Colts: watch Philip Rivers arrive at team facility for first time

Philip Rivers has officially arrived at the Colts facility, and we are…good to…go?

Imagine telling a Colts fan in August 2019 that we’d all be eagerly awaiting video footage of Philip Rivers entering the team facility the very next season, rocking the blue and white for the first time and wearing a mask.

Well, ain’t this dystopian, huh?

Here’s Rivers, in all his glory, rocking the Hickory High gear and getting padded up for a high-octane season of Colts football.

Yes, it still doesn’t feel real, but at least it got a bit realer on Tuesday.

As of now, expectations outside of Indianapolis for Rivers’ 2020 season are demonstrably low. He’s being treated as a placeholder, a has-been, and, perhaps worst of all, a Tier 3 QB. But just two years ago, in 2018-19, Rivers was the leader of a team many believed to be a Super Bowl dark horse, a squad which took down the Chiefs on the road to vault into an improbable playoff berth.

Now, he’s got Contract Year TY Hilton and Michael Pittman on the outside, as well as a three-headed backfield to take the pressure off. Perhaps most importantly, he’s got Quenton Nelson and one of the best lines in football to keep him upright, as opposed to the revolving doors he was positioned behind with the LAC.

He’s also got fans now, the power of which Rivers hasn’t felt since he left San Diego.

Bottom line, if Rivers isn’t revitalized, then it’s no harm, no foul. But Chris Ballard believes the beleaguered quarterback still has something specific to offer that the team lacked severely in 2019: his cannon.

This is a passing team, a pass-blocking team, and a defensive juggernaut now.

Long-term, there’s a QB vacancy to be filled. Short term? We’ve got our man, and he just got home this week.