Philip Rivers apparently hates the Raiders and the timing couldn’t be better
Colts QB Philip Rivers apparently has a ‘disdain’ for the Raiders.
Somehow we haven’t been paying attention to a pertinent storyline ahead of the Week 14 matchup between the Indianapolis Colts and Las Vegas Raiders. First of all, we have two of the game’s great characters in Philip Rivers and Jon Gruden going head to head. That should give us enough quotes to last the rest of the season.
Aside from that, Indy is facing its lone AFC West opponent on the schedule this year, and it’s the first time Rivers, who spent 16 years in that division as the Chargers QB, will face one of those teams as a member of a different franchise. And it just so happens that the Raiders are his least favorite of that group, which includes the Chiefs and Broncos.
Don’t believe us? Well, Gruden made it a point to tell the media about it this week. Apparently Rivers made that very clear to the head coach in 2018 and 2019. Gruden took over of the then-Oakland Raiders before the 2018 season.
Jon Gruden said that Philip Rivers "has more fun playing football than anyone I know. He has a disdain for the Raiders, and that's something he's made clear to me on the sidelines the last couple of years."
— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) December 9, 2020
Though Rivers has never faced the Las Vegas rendition of the franchise, we’d like to bet he’s still got a ton of that “disdain” for the Raiders, and we’d like to think it’s even more fiery this time around because this matchup has playoff implications. On top of that, Rivers was swept by the Raiders in 2019, so he’s certainly ready to get his revenge.
We’d definitely like to know more details here because Rivers has actually been the one drubbing the Raiders throughout his career, not the other way around. Maybe he just doesn’t like playing teams that historically stink? He’s 18-10 against the Raiders since debuting against them in 2006.
Philip Rivers knows the Raiders well. He's got a 18-10 record against them over his career, and has thrown 47 TDs and 22 INTs against them. That's a good thing, because the #Colts are in a must-win situation when they host the Raiders this weekend. They need his best.
— Chris Blystone (@chrisblystone) December 9, 2020
So you mean to tell us he hates the Raiders and dominates them when given the chance? Though this is a very different Raiders team, the Colts couldn’t ask for much more heading into what’s a must-win in terms of improving their playoff positioning.
Let’s get Rivers mic’d up for this one, please?
