New team for Rivers but same mastery of Raiders
It never gets old, Philip Rivers making the Raiders look like Charlie Brown.
“Delta … hut!” Rivers screamed Sunday in an AFC showdown in Las Vegas.
Fooled, a Raiders defender jumped offside.
An hour later, his team deep into a second-half drive, Rivers peered at the Raiders defense and baited another hook.
“Delta … hut!” he screamed.
A Raiders linebacker charged. Whistles blew, flags flew. Raiders coach Jon Gruden shook his head and muttered into his pandemic facemask. Rivers and Co. advanced 5 more yards, setting up a rushing touchdown that all but cemented the 44-27 victory and moved the Colts ever closer to a playoff berth.
So it goes for Rivers, who faced the Raiders for an NFL-record 29th time Sunday and again punctured their Silver & Black balloon.
Admittedly, before Rivers came to San Diego to launch his NFL career, the Raiders were a top-tier franchise, winning three Super Bowls plus the 2002 AFC title game — but they’ve had their fill of the trash-talking, accurate, ultradurable quarterback who has beaten them 19 times and owns the most passing yards and touchdown passes against them in franchise history.
Rivers, wearing royal blue and white this time, threw for 244 yards and two touchdowns without an interception.
The Colts (9-4) stayed tied with the Tennessee Titans atop the AFC South, while the Raiders (7-6) fell deeper into the scrum of teams trying to grab the AFC’s final playoff berth. Sunday night, Las Vegas fired defensive coordinator Paul Guenther.
By golly, Rivers had himself a fun week.
Celebrating his 39th birthday Tuesday, he took his family to a Chick-fil-A restaurant.
The best birthday gift
may have been Rivers regaining two starting blockers in a very good Colts offensive line. And the Raiders defense, 28th of 32 in points allowed, wasn’t likely to spoil the party.
With a clean performance that left Rivers without a grass stain on his uniform, the Colts offense went for 212 rushing yards and averaged 7.7 yards per play, including 6.6 per rush.
Rivers again aimed most of his passes toward a receiver wearing No. 13, tossing two scoring passes to T.Y. Hilton, who has succeeded Keenan Allen as his favorite wideout.
What next?
The Colts have home games against the Texans (4-9) and Jaguars (1-12) that sandwich a road match against the Steelers (11-2). The Titans have the Lions
(5-8) at home before road games against the Packers (10-3) and Texans (4-9).
A first-round bye is out of reach for Rivers, even if the Colts win the AFC South for his first divisional title in 11 years.
Always the optimist, Rivers will point out the bye week didn’t prevent the Chargers he led in the 2006 and 2009 playoffs from losing their opener as a betting-line favorite. The past two times he reached the playoffs, Rivers directed an upset victory in the first round.
The Colts boast rare balance, standing 10th in points on offense and defense entering Sunday and better than average in several special teams categories.
Rivers has appeared increasingly comfortable running the offense, thankful for the line he praised soon after signing a oneyear, $25 million contract in March.
Colts blockers dominated Raiders pass rushers in all four quarters. Fueling an improving ground game, rookie running back Jonathan Taylor has made better reads lately. He ran 62 yards without much contact for a fourth-quarter touchdown.
Wisely, coach Frank Reich has diversified the shortyardage offense by lifting Rivers and having quarterback Jacoby Brissett run sneaks and other players take “wildcat” handoffs.
When the Raiders overloaded against the sneak, Brissett checked to a handoff that got the first down. Running back Nyheim Himes took a shotgun snap and handed to Taylor, who ran 3 yards for an easy TD that Rivers helped to set up by coaxing the Raiders offside at the 8.
Seven years after he thrived with Reich as his quarterbacks coach, Rivers has cut down on late passes into traffic, while maintaining his edge in several areas: managing the line of scrimmage, setting up and throwing passes to running backs and f licking strikes to receivers and tight ends.
He appears more settled than in many games last year, his final season with the Chargers. And the victory Sunday recalled the early Rivers era, when the
Chargers could block, run the ball and defend — often at the Raiders’ expense. Rivers won at Oakland in his first NFL start. He would begin 8-0 against the Raiders, running the franchise’s streak to 13-0 within the rivalry.