{"id":588740,"date":"2025-12-10T04:56:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T04:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/588740\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T04:56:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T04:56:16","slug":"philip-rivers-and-his-beautiful-mind-are-back-in-the-nfl-and-its-no-surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/588740\/","title":{"rendered":"Philip Rivers and his beautiful mind are back in the NFL, and it’s no surprise"},"content":{"rendered":"

Philip Rivers is an NFL quarterback once again.<\/p>\n

This news will spawn all sorts of clumsy jokes and quips.<\/p>\n

Will Indianapolis Colts players call him gramps? If the Seahawks sack him Sunday, will the refs flag them 15 yards for elder abuse?<\/p>\n

Rivers, 44, is indeed a grandfather. And it\u2019s been almost five years since he played in an NFL game.<\/p>\n

But Rivers being Rivers, it\u2019s not surprising that he joined the Indianapolis Colts\u2019 practice squad Tuesday.\u00a0Rivers loves playing so much, he started 240 consecutive NFL games, the most by a quarterback other than Brett Favre.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe never gets bored with it,\u201d Norv Turner said long ago, explaining Rivers\u2019 enthusiasm for practices, film study and games.<\/p>\n

Keep this in mind: when Rivers left the NFL, it wasn\u2019t because he was washed up<\/p>\n

The last time he played in the league, in a playoff game at Buffalo in January 2021, he threw for 306 yards, two touchdowns and no pickoffs.<\/p>\n

\"IndianapolisIndianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers (17) stands behind the line against the Buffalo Bills during the second quarter of an NFL wild-card playoff football game, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo\/Brett Carlsen)<\/p>\n

It was his finest playoff showing, capping an 11-5 regular season. The favored Bills pulled out the win, 27-24, mostly because QB Josh Allen was spectacular<\/p>\n

A few weeks later, the Colts and Rivers parted ways. Ostensibly, it was because the front office sought a younger QB to build around, and Rivers was eager to begin coaching a high school near his hometown in Alabama.<\/p>\n

Rivers, not giving up the ghost, said if a Super Bowl contender reached out to him and his high school season was over, he would listen.<\/p>\n

The Colts (8-5) have a chance at the playoffs, giving Rivers a shot \u2014 albeit a very long one \u2014 to finally play in a Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

And he\u2019s helping out a friend and former San Diego Chargers colleague in Colts head coach Shane Steichen, who calls the offensive plays.<\/p>\n

The season-ending injury to Colts starting QB Daniel Jones, who suffered an Achilles tear Sunday in a loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, brought on Riley Leonard. A rookie, Leonard is hindered by a knee ailment.<\/p>\n

Rivers can help to prepare Leonard.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also reason to believe Rivers could play in an actual game. The Colts signed him after watching him throw passes Monday night. He already knows Steichen\u2019s offense. The two men worked together for eight years, including five in San Diego.<\/p>\n

\"LosLos Angeles Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers looks to pass against the Green Bay Packers during the first half of their NFL football game at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2019. The Chargers defeated the Packers 26-11. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

Rivers and several Colts standouts \u2014 receiver Michael Pittman, running back Jonathan Taylor, left guard Quenton Nelson and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner \u2014 were teammates five years ago across a 17-game run. It was Rivers\u2019 first season after he\u2019d spent after 16 years with the Chargers.<\/p>\n

When he faced the Bills that January day, Rivers had no chance of outrunning his pursuers. Nor did he have a strong arm, his final Hail Mary falling well short of the end zone.<\/p>\n

He succeeded with his mind.<\/p>\n

A year later, his friend Eric Weddle, the longtime NFL safety, showed that a great mind for football can enable a successful NFL comeback.<\/p>\n

At age 37, having not played in the NFL for more than two years, Weddle rejoined the Rams after they begged him to shore up a secondary weakened by late-season injuries.<\/p>\n

Weddle had to whip himself into NFL shape, which is tougher for a safety than a quarterback. He played a handful of snaps in L.A\u2019s playoff opener, doing well to avoid injury. He quickly ramped up to full-time duty, helping L.A. get to the Super Bowl, his first. Logging all 61 defensive snaps and coordinating much of the defense, Weddle assisted the 23-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.<\/p>\n

\"PhilipPhilip Rivers runs up the tunnel after the Chargers\u2019 loss 31-21 to the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium on December 29, 2019 in Kansas City, Missouri. This would be his last appearance in a Chargers uniform. (Photo by Peter Aiken\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The Colts\u2019 Super Bowl chances are a lot less favorable. Given the high caliber of opposing defense left on the schedule, it\u2019s clear why Steichen wanted the savvy Rivers on his team\u2019s practice field and inside the film room.<\/p>\n

Coach Mike Macdonald\u2019s Seahawks lead the AFC in quarterback pressures. The game will be in Seattle, where crowd noise forces most visiting clubs to use a silent snap count.<\/p>\n

A week later, the Colts will face the San Francisco 49ers. They share the NFL lead in interception rate.<\/p>\n

Following a home game against the Jaguars, whose defense ranks 11th in points, Steichen\u2019s club must play at Houston.\u00a0\u00a0The season finale looks scary for any QB: a road game against the Texans\u2019 NFL-best defense, which sacked Allen eight times last month and intercepted Patrick Mahomes three times Sunday night.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t become an NFL player by playing it safe. And an ex-star QB won\u2019t find NFL-level thrills and camaraderie in retirement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Philip Rivers is an NFL quarterback once again. This news will spawn all sorts of clumsy jokes and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2064],"tags":[241,7,392,1014,262,2444,2443,6,3725,16678,4975,88704],"class_list":{"0":"post-588740","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-chargers","8":"tag-chargers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-indianapolis-colts","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","13":"tag-losangeles","14":"tag-losangeleschargers","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-philip-rivers","17":"tag-san-diego-chargers","18":"tag-shane-steichen","19":"tag-tom-krasovic"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115693498284607676","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}