Colts

Father Time has been kind to grandfather and Colts QB Philip Rivers, as he looked like he hadn’t changed much since he last played. However, the team’s defense wasn’t able to get stops, and DT DeForest Buckner regrets that the unretired Rivers had a vintage performance only for the team to lose. Meanwhile, Rivers himself felt bad for his teammates.

“Shoot, I’ve been here for 13 days, and it hurts because I care about these guys and this team and the coach and the organization and everything,” Rivers said, via Zak Keefer of The Athletic. “These guys have been through this since May, June. It hurts. I will be able to live with the results, whatever they are, that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m OK with them.”

“We let him down,” Buckner told reporters. “He was balling, putting up points. We didn’t show up today.”

Colts HC Shane Steichen and 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan also had good things to say about the returning Rivers.

“I thought he was on fire all game,” Steichen added. “Bottom line, we can’t give up that many yards. They scored a lot of points, went up and down the field. We’ve got to get that cleaned up in a hurry. We’ve got to find ways to win, especially in November and December. That’s where you win games, and that’s where you make the playoffs. We’ve got to do a better job, and I’ve got to do a better job.”

“He’s unbelievable,” Shanahan said of Rivers. “He looks like I remember. The ball always goes to the right spot.”

Jaguars

The Jaguars are headed to the playoffs, and HC Liam Coen credits the motivated players and the arrival of a leader like WR Jakobi Meyers via a trade with the Raiders at the deadline.

“I mean, look, it’s not like we’re making this stuff up,” Coen said, via The Athletic. “That’s the crazy part of it. I’m not in there going, ‘How am I going to motivate these guys this week? How am I going to get them to play with a chip on their shoulder and have an edge?’ Nobody thinks we’re gonna win, anyway. They know that’s the reality. So you might as well just keep playing your ass off and see what happens.”

“Getting Jakobi really helped,” Coen continued. “We had young wideouts. We led the league in drops for a while. Just the intermediate and the middle of the field wasn’t an area that we were able to really attack prior to getting Jakobi, which has now helped the guys like BT and Parker and (tight end) Brenton Strange, because now they’re able to do what they do best. And Trevor’s got a guy across the middle that he really trusts.”

Players on the defensive side of the ball, such as CB Jarrian Jones, S Andrew Wingard, and DL Arik Armstead, certainly have no problem still being underdogs despite punching their ticket to the postseason.

“We can stay the underdog — that’s fine with us,”  Jones said after his game-winning interception against the Broncos. “We’re not tripping. We’re just trying to keep winning games.”

“Who cares whether we’re getting (recognition) or we aren’t? We play the games between the lines, and that’s the only thing that matters.” Wingard added.

“Going up against a great team that had won 11 in a row at their place and beating them as we did? That feels like a statement win,” Armstead said.

• Albert Breer wonders if OC Grant Udinski will take head coaching interviews in the next cycle despite only turning 30 years old next month.

Titans

Tennessee picked up win number three of the season in Week 16 behind 275 yards passing and two touchdowns for first-round QB Cam Ward. The rookie signal-caller feels he’s gradually improving each week after his third-straight game with multiple passing touchdowns. 

“I think I’ve been better each and every week, whether it’s one thing or whether it’s a major thing,” Ward said, via the team’s website. “I think just going forward, I just continue to control what I can control, lead my teammates, be a great team player and try to win games.”

• Titans S Mike Brown was fined $6,111 for a facemask, LB Arden Key was fined $11,593 for a facemask, LB Cedric Gray was fined $6,492 twice for facemask penalties, LB Jihad Ward was fined $7,806 for a blow to the quarterback’s head/neck, and DB Kevin Winston was fined $23,186 for a hip-drop tackle.