P-Riv Update: Week 16

P-Riv is my dogg!!! Philip Rivers is a winner. As if you needed me to tell you that. Since he has been starting in the NFL, he has gotten 13 wins in 15 tries. This most recent win on the chilly, wet, and wind-whipped day in Seattle against the reigning NFC Champion Seahawks is just more proof of his uncanny knack for winning. (You should enjoy this excerpt) A week after being named to the Pro-Bowl over the lovable Thomas Edward Brady Jr. and listening to national "analysts" rant about an undeserving Rivers, Philip delivered again. Rivers' fourth quarter performance was actually quite Brady-esque. Agreed, Brady is Pro Bowl caliber because it's never about the numbers. It's about what it says on the scoreboard at the end of the game. The only thing that matters are letters – L or W. Rivers gift-wrapped a perfect spiral to Vincent Jackson in the end zone with the game on the line, and got it to him right on the word "Seahawks" stenciled on the turf. And guess which letter Jackson was standing on when he caught it? Right. The "W." Could it have happened any other way? After all, it was Christmas Eve…no "L."

The thing about Rivers that continues to amaze is his propensity for making plays when you absolutely need him to, and doing it with the casual confidence that underscores his spirit. Shoot, he was doing it in short sleeves, on a flat-out nasty weather day. Most quarterbacks would bundle up – Rivers was, yes… sleeveless in Seattle. (Sorry.)

There he was when you needed him most. After another day of frustration, the Gosh N' Golly Kid rallied the troops, and insisted after the game he never needed to say anything special to do it. "This is not to sound cocky," he assured reporters after the game. "We all just honestly felt that with 2:00 left and the ball in our hands, we were going to win that game. It just didn't dawn on us that the outcome would be any different."

On the plane ride home, the quarterback and the coach were among those assembled for a while back by the plates of shrimp cocktail, and you could tell they enjoyed rehashing those final minutes.

"Boy, that 'one play at a time' thing really works," the quarterback gushed to his head coach, and both men laughed, but both men knew it to be true.

Marty preaches "one play at a time" every Sunday, and Philip has bought into it completely. At the time of the deciding play, Rivers had been 9-for-29. But purging that from his mind – with that ridiculously loud crowd screaming, and the rain sloshing off his helmet – Rivers simply stepped up, noticed safety Michael Boulware cheating in to contain Antonio Gates, and heaved his most beautiful pass in three weeks into the waiting arms of his new-favorite target. Jackson – who had dropped a ball at the 15 just minutes before – cradled the spiral like it was a baby. Touchdown, San Diego. Hello, 13-2. Our Chargers still need to win this week to guarantee home field throughout the playoffs. They will have to do it against a surging Arizona Cardinals team with nothing to play for except a low draft pick. We should wrap up home field and be ready to fasten our seat belts for what will be a face paced, hard hitting AFC playoffs.

GO CHARGERS!!!

P.S. My wife gave me an amazing powder blue P-Riv Jersey for Christmas.