GRADING THE CHARGERS’ PHILIP RIVERS
Philip Rivers said when training camp began that “steady” was his buzzword for this summer and the NFL season ahead.
The forecast held true Sunday in the season opener.
It was a steadier outing from Rivers than either of his performances against the Kansas City Chiefs last year, as the Los Angeles Chargers posted a 38-28 win.
Rivers was sharp and consistent in several areas — accuracy, mental processing and decision-making.
Give the quarterback an Aoverall for his 2018 debut.
Look for Rivers, 36, to have a huge statistical season and lead the Chargers to several victories if he maintains this level of play. Play through it Rivers didn’t allow a spate of dropped passes to throw him off.
He overcame two drops to get a touchdown on the same drive.
There would be two more drops, but Rivers stayed on point for the most part.
“I just keep playing,” he said. “I mean, shoot, they don’t want to drop it, I don’t want to miss a throw. Those are things that it’s not effort, it’s not want-to, it’s not assignment, something they’re not doing right.”
Travis Benjamin dropped two passes, one in the end zone. On a drive that yielded a touchdown, Tyrell Williams whiffed in the end zone and Melvin Gordon dropped a pass in the flat.
Rivers said he didn’t mention the drops afterward.
“Maybe that’s just my quarterback philosophy, but if I dropped one I wouldn’t want to have somebody tell me, ‘Come on, make the catch,’ “said Rivers, who got an SEC scholarship offer to play tight end. “We know. Just like somebody tells me, ‘Come on, you have to make that throw.’ I know, and I think the receivers know me, we know each other well enough that we know.”
Rivers would finish with 424 passing yards, three touchdowns and an interception.
He praised the Chiefs for claiming the 38-28 victory fueled by dominance in special teams, but said his team will be just fine.
“I’m super fired up about this year,” he said.
Will the drops persist among his pass-catchers? Go back to 2014 for the last time Rivers’ pass-catchers had so many drops in an opener. Back then, in Arizona, the missed connections played a big role in the defeat but didn’t portend a trend. One big mistake Of course not all interceptions are the quarterback’s fault, but steadier play was a factor in Rivers throwing two fewer interceptions Sunday than the three he had in each loss to Kansas City last year.
He was picked off once Sunday, and, by golly, it smarted.
His team was in scoring range and trailing by 12 points in the third quarter when Rivers gave prolonged attention to a lengthy crossing route by Tyrell Williams.
Free safety Ron Parker, who was in center field, would say he noticed something useful in the pre-snap assembly. Also, he said he maintained awareness of Williams.
Rivers didn’t appear to see Parker before flinging the ball across the hashes and near the sideline, 12 yards downfield.
The ball had some float to it, and Parker picked it off.
“I just didn’t get my eyes back up to see him,” Rivers said of Parker. “I thought it was safe when I let it go obviously, or I wouldn’t have thrown it.”
Instead of pulling to nine points or less, Team Spanos saw the Chiefs then drive 86 yards to expand their lead to 31-12.
Injuries had stripped out a great deal of know-how in Kansas City’s pass defense. Sidelined by injury Sunday, safeties Eric Berry and Daniel Sorensen understand Rivers and his team’s passing game as few opponents do.