his workload.

Sproles carried six times from scrimmage for 53 yards, caught all five passes thrown his way for 51 yards, returned Kansas City's only kickoff for 27 yards and also contributed in absentia by ceding his punt return chores to the previously untapped Antoine Cason.

It is still surpassingly strange that the Chargers could justify spending $7.283 million on a change-of-pace back's salary at the same time they were playing contractual chicken with Vincent Jackson and Marcus McNeill, and it may be that Sproles has become a luxury item likely to be slashed in the Bolts' 2011 budget.

Consider: in Ryan Mathews and Mike Tolbert, the Chargers already have two different backfield gears under 25 years of age. Tolbert made 66 muscular yards on 16 carries Sunday; Mathews dashed and dragged for 65 yards on 16 carries. Both of them scored touchdowns.

"Hell of a 1-2 punch," Tolbert said.

In Cason, the Chargers have a front-line cornerback whose first game as the primary punt returner resulted in five returns for a robust 15.2-yard average.

"I feel proud of what I've done and I was confident in what I could do," Cason said. "A lot of us grow up with the ball in our hands. When we don't have it as much, we (have) that itch to get it."

Because of Cason's every-down responsibilities on defense, Chargers' coaches may be reluctant to add to his risks with a prominent role in the return game. Yet they should also be mindful that Sproles' longest punt return this season has spanned just 16 yards, and Cason gained 42 on his last return Sunday."