Get to know the Indianapolis Colts’ new quarterback Philip Rivers as a warrior, teammate, and man, and you’ll know more of what to expect from him in the Colts’ 2020 season.
I’m not writing this with deep knowledge of the 2020 Colts. But I am a Philologist. Normally, philology is a study of language: its origin, development, and dynamics. Since 2004, my Philology is Phil Rivers: his origin, his development, and his dynamics.
Here’s the scenario: a highly accomplished quarterback grows older, and his physical ability is being questioned by many, both nationally and in-house. His team lets the face of the franchise go, but another team, sensing a window to win, and with a strong ground game to take pressure off the passer, takes a chance on the old lion, hoping he will be the catalyst.
I refer of course to Peyton Manning.
Colts fans who disdain Rivers, citing his stats last year perhaps should remember that the fading Manning in his final year with the Broncos, had 17 interceptions, only 9 TDs and a passer rating of 67.9 — and of course, that was the year the Broncos won the Super Bowl. So take heart, concerned Colts fans. Philip isn’t Peyton, but he isn’t Ryan Leaf, either. Rivers has been elite in the most important quarterback stats, and as recently as 2018:
Just two seasons ago, Phil was ranked 5th in quarterback rating, topping Andrew Luck, Aaron Rodgers, Jared Goff, Carson Wentz, Tom Brady, Matt Ryan, Dak Prescott, Ben Roethlisberger, and so on.
In chemistry, an element that, when added to another, transforms both into a singular new element is called a catalyst. The same is true in team chemistry. Philip Rivers will be the catalyst from the first day of practice — whenever that turns out to be. What follows are the..
TOP FIVE REASONS TO ROLL WITH RIVERS:
He is deadly serious about being a team-first teammate. In team spirit, he’s not a drain, he’s the faucet. The first mark of any professional performer, whether flamenco dancer or football player, is consistent energy: physical, mental, emotional, and dadgummit, force-of-will.
A teammate was asked about Rivers’ well-known trash-talking during the game. The player replied
"“Trash talking in-game? What about practices? You think his own teammates don’t get it in the ear? Constantly! He goads his own defense, he’s on his own receivers. You can’t take a play off. You can’t miss one assignment. “"
But the context of trash-talking is teasing, laughter, good-natured. He famously never cusses, and (this is largely not known) he never makes it personal. Phil is the same in the backyard playing with his family: teasing, not tormenting.
Phil loves to be with the guys, on the field, in the locker room, on the bus and plane.
In L.A., the first week quarterback Tyrod Taylor arrived, Rivers praised his backup. Phil simply said, “He’s a pro.”. That is the highest praise from Rivers, and it reveals a secret: Rivers doesn’t think all NFL players are pros at heart. Just as Colts’ GM Chris Ballard observes that not all NFL players can aspire to be Colts.
So here’s another revelation: as a team-mate, as a spokesperson, as a community leader, Philip Rivers will be proven an excellent fit to the Colts’ culture and community.
Phil is not a team leader. He is THE leader.
Rivers’ longest-serving predecessor in San Diego, Hall of Famer QB Dan Fouts, usually wore in practice a faded ball cap that said. “M.F.I.C.” The last two letters stand for “In Charge”. You can guess what the first two letters meant. Perhaps “Mr. Fouts”?
Rivers doesn’t need the hat. Players know who he is. Y’all can hear Big Daddy coming. But Rivers is not a tin god, nor a bully, nor a prima donna. He’s a football player who respects the game.
There is a secret to Rivers’ leadership: it is humility. Every season, on Rivers’ teams all 53 players down to the practice squad, experience his honesty, respectfulness, passion to excel, and unapologetic boyish enthusiasm.
Borrowing from the irreplaceable Peyton Manning’s nickname, Rivers is the new sheriff in town. He will flash the badge, and even the gun when necessary. Players new to the team, HIS team now, may walk to a huddle in early practice, or run the wrong route, or ignore that a coach is talking.
But they won’t make that mistake again.
The teammates that love Philip Rivers are the kinds of players that love winning enough to love practice, and the gym, and the playbook. You cannot love excellence unless you love execution. Players like Dwight Freeney, who was a teammate for two years in San Diego, and who praised Rivers as a “cornerstone player”, loved him. In other words, the kinds of players who respond to Phil are the kinds of players you expect to have on the Colts.
“I have so much respect for Philip.”
– Bill Belichick, six Superbowl wins as head coach of New England Patriots
After 16 years in the league, the biggest concerns are physical decline and lack of desire. The biggest upsides are experience and knowledge.
Philip’s experience has not only given him a Google-like knowledge of the game, but it has also given him humility and caution. General manager Chris Ballard, Head Coach Frank Reich and Offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni score Rivers off the charts in identifying defenses, changing things up at the line of scrimmage, and providing input to both coaches and players.
The Secret: He is able to overcome uncertainty. He says things that many red-blooded American males will not. Things like “I don’t know”, “I blew it”, “maybe”, “might” and “hopefully”. Rivers’ uncertainty goes against the so-called experts in media who confidently predict everything in black and white, but have never had skin in the game.
And football is a game of uncertainties because the ball is pointy. No outcome is a slam dunk, because you never know which way the ball is going to bounce.
His father is a great football coach and his mother is a great Catholic. So their gifted boy grew up a true believer in both religions.
Philip Rivers is a man of faith:
The origin of the word “belief” is an old Saxon word, “by-lief”, which means “by life”. So what you truly believe can only be what you live. Addressing a convocation at his alma mater, North Carolina State, Rivers talked about choosing priorities for one’s life:
“My priorities are Faith, family and football, in that order”.
Phil believes in that trinity because he lives it every day. Rivers walks the talk, although he doesn’t talk about it all that much publicly. He doesn’t use his football stage as a platform for preaching, but if asked a direct question, he answers it directly.
Phil wants to win every NFL game. He wants to win every ping-pong game and every card game — and certainly every argument. But he’s strong enough to overcome defeats. He’s not coming to Indy in a defensive posture. He’s coming to win the next Super Bowl, for his team, for the fans, and for his own passion. But Rivers’ vision is bigger than the Super Bowl. Win or lose, he is always trying to be his best self. This century-old motto for sportsmanship, and for life, suits old-school Rivers:
"“When the great scorekeeper comes to write against my name, He’ll ask not whether I won or lost, but how I played the game.”"
Phil the Family Man
With family, like football, Phil is all in. Much fun has been had with Rivers still-growing brood of children, enough for a starting offense. Here’s the scoop: Philip and his wife Tiffany are going for a 53-man roster…
Mr. and Mrs. Rivers have in the past contributed heavily to adoption agencies. If the Pope would give Tiffany Rivers well-deserved time off, maybe they could adopt one for a change. Hey, I’m not judging. I haven’t adopted any kids myself, and the children that I do have, I tried to sell on eBay.
As you’ve been reading this, you may have had a voice in your head, like Gollum whispering to himself in the movie, The Lord of the Rings:
"“What about the interceptions?..Nassty Pickss..What about all his turnovers?”"
Mexico City: Mauling by Media
Last season, Rivers got killed in the Mexico City game against the eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, throwing four interceptions, including a game-ending, endzone pick. It was nationally televised, and Rivers was beaten up in the news cycle for weeks after. It was referred to repeatedly in the national sports media, creating the narrative that Rivers had fallen and could not get up.
That one game is still shaping the national perception more than actual stats from the game and the season.
The distinct chill in the air from a sizable number of Colts fans over Rivers’ arrival may stem from last year’s interceptions. Rivers is not Manning, nor Andrew Luck, nor Jacoby Brissett, and you may hold any of these three facts against your starting quarterback. Or maybe it’s the fact that Rivers (helped) beat the Colts in two stinging playoff losses, and is 7-2 all-time against the Colts, and by some is still seen as The Enemy. Yet the Colts won the big one: They got to pick Peyton Manning in the draft, and in the very next pick, the Chargers got Ryan Leaf.
So let it go, bro.
There is no statistical basis for assuming Old Man Rivers has stepped off a cliff, because of the INTs. Because he has done that, and worse, several times before, and fixed it before, every time.
Again, I’m calling in Reich, Sirianni, and Ballard as expert witnesses. If you think they’re dead wrong, please make your argument in the comments.
In 2018, Philip was in MVP conversation, beat the Chiefs, and took the Los Angeles Chargers (with one healthy starting linebacker) two games deep into the playoffs. Has he been shot off his horse? Or is it rather that Chargers’ Head coach Anthony Lynn has designed a run-first team that he has always devoutly wished for?
I will predict that the 2020 Chargers will have fewer interceptions. And will finish out of the playoffs.
Phil plays to the final whistle to somehow, someway, win. And then on the Tuesday, he starts all over. His daily motto is Nunc Coepi, Latin for “Now we start (all over) again”.
He has willed away all sense of self-preservation. He often celebrates a passing touchdown flat on his back. He doesn’t care about saving his stats, he wants to win the dad-gum gosh-darn game!
Rivers slings it when 2 scores behind. And occasionally, Rivers will make you cry like a four-year-old whose hamburger was intercepted by the dog. At the one-yard line. Goll-y!
But then ol’ Phil, being engulfed by 3 defenders, will lob an Alley-Oop to the running back, who takes it 40 yards for a touchdown. Rivers IS an old gunslinger, but the Colts’ leadership is confident that Phil can still shoot a fly off a Texan. Or a Jaguar or a Titan.