One long-time film analyst is blown away by what Phillip Rivers is doing at quarterback for the Colts.
Long-time NFL film guru Greg Cosell is blown away by what Phillip Rivers is doing with the Indianapolis Colts.
Cosell recently highlighted what he’s seeing from Rivers on the ‘Ross Tucker Podcast.’
“What Phillip Rivers is doing, it just blows me away,” Cosell told Tucker. “I mean, this guy has not played for five years, and if you didn’t know that, he looks totally fine. I mean, obviously, he doesn’t have a gun (for an arm), he never did.
Cosell continued, “But just to talk about that game, to me, that was a great example that game (Monday Night) of two totally different approaches to the quarterback position in today’s NFL. One guy, (Brock) Purdy, is a master post-snap operator. … Rivers, and he’s always been this, even when he played with the Chargers in his prime, he’s a pre-snap master. He controls the game before the snap of the ball. I thought it was a masterclass in watching two guys play the position differently and do so successfully.”
As Cosell mentions, Rivers’ work at the line of scrimmage against San Francisco was incredibly impressive. His ability to gather information, read what the defense is doing, and make adjustments was critical to the Colts‘ success on offense in that game.
The Colts leveraged this ability of Rivers throughout the game by running no-huddle to get the offense to the line of scrimmage quickly and to prevent the 49ers from subbing players in and out.
We also saw Rivers and this offense pushing the ball down the field far more often than he did against Seattle. And Rivers found success doing so, averaging 7.9 yards per pass attempt.
The only reason that the Colts remained within striking distance for much of the game was because of Rivers and the offense’s ability to move the ball and put up points.
Rivers finished the Monday Night game completing 23-of-35 passes for 277 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.