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Thread: Article on Phillip Rivers! Interesting

  1. #1
    Not So Fast
    Chargers QB Rivers struggles with consistency, turnovers
    By BERNIE WILSON, AP Sports Writer
    November 14, 2007
    SAN DIEGO (AP) -- So, what's wrong with Philip Rivers?
    Nine games into the season, Rivers looks nothing like the Pro Bowl quarterback he was last season, his first as starter for the San Diego Chargers.
    Rivers has matched his 10 touchdown passes with 10 interceptions. Throw in his five lost fumbles, and he's already committed four more turnovers than he did all last season.
    Two of his interceptions and two of his fumbles have been returned for touchdowns. Overall, his turnovers have led to 58 points for the opponents.
    Rivers' passer rating of 77.9 is 21st in the NFL. He was booed again Sunday night, when the Chargers escaped with a 23-21 win over the Indianapolis Colts after Adam Vinatieri missed a 29-yard field-goal attempt with 1:31 left.
    Even after throwing a career-high six interceptions, Peyton Manning had a better passer rating Sunday night than Rivers, 49.4 to 30.6. Rivers completed only 13 of 24 passes for 104 yards, with two interceptions. He fumbled into the end zone in the fourth quarter, with linebacker Gary Brackett recovering for a TD.
    Rivers keeps pointing out that the Chargers are 5-4 and leading the AFC West after winning four of their past five games.
    Fans, though, keep wondering why he's so inconsistent.
    "There's frustration anytime you don't play the way you want to, but you have to be able to take it in stride and keep getting better and keep working and know that it's keep grinding and working and you'll continue to get through it and that's what I'm going to do," he said.
    "I haven't lost any sleep or any confidence. Just keep working and playing and I know I can get it done."
    Rivers, who also slumped last December as the Chargers finished off a 14-2 season, said there's nothing wrong physically or with his mechanics.
    "It's part of the game and the quarterbacks that don't allow it to creep in those situations and make those types of mistakes are the ones that are playing consistent and the ones that aren't doing it aren't," Rivers said Wednesday, when the Chargers started preparing for Sunday's game at Jacksonville. "I don't think it's anything more than that. You keep practicing and playing.
    "Nothing's happened that's never happened to anybody before. It's not something new that's happened to me and I'm going to keep working through it."
    The Chargers expected a more polished performance from Rivers this season, especially under the tutelage of head coach Norv Turner. While Turner is just 63-86-1 as an NFL head coach, he was acclaimed for his work with Troy Aikman as offensive coordinator with the Dallas Cowboys in the early 1990s.
    "When he's had time and when things have gone good for him, he's made a lot of big plays," Turner said about Rivers. "We're working through some things and we just have to eliminate the negative play and ultimately that's his responsibility."
    Turner, meanwhile, has taken heat for his playcalling.
    "We evaluate it every Monday," he said. "We look at it and there's always times when you look and say, 'Hey, we could have called this and it might have been better; that play, the call we liked, we didn't like the result of it.' I think it is part of the deal. I started calling plays in 1991, so fortunately I've called a lot of good ones, and unfortunately I've called some that didn't work out too well."
    WoW, talk about being optimistic I guess its better than being a doubting Thomas or to lose your confidence but there is no DOUBT Rivers will have to play MUCH BETTER and SOON IMO. NSF

  2. #2
    HefeRaton
    The bigger problem here is the Oline. He has almost no time and is rushed ALOT. Like any QB if your Oline can't stop anybody you are going to be rushed into making mistakes. I think they should go to the no huddle, that would help these guys get defenses on their heals and the get our offense into a rythm.

  3. #3
    SB
    This happens time and again. People complain about a qb, then you point out that he is missing half the OL from last year. "Duh"

  4. #4
    Tremor Therapy
    Interesting, but I was listening to a local sports hack radio show the other day, and they brought on Vency Glenn, an ex-Charger defensive back, and asked him what he thought might be the problem.
    Well I have listened to Vency Glenn from time to time over the years, and the guy seems to have it down. His response was that this season Rivers just seems incapable of going through his read progression on any play. He drops back to pass and just stares down the primary receiver throughout his entire route, and that this is giving the defense the edge. What he noticed last year was that Gates was perpetually open, and Rivers always looked for him. Now this year Gates is being double and triple covered, so when Rivers drops back to pass and Gates is not open, Rivers does not know what to do.
    The one positive he noticed was that on quick 3 step drop and fire routes, Rivers is getting the ball out very well. However, the down side that Vency noticed was that he is still firing the ball to the primary receiver even if they are covered. Vency did go on to say that there was more to Rivers problems, and did mention the inability of our offensive line to give him ample time to throw the ball, but Vency also countered that by saying Rivers is just not picking up the defensive coverages like he did last year. I have to admit, that my opinion on what Vency was saying is that Rivers is just not playing well at all.
    Funny though, Vency did not pick on Norv too much. What he did say was that this team needs a big time attitude adjustment. What he was alluding too is that he felt the Chargers were spending too much time trying to figure out what they are not doing instead of knuckling down, getting pissed, and just going out and playing Charger football (whatever that means).

  5. #5
    MKEELINE
    That is a quarterback that has no confidence in his offensive line, the playcalling and/or his receivers.
    It might just be a big learning curve for a guy that has only played 25 NFL games. One season as a starter, then forced to learn a new, more complicated system. One thing Marty did real well was keep it simple, which hurt him in the playoffs, when teams have two weeks to prepare for you.
    Rivers will be fine. For those calling for Volek, you've obviously never seen him play. There's a reason that a guy with five 400+ yard NFL games can't start somewhere.
    Oh, and Vencie Glenn is a great guy and he knows what he's talking about.
    You make a great point about Rivers learning curve. I think he's having a tough time with the new system, but, he's only 9 games in. He seems to be having a tough time with his read progession, he seems just to lock and load on one guy. He knows he doesn't have much time so he's rushing things, which leads to bad decisions with the football.
    I don't care if you have Jesus in cleats, if you don't get time to make the reads your going to have trouble. But, the o line is only 9 games into this system also. Just as Rivers is struggling, so is the o line.
    As far as backups are concerned, I think you could do ALOT worse than Volek. There's alot of backups out there with zero 400+ yard games, much less the kind of experience he has. I don't think they should go to Volek yet, but do you stay with Rivers if he keeps playing this poorly? I'm a fan of Rivers. I really think the kid is going to be a really good QB(only time will tell), but he is REALLY struggling right now.
    GO BOLTS!

  6. #6
    Tremor Therapy
    What was really interesting was his take on the defense. One of the radio guys started talking about the Bears, and Vencie said that no one on the Bears was bitching about their offense ineptitude as loud as the Chargers are. The Bears defense new that they were the strength of the team, so they just went out and stuffed the other offense in a 3 and out, or 5 or 6 plays and out, and gave the offense the ball back, giving them more chances to score. He made some excellent points stating that good teams suck it up where they need too.
    His case in point was that our special teams was an advantage against the Colts, and we used it to our advantage. He stated it in no uncertain terms, the special teams is what was the difference in the game. Now he did mention that the offense stunk up the Murph, and that the defense did not play exceptionally well even though they did get 6 interceptions.
    You could definately tell he new what he was talking about...but SWB, I did not get the feeling that he was sold on Rivers. He was definately critiquing him pretty hard, and was wondering how a guy that has been in the NFL for this long, with as big a write up as AJ is giving him can be playing at such a poor level, and seemingly incapable of making the simplest of adjustments or reads. His criticism started me thinking again, that they need to pull the play book apart, and go back to a more simplistic game plan. Maybe this can get some confidence back into our offense!

  7. #7
    Ziggy
    most every QB will go through a lull, as does most every player of every sport.......The unflappable Tiger Woods even hits slumps.
    When they hired Turner last year they said part of the reason was continuity of the offensive unit....but it seems little is the same for the offensive game play, different blocking schemes...........does this mean they need more time to absorb Turners style or vice versa(Turner adapt to players' strength)???
    Rivers doesn't look comfortable like he did last year, O-line play seems to have dropped off, or is that because of having to learn new schemes?
    To many unanswered questions to evaluate any one single player, it is a team sport afterall.

  8. #8
    Ziggy
    remember, Rivers had two years of learning Marty's system before being thrown in as a starter.......I personally think he has trouble grasping Turners more aggressive and faster paced system, along with the rest of the offense.......I mean the O-line can't seem to make any real wholes for the NFL MVP to get through.....something just ain't clicking with these boys.

  9. #9
    Tremor Therapy
    Ziggy,
    Its funny how everyone is also down on LT. I was listening to the same hacks (Billy Ray and Scott) and they mentioned that "everyone might just want to lay off LT, as there are only 2 guys in front of him with more yards from scrimmage." That just seemed out of wack, but if you check it out, its true. LT is third in yards form scrimmage.....makes me think that style points must count really high!

  10. #10
    SB
    no one on the Bears was bitching about their offense ineptitude as loud as the Chargers are.
    LMAO. The Bears are going with Grossman this weekend.
    My point is that some idiots start calling for a new qb when that is the last thing they need. Fix the OL, get defense, running, special teams, then get a new qb.

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