My best friend , Samantha, is a huge San Diego Chargers fan, so naturally I’ll support her team in any way that I can (such a chick thing to say). This meant going up to the all mighty Gillette Stadium in an Antonio Gates jersey, it meant switching into a Quentin Jammer jersey when times got tough. It meant going to Met Life Stadium in that same Antonio Gates jersey, getting popcorn dumped on our heads by fat sloppy Jet fans (sucks for their fat asses – they wasted their 15 dollar bucket of popcorn). My point being – I always root for San Diego out of respect to my best friend.
Samantha had always blamed me as being bad luck for San Diego – since the Chargers lost both games that I went to with her and all. I’m a very superstitious sports fan – so I totally understood her theory – until yesterday. Lucky for me, my power was restored from this freak snowstorm just in time for yesterdays MNF game between the San Diego Chargers and the Kansas City Chiefs. Straight from the beginning of the first quarter, it was evident that Phil Rivers was struggling. So, superstition aside, what’s wrong with Phil Rivers?
Rivers came into the 2011 season with the second highest career passer rating, with 97.2 points, in league history for quarterbacks with 1,500 attempts. This season, he’s off to a terrible start with an 80.7 rating, only seven touchdowns and eleven interceptions.
With this horrible start, Rivers’ health starts to come into question. The San Diego Union – Tribune did a story on the quarterbacks health last week, in which Rivers told the newspaper that he’s “healthier than ever“. The story also pointed out that Rivers had been known to lie about injuries in his career – in the 2007 AFC championship game, he lied about a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee. He admitted lying after the game, stating that his reason for lying was that he didn’t want the Patriots to gain an advantage by having prior knowledge of his injury. So – is Rivers withholding information about an injury again? Plenty of sources, including Rivers himself say he’s not.
“Am I playing my best ball right now? Absolutely not. What I’m saying is I feel weird. We’re 4-2. We’re just battling through it. All I’m saying is, I can be playing like this and we could be 1-5. It’d be ugly. So that’s the positive – we haven’t really put it all together, and hey look up and we’re 4-2″. Now, they’re 4-3. [Times-Union]
So, if he’s not injured..then why does he suck so bad this year? His delivery maybe? His throwing delivery has always been a little bit unconventional. His delivery was more of a “push” from his shoulder rather than the snapping motion that most quarterbacks have. Is Rivers ACL injury from late in the 2008 season having an effect on his throwing? A lot of coaches and scouts from opposing teams think that may be the case.
After last night’s game, it’s incredibly evident that Rivers’ struggles are costing the Charger’s wins. The disastrous fumbled snap that cost the Chargers a chance at a game-winning field goal in their loss to Kansas City – along with the zero touchdown throws and two interceptions – absolutely cost the Chargers the game – in a very, very tough way.
Despite the heartbreak of yesterday’s game, and the tough season, Chargers fans, including Samantha, still have great loyalty to their quarterback. They don’t get angry and curse Phil Rivers out – the way most New York fans would – and they don’t blame the refs, the way most New England fans would. They just lower their heads, shake it off – and look forward to the next week.. kind of the way that Miami Dolphins fans do. (Funny that Rivers and Dolphin hero Dan Marino have been compared for a while) Lovable losers.
Next week San Diego takes on my team, the 7-0 Green Bay Packers. If the Chargers even think that they have a chance to hand the Packers their first loss, they need the old Phil Rivers to come back — not the Phil Rivers who’s on pace for 39 interceptions. Also, next week, I’m going to wish I WAS Phil Rivers, because my Green Bay crush, (roid head) Clay Matthews is going to be on top of him the entire game — if Rivers isn’t protected a little bit better. Oh there’s alway Norv Turner, too.
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November 01, 2011
