Rivers is smart enough to forget his gaffes (2024)

Philip Rivers called it a “silly throw,” and then he didn’t. Two minutes into his post-game news conference Sunday afternoon, the Chargers’ quarterback was backpedaling rhetorically, adjusting on the fly, searching for the precise phrase for an imprecise pass.

“I shouldn’t say ‘silly throw,’” Rivers said. “You can totally cross that one out. Silly was the wrong word. It was just a poor throw. I left it inside and short.”

Things happen in the heat of the moment that can seem silly in slow-motion, but it’s useful to remember that an NFL quarterback isn’t out there lining up putts. He’s reacting to something he sees, or thinks he sees, and he’s trying to do it before some defensive brute arrives with malice on his mind.

The job description dictates that you’re bound to make some mistakes. The guys who last are those who don’t brood about them.

Philip Rivers threw two interceptions Sunday afternoon – and either one could have been called “silly” in the harsh glare of retrospect – but neither prevented the Chargers from escaping with a 20-19 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.

Neither of these picks caused Rivers to doubt what he was doing. One of the secrets of success at quarterback is forgetting your failures.

“Those plays happen,” Rivers said. “They don’t happen very often. And you hope they don’t cost you. But the mindset is, ‘I’ll get the next one.’ You can’t be timid. It can’t be that mentality. It’s got to be, ‘Hey, if they give me that look again, I’m going to throw the same pattern and throw a better pass.’

“That’s got to be the mindset. If not, that two-interception game can turn into a five-interception game.”

Beating the banged-up, one-win Chiefs by a single point at home after a bye is not going to create a standing-room situation on the Bolts’ bandwagon. The defense Ron Rivera now oversees looks ominously similar to the one that applied so little pressure (and inspired so little confidence) under Ted Cottrell. If running back LaDainian Tomlinson is back to 100 percent, as he claims, his whole is decidedly less than the sum of his parts circa 2006.

Yet as tempting as it is to write this team off – to take the popular tack that losing linebacker Shawne Merriman hung storm shutters on the Bolts’ window of opportunity – Rivers has been too good and too resilient to rule anything out.

Last week, despite their then 3-5 record, the Chargers were still seen as the sixth-likeliest Super Bowl winner by Las Vegas oddsmakers. With so little to recommend their defense, and so much uncertainty surrounding their running game, this vestigial confidence reflects mainly on Rivers.

Despite his two picks Sunday, and the incomplete passes he was anguishing about during the Chiefs’ last drive, Rivers nonetheless left Qualcomm Stadium as the NFL’s top-rated passer (106.3). He completed 27 of his 36 pass attempts for 316 yards. This marked the fourth time this season he had exceeded 300 yards, equaling the total of his first two years as a starter.

Rivers has come of age as some of his Pro Bowl teammates (notably Tomlinson and nose tackle Jamal Williams) have started to show some wear. With Merriman out and Lorenzo Neal departed, he has become both the vocal and spiritual leader of his ballclub.

Because that ballclub is just 4-5 (with upcoming games against potent Pittsburgh and inscrutable Indianapolis), Rivers’ widening leadership role is still narrowly known. But other than the general ineptitude of the AFC West, he’s the best reason to believe the Bolts will be playing in January.

“He understands the whole picture, the big picture,” tight end Antonio Gates said. “He knows that one play doesn’t win the game for you in the first half. It’s a four-quarter game, and that’s his approach every week: ‘What’s the next play? Let’s get to the next play.’”

When Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard made his second-quarter interception in the right corner of the end zone, thereby preserving a 13-6 lead, Rivers’ next play would not come until the next half. This gave him two Kansas City possessions, plus halftime, to brood about the placement of the pass he had intended for Vincent Jackson.

“I see Vincent beating the corner and I think, ‘Oh, man, there’s no way the safety can get there,’” Rivers said. “And you know what? If I put it in the back, there’s no way (Pollard) can get to it. He might dive and break it up, but I put it inside and short. Just an errant throw. When the ball left my hand, he was somewhat open. It may take a perfect throw. It may not have been the best decision.”

Sillier passes have succeeded. Less accurate quarterbacks have conquered. Pittsburgh’s Terry Bradshaw threw three interceptions en route to being named the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XIV. Pro football, then and now, is more often about perseverance than perfection.

Rivers’ second interception was a third-quarter floater he attributed to contact. Two passes earlier, he had hit Malcom Floyd for a tying touchdown.

“I don’t really feel confused – ‘Why did I throw those?’” Rivers said. “I can not watch the tape and those will (still) be corrected. Now, will I throw another one again like that? Probably. And probably on the same play. It will happen. (But) it won’t be because of a lack of understanding.

“You can be too careful. There’s a fine line of being aggressive, but smart. You can’t let a couple of bad plays take the aggressiveness out of you. Then you won’t make the plays that present themselves because you’re timid.”

When the Chargers regained possession after Rivers’ second interception, they were able to make enough plays to advance 94 yards to a go-ahead score. Rivers threw the ball nine times during that drive, and the only one that missed its target was an incompletion nullified by a defensive penalty. His last throw found Gates for an 8-yard touchdown.

“I think we’ll find more good than bad when we look at the tape,” Rivers said.

Victory is always sweet, and seldom silly.