Monday, November 27, 2006

P-Riv Update: Week 12

P-Riv is my dogg.

Let's face it. Last Sunday was a sub-par performance from the Chargers and our man, Philip Rivers. No, let's face it, it was a horrible performance.

I could barely muster up the energy to write this update. This was Rivers' worst performance in a win ever. But that's what matters, right. The win. Not to me. I want Rivers to be regarded as the greatest quarterback in the history of the world and games like this make that extremely difficult.

P-Riv was, however, effective when it mattered most. He completed four of his last five throws as the Chargers scored on consecutive fourth-quarter drives to pull out the victory.

Philip's post game performance was far better than his in-game performance. Following the game he said, “To me, the number one job I have as a quarterback is to lead. I continued to do that. I was frustrated, but I didn’t panic. Once you let your teammates think that you’re out of whack and you’re frustrated and you can’t make a play, then it affects everybody. I just kept playing and just figuring it was a matter of time before it came along. It never did necessarily, but we were able to fight through it.”

He does know all the right things to say.

LT seems to love P-Riv almost as much as I. “From my standpoint, I couldn’t tell and I don’t think any other guys could tell that he really wasn’t having a good day,” running back LaDainian Tomlinson said. “He was still real positive. Every drive, he always came out and said, ‘Okay guys. Let’s get a score here. Let’s get this thing going.’ That’s what you’ve got to have from your quarterback.”

P-Riv should get the clutch veteran, McCardell, back as my beloved Chargers head east to face the sneaky Bills on the cold turf of Buffalo.

You will notice that no stats were included in this update. Make sure you pick up an issue of ESPN The Mag that features our man, P-Riv in his powder blue on the cover.

Let's put this one behind us and cheer our Chargers on to victory.

GO CHARGERS!!!

Monday, November 20, 2006

P-Riv Update: Week 11

P-Riv is my dogg.

Three letters. W-O-W
Our Chargers did it again. Chargers 35 Broncos 27
42 points in the second half last week to beat the Felons, 28 points in the final two quarters against the Broncos to bounce back from a 17-point third-quarter deficit and claim their first win at Denver since the 1999 season.

P-Riv entered the game having thrown 122 straight passes without an interception. He threw 2 INT's on Sunday, one of which was returned for a 31-yard touchdown midway through the third quarter to give the Broncos a commanding 24-7 lead. The other was a tipped ball.

But you know what? IT DON’T MATTA! Philip worked his “magic” once again, leading the Chargers to 4 touchdowns in the second half against a stout Denver defense. Rivers finished 19 of 26 for 222 yards 2 TD’s and 2 INT’s. Rivers made some incredible throws throughout the game including the 51-yard hot read to LT. He also led the Chargers on a 99 yard TD drive in the 1st quarter. He is fantastic, but we do owe a big thanks to Mr. Tomlinson. LT had another great game. "He's unbelievable," P-Riv said. "He's the best in the business. He's unbelievable with it under his arm, he's unbelievable as we've seen on the pass, he's unbelievable blocking. He brings it on every play. He's the ultimate weapon, and you throw the guys we've got around him and we feel like we can score whatever we need on any given week." More class comments from a class man.

Don’t ever count Philip Rivers out.
GO CHARGERS!!!

Here's some of what ESPN’s John Clayton had to say.
DENVER -- The great quarterbacks have short memories. All the great ones made mistakes. They just didn't remember them when they were on the field.

Following Sunday night's unbelievable 17-point second-half comeback by the Chargers to beat the Broncos 35-27, Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer used the Joe Montana comparison with Philip Rivers' short memory. A year ago, the Chargers blew a game in Denver when Drew Brees opened the second half by throwing an interception that Champ Bailey returned for a Broncos touchdown. On Sunday night, Rivers threw a third quarter pick to Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams, who returned it 31 yards for a touchdown to give the Broncos 24-7 lead.

Rivers spent about a minute questioning himself with teammates on the bench, saying, "I can't believe I threw that ball out there." Veteran receiver Keenan McCardell and others told him not to worry. Rivers didn't. He came back by completing 11 of his next 13 passes for 148 yards in three consecutive scoring drives to take a 28-27.

A week ago, Rivers rallied the Chargers from a 21-point deficit against the Bengals to beat them 49-41. Rivers doesn't mind going against the stream. This Rivers has ice running through his veins when the games get hot. Thanks to Rivers' ability to rebound, LaDainian Tomlinson's fresh legs and a relentless group of Chargers, San Diego leads the AFC West by a game over Denver with an 8-2 record.

"The best quality of Philip Rivers is that he never thinks about the last play," Schottenheimer said. "That was the quality in my view that made Joe Montana the great quarterback that he was. When the previous play's over, it doesn't matter to him."

Schottenheimer brought up an anecdote from the preseason that gave him a preview of coming attractions involving Rivers. The Chargers were playing the Seahawks in San Diego. Rivers botched center snaps and handed the Seahawks a 14-0 lead. Most quarterbacks would have folded. Rivers went to work, coming back with three touchdown drives to give the Chargers a 21-14 halftime lead.

Sunday night was no different. After nine weeks of playing safe, efficient zone defenses that lacked blitzes, Shanahan opened the defensive playbook and unleashed the hounds. They emptied safeties from the middle of the defense and stuck them near the line of scrimmage in "Cover 0" blitzes. To stop Tomlinson, the Broncos stacked eight and nine defenders near the line of scrimmage.

Rivers struggled. He completed only one pass in the second quarter, and he watched the Broncos build a 24-7 lead in the third quarter. The killer could have been Williams' interception for a touchdown. But after lamenting it while Jason Elam kicked the extra point, Rivers blocked it out and went back to work.

"You make a critical error like that -- an interception for a touchdown on the road -- you usually don't come away with a win," Rivers said. "Nobody panicked. I put it behind me and said, 'I just have to keep playing.' That's a credit to our team, our maturity and we're a special bunch. It was like the scoreboard wasn't even up there. We just went out there and played."

Give offensive coordinator Cam Cameron some credit, too. Trailing 24-7, and set up with good field position at the Chargers 40 because of a Michael Turner 40-yard kickoff return, Cameron opened the comeback with a screen pass to Tomlinson for 14 yards.

"It's tough," Rivers said. "An interception like that never leaves your mind, but you don't want it to affect you on the field. If you worry about the interception, you throw another one. The key thing was starting with a screen that was a completion. It's amazing. You go back in the huddle and the score is 24-7 and everybody has the same look. That's what's comforting to know -- that nobody was down."

The Chargers simply charged. After driving to the Broncos 37, Rivers got into a rhythm. He hit Eric Parker for a 15-yard gain and found Antonio Gates for 17 to move San Diego to the Broncos 3. Tomlinson sealed the deal with a 3-yard touchdown, his second of four on the night. The Chargers trailed 24-14.

It was no different than a week ago. Once the Chargers got two quick scores against the Bengals, they felt comfortable getting within seven points and made it a game. Same story, different city. The next time Rivers touched the ball in Denver, he had good field position at the Chargers 42.

On third down, he spotted the Broncos heading into another Cover 0 blitz. No safeties were in the middle of the field. That was the good news. The bad news was six or seven angry Broncos were coming toward him so he was not going to have much time to throw the ball.

"We called a protection in which everybody was out in route, so I have only the five linemen blocking for me," Rivers said. "We don't have anyone to block them. I can throw it hot to Gates on the other side. He ran the right route but it was third down [and 3] and I didn't know if he had enough to get the first down or not. Or you can run away from the pressure. I ran away from the pressure. I had just enough time to get it to LaDainian." (It was such a beautiful play)

Tomlinson took the screen 51 yards for a touchdown. The Chargers now trailed 24-21 with 4:51 left in the third quarter. It was a ballgame. The Broncos marched 60 yards for a field goal, but the the score was 27-21. Still just a one-possession game.

The Chargers were suddenly in position to be the first team in NFL history to make 17-point comebacks in back-to-back games. Rivers marched the Chargers 55 yards on seven plays and hit Vincent Jackson in the back of the end zone with a 5-yard touchdown pass to take the lead 28-27.

"We're a relentless group of guys," Tomlinson said. "We feel like we're never out of a ball game no matter how much we're down. You have to keep playing against us because we feel like we can score at any time. I'm going along for the ride."

Relentless is what Tomlinson calls his teammates. The Broncos can't argue. A year ago (without P-Riv), the Chargers lost a similar game. Now they lead the division by a game and aren't looking back.

Monday, November 13, 2006

P-Riv Update: Week 10

Wow,

This is going to be the most difficult Weekly P-Riv Update ever. Words could not possibly express the job our man, Philip Rivers, did Sunday in front of raucous fans at Paul Brown Stadium. In honor of Philip, I will give a valiant effort.

Willful. Proud. Resilient. Intrepid. Gritty. Resolute. Stubborn. Heartrending. Strong. Tough. Spirited. Blissful.

All these words were personified by Sir Rivers on Sunday afternoon.

After having their secondary shredded by Carson Palmer, the Chargers found themselves down 28-7 at halftime. “We had several breakdowns in our coverage,” safety Marlon McCree said. “They weren’t beating us in man, we just blew some assignments." The usage of such words as "several" and "some" are not applicable in his statement. Time and time again, I felt anguish as the Cincinnati Felons added TD's in the first half.

Coming out of halftime, my Chargers finally got a stop. P-Riv led his offense 69 yards in just six plays to make it a 28-14 game. Okay, 14 points. This is doable. Can our defense make 2 stops in a row? Yes. Three and out, punt, first play from scrimmage, our man hit Malcom Floyd for a 46-yard touchdown. We hold them to a field goal. Rivers then makes it 3 for 3 on 3rd quarter drives with a nine-play, 80-yard drive capped by a nine-yard TD pass to tight end, Big Brandon Manumaleuna. It's now a one possession game. Whoops, no one covers Ocho Cinco. Palmer to Johnson for a 74 yard TD pass making it a 10 point game.

Following LT's 3rd TD of the day, the Chargers' defense came up with the big play they had to make to counter the lack of plays they had made leading up to that point. On 1st-and-10 from the Cincinnati 20, linebacker Shaun Phillips sacked Carson, forced him to fumble, AND recovered the loose ball. LT needed just one play to score from nine yards out, giving my Chargers a 42-38 lead.

After a 44-yard field goal by the Felons to make it a one-point game, Rivers took the field and delivered what tight end Antonio Gates called “a little magic.” But it's not magic. It's Rivers. He has an unquenchable thirst for winning, an unsurpassed love of the game, and an unrivaled spirit of success.

Rivers capped a 12-play, 72-yard drive by flipping the ball to Manumaleuna again for a five-yard touchdown, giving the Chargers a 49-41 advantage. This is a play that will be shown for many years to come, a play like the ones I enjoyed for 4 years at N.C. State, a play that will begin to define Mr. Rivers. He is the quintessence of a winner.

I think LT likes having P-Riv on his team. “Every week he continues to really amaze us,” Tomlinson said of Mr. Rivers. “He’s a young guy, but he makes so many smart decisions that you don’t expect a young guy to make. Every week it’s like he grows more and more. The guy is playing terrific for us.” I’d say that is a vote of confidence from the leading MVP candidate in the league.

Rivers finished the day 24 of 36 for 337 yards, 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. He helped the Chargers go 8 of 9 on 3rd downs in the 2nd half, most of which were 3rd and long. But most important, he led my Chargers back from the grave to victory. They now sit at 7-2 after week 10 getting ready to face another tough road test against the Denver Broncos on Sunday Night Football.

Don’t ever count Philip Rivers out.

GO CHARGERS!!!