Colts: Philip Rivers can’t listen to the noise ahead of Week 2

Philip Rivers has a lot of criticism to ignore before his second regular season week with the Colts.

The Colts have plenty to worry about following an upset (and upsetting) Week 1 loss. The worrisome defense, blown Xavier Rhodes coverages, and the on-the-fly running game plan without Marlon Mack all must be assessed.

But one thing they can’t allow themselves to worry about is the man under center.

Whether things go according to plan or not in 2020, Philip Rivers will be the Indianapolis Colts starting QB for as long as he’s physically able. And, as we know from years of experience, nobody shakes things off, straps the helmet back on, and gets right back to it like Rivers.

That’s why he’ll need to do his very best to block out the noise prior to an all-important battle between teams that fell Week 1. They’re already writing his epitaph, after all. The columns are populating.

Yahoo! Sports’ Rivers assessment, for example, was entitled: “Did Colts make $25M mistake with Philip Rivers? His ugly INTs are reason to worry.” That’s not going to settle well … if it’s absorbed at all.

The column enters a detailed breakdown of Rivers’ interceptions — which the man himself participates in — but breaks its joviality with a damning vision of what could be coming for the aging QB in 2020. The author, Terez Paylor, theorizes that Rivers’ move to Indy could become an “incredibly disappointing waste” of his last chance to cement his Hall of Fame candidacy, after years of succumbing to the same fate behind San Diego/LA’s far worse offensive line.

But Rivers cannot let his own legacy get to him here.

At every turn since Draft Day 2004, he’s done a remarkable job of overestimating his infallibility and seeing a clear vision of the field, even when much of it is clouded. If Rivers is going to get the Colts on the right track, he can’t let the negativity feed him, or exert himself too hard dreaming up some sort of revenge narrative. He just has to shake it all off, even if he hasn’t read it.

Unfortunately, we know he’s read this take. He was an active participant.

It’s easy to slip into a “New Team, Same Rivers” denouement — heck, that’s what Vikings blogs are calling their previews for the week!

But “Same Rivers” also means an innate ability not to care about the people who don’t believe in him, dating back to when the Giants began his career with uncertainty, taking him only as a means to an Eli Manning end.

We’re pretty sure he’ll bounce back, and we’re pretty sure he won’t need the zen-like nature of this column to convince himself to do so.

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