Philip Rivers Being Philip Rivers
December 5th, 2016
Gagged.
Entering yesterday’s game, there was discord amid JoeBucsFan.com world headquarters.
The angst was over Chargers gifted quarterback Philip Rivers. One Joe believed Rivers is this generation’s Dan Marino. The other Joe saw a modern-day Lynn Dickey: A guy who threw for a boatload of yards but never had anything to show for it. Dangerous but beatable.
Today, Rivers is being beat up on San Diego airwaves. To hear the locals, the Bucs didn’t beat the Chargers, it was Rivers.
While the locals respect and admire Rivers, they point to his many second-half meltdowns and suggest in the fourth quarter in a close game, Rivers will eventually throw a pick that will turn the tide.
In other words, this season, the San Diego locals who work behind a microphone for a living believe Rivers gagged yesterday like a choking dog.
And to be honest, that theory on Rivers pretty much played itself out in the Bucs win. Rivers just heaved up a pass that had so much hang time, it gave Keith Tandy time to plant underneath the ball like it was a fly ball to center field for a game-changing pick.
From what Brent Grimes, Bucs super corner, said after the game, he seemed to hint the Bucs were just waiting for Rivers to throw up a pick at some point in the second half.
Bucs picks “were huge plays,” Grimes said.”We knew all along that Philip Rivers is a great quarterback. He’s going to make some throws and some plays but we knew any chance he would give us, we’ve got to take advantge of it. We made two big plays on the ball and that’s probably the difference in the game.”
Sure enough, Rivers tossed that ball to Tandy and went to the sidelines chomping his mouthpiece wearing his personal pouty face.
And now you know why Rivers, a gifted quarterback, has never played in a Super Bowl.
December 5th, 2016 at 5:59 pm
I don’t think you need to look any further than the Chargers organization. I loved watching Dan Fouts but he never won a thing. The only reason Rivers is even on that team is because Eli refused to play for them…with good reason.
December 5th, 2016 at 6:03 pm
It’s somewhere in between. Rivers has never had the type of defense that Flacco or Eli Manning have had during their SB runs. He’s been playing with many of the offensive weapons hurt this year similar to Winston; but our defense has been better than San Diego’s.
December 5th, 2016 at 6:06 pm
“And now you know why Rivers, a gifted quarterback, has never played in a Super Bowl.”
uh yeah Joe, cause he plays for a bad franchise. Most teams would kill to get a future HOF.
December 5th, 2016 at 6:11 pm
those late-era schottenheimer teams were some of the most talented rosters of their era….LT, Merriman, VJax, rivers, Sproles just to name a few. You can argue whether it was the coach, the QB, management, or just the misfortune of sharing that era with the Patriots, but you can’t say Rivers has never had a Superbowl worthy team to count on
firing schottenheimer after….was it 14-2?….was just a head slapper and they probably deserved the subsequent decline, but man what talented squads those were
December 5th, 2016 at 6:16 pm
I like Rivers, unlike most of the other QBs in the league. Must be that southern quality he comes from.
December 5th, 2016 at 6:18 pm
Lynn Dickey.
Boy, I haven’t heard that one in a while.
December 5th, 2016 at 6:21 pm
He didn’t choke on that bomb that Travis Benjamin dropped toward the end of the game that could been a momentum changer. The D can’t let that happen this week.
December 5th, 2016 at 6:24 pm
I heard they were calling him Philip “Givers.” As in he is always “giving”the other team an interception.
December 5th, 2016 at 6:26 pm
Part of the reason Rivers lacks weapons and quality teammates is because they bled talent year after year, and refused to resign good players. Now they’re bereft of talent.
December 5th, 2016 at 6:31 pm
Rivers is a slinger like Favre and Famous. He throw picks from time to time but is a damn good qb
December 5th, 2016 at 6:46 pm
The SD faithful should be blaming the organization for not providing the talent needed for a good defense. Rivers is still the same darn good QB he has always been. It’s their defense that fails to hold onto a lead just like against us.
December 5th, 2016 at 6:47 pm
on that last INT melvin gordon was right at the 1st down line with a DB almost 10 yards off of him… the way his was running yesterday… he would’ve had a for sure 1st down & maybe a TD
December 5th, 2016 at 7:00 pm
I am glad we won, but I agree, Rivers cost them that game with his overconfidence in himself. Check downs to Gordon were killing us all day, and the Chargers had plenty of time to dink and dunk Gordon down the field. Instead, Rivers decided to risk it all, and it came back to haunt him.
December 5th, 2016 at 7:23 pm
I was in a box with a bunch of chargers fans, and they all called it. 9 min left, they are going to try to soak up as much time as possible and end up making a mistake at the end. Sure enough, took 6 min off the clock and threw a pick. Their late game coaching decisions have been atrocious this year. I was expectingthem to try to score quick and get 2 possessions to win. They had no urgency and no confidence. Rivers is a great qb stuck in a terrible franchise. Because of the latest sad fact, he belongs in the hall of pretty good.
December 5th, 2016 at 8:17 pm
Rivers is a good qb he is surrounded by crap
December 5th, 2016 at 8:33 pm
Interesting thing, isn’t it?
Whenever a team loses, the fans always blame the team or certain players on that team. They never think it was because the other team was just better.
See it here after every loss.
December 5th, 2016 at 8:35 pm
Sounds like Farve, but Favre did win a Super Bowl. That’s the gunslinger in Rivers. Winston has it in him too. It’s what you get with gunslingers. They take risks, sometimes it ends in a big reward, sometimes it ends in a Pick. I don’t mind INTs early in the game, it’s the late fourth quarter ones that will ruin a game. Gunslingers are type of QBs that can single handedly win you games, but they can also single handedly lose them for you too.
I think Winston has learned to be a little more careful with the ball, but he still throws deep into double coverage, which is asking for trouble. luckily for him a lot of the time the DBs are fighting for the ball and neither end up with it.
December 5th, 2016 at 8:39 pm
Rivers is elite. Stop the madness
December 5th, 2016 at 8:39 pm
It wasn’t really the hang time, it was just under thrown. If the pass has a little more zip and is thrown outside instead of inside, it’s a touchdown. But like I said all week, Rivers has a propensity to make mind boggling throws late in games, and we were the recipients this week.
Bad placement + good awareness from our DB = game sealing interception
December 5th, 2016 at 8:40 pm
Rivers is still good.
December 5th, 2016 at 8:45 pm
I hope they aren’t saying the same about Jameis in a few years.
December 5th, 2016 at 8:46 pm
Every time we win I check out the other teams fan pages just to see what they are thinking. Some fans give us credit on a good game but most say they gave the game to us. Smh. We are the Rodney Dangerfield of the league.
December 5th, 2016 at 8:59 pm
Rivers is an elite choke artist. Get the Chargers to great moments in big games then cough up a fur ball! I always said he’s good for a pic and pic6
December 5th, 2016 at 9:13 pm
unbelievable Says:
December 5th, 2016 at 8:39 pm
It wasn’t really the hang time, it was just under thrown. If the pass has a little more zip and is thrown outside instead of inside, it’s a touchdown. But like I said all week, Rivers has a propensity to make mind boggling throws late in games, and we were the recipients this week.
Bad placement + good awareness from our DB = game sealing interception
I’ll respectfully disagree. The coverage was good. Either that pass is intercepted or it is incomplete. It was a bad read by Rivers to throw it. Similar to Conte picking off Cutler, they expected the safety to bite on the double move and Tandy didn’t. In fact, Tandy said after the game that it was VH3 that warned him of the double move and Tandy stayed aware of it.
Chris@Apple Roof Cleaning Says:
December 5th, 2016 at 7:00 pm
I am glad we won, but I agree, Rivers cost them that game with his overconfidence in himself. Check downs to Gordon were killing us all day, and the Chargers had plenty of time to dink and dunk Gordon down the field. Instead, Rivers decided to risk it all, and it came back to haunt him.
I disagree here as well. It is true that Gordon was open on the INT and on that particular play Rivers should have checked it down to him. However, Mike Smith made halftime adjustments and took away the checkdowns in the 2nd half. LVD talked about this in the postgame interview.
December 5th, 2016 at 9:13 pm
Cut it out and knock it off Joe!! We’ve had QB’s at one Buc place far worst than Rivers. And we ripped on them too! Rivers is a good QB. Not great..But good at times. HE rolled the dice Sunday and came up short. About 15 other teams did the same as they doe very week. Rivers has beat some pretty good teams doing his tenure there in San Diego. the fan base there is about as
worst as ours and getting worse. Not all Rivers fault. JUst look at that ownership. Every Dog has his day. We had ours Sunday.
December 5th, 2016 at 9:14 pm
The Fox crew stated that it was a “strong first half” for Rivers, who was 10/14, but a lot of that was dinking and dunking. His O-line held a lot of the game, but the refs never called these infractions. He went cold in the second half when he had to move the ball down field in a hurry. Great job, Bucs!
December 5th, 2016 at 9:36 pm
Lets face it, the Chargers fired Marty Schotenheimer after a 14-WIN SEASON
LMAO!!!!
14 WINS!!!! AND FIRED!!!!
They blamed a future HOF coach for Rivers’ choke job and Kaeding’s missed kick!
LMAO!!!!! They are the dumbest organization in football. Yup, even dumber than the Browns or the Al-Davis-era Raiders.
December 5th, 2016 at 10:17 pm
the 07-10 chargers had plenty of chances but they were chokejobs then just like they are now
December 5th, 2016 at 10:34 pm
Why is it you guys try to constantly beat down on other teams proven top QB’s so you can start the conversation I would rather have Jameis? Man it’s sad Joe’s we get why. So you two Bucs full-time experts follow the NFL that much that you are able to legitimately criticize another teams QB and team but Peter King cannot because he doesn’t follow us like you guys? Maybe watch some games this year and see how they have lost, or that San Diego is kind of cool and cloudy outside of the summertime, especially on the beaches and this week again for example:)
For the record againI would much rather have JW now..however the hypocrisy on this site on the Bucs and elsewhere is very questionable like calling Beasley a bust in his first year. Just maybe stick with the Bucs and don’t pretend your experts on other teams situations like you call out other national media figures whom are paid to actually do so without prefacing opinions outside of a highlight real.
December 5th, 2016 at 11:51 pm
Hey Joe, I don’t see Rivers coming close to holding Marino’s jock strap. I also agree with a couple fellow posters as to the wisdom of the Charger ownership to fire a head coach in Marty Schotemheimer one of the winningest head coaches ever. Back many years ago when rumors swirled and Marty interviewed, I was all for him coming to Tampa despite his age. Gifted coach with a very high winning percentage and reputation of choking in the playoffs. Bucs were no where close at that time to sniffing the playoffs, we sniffed top 5 in the draft order.
Sadly Marty Schotemheimers health has been of issue. I always thought of him as a masterful coach, one who does not get the praise he is deserved.
December 6th, 2016 at 1:10 am
Jameis better tear that weak defense of NO’s up because Brees likely won’t be making the mistakes Rivers made.
December 6th, 2016 at 7:33 am
Even if Rivers doesn’t throw that int I still believe the Bucs win. He just sped up the inevitable
December 6th, 2016 at 9:05 am
Chargers let a young Drew Brees go as a FA after they drafted and groomed Rivers. I rest my case.
December 6th, 2016 at 9:21 am
Rivers is not comparable to Marino or Dickey. Lynn Dickey threw more INTs than TDs. A closer comparison is a guy he just passed in total yards which is Drew Bledsoe.
December 6th, 2016 at 9:34 am
I used to have season tickets to the Chargers for a couple of years, a couple of years back. I’m not a Chargers fan but my company had them… That dude is extremely unreliable! I’ve seen the Chargers up by big leads at halftime only to see them throw it away in the second half. I always told Chargers fans sitting around me “live by Rivers, die by Rivers.”
December 6th, 2016 at 12:59 pm
Doctor Stroud Says
“His O-line held a lot of the game, but the refs never called these infractions.”
So did ours. I saw plenty of holds I couldn’t believe we got away with. But given how refs traditionally call us on too many penalties, I didn’t care.
December 7th, 2016 at 11:57 pm
Yea, Rivers is a franchise QB……..but I bet they wished they hadn’t let Drew Brees get away……I’d take him over Rivers any day