Philip Rivers continues momentum from 2013 season
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — It was almost like you could hear Philip Rivers trying to do the math in his head when the San Diego Chargers quarterback was asked this week about Peyton Manning's new NFL record of 510 touchdown passes.
Rivers started to list the numbers. He is 32 years old and has 238 touchdowns. How long would he have to play and how many touchdowns would he have to throw a year, to catch Peyton Manning?
"I'd have to play a real long time to get there," Rivers said, laughing. "If you string some years together like he had in the 50s and things, then you'd have a chance and it depends on how long guys play. I don't think that's something you can think about until you get somewhat close, which I'm not even in that neighborhood."
But here is where Rivers is matching — if not surpassing — Manning right now: The 2014 MVP race.
And it is because of Rivers that the Chargers are 5-2 and threatening to dethrone the Broncos as the defending AFC West champions.
A year after Rivers won the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year Award for his career revival in his first season playing under new head coach Mike McCoy, his stats continue to soar, with 17 touchdowns and only three interceptions. He is completing 67.4 % of his passes, nearly three points higher than his career average, and his season quarterback rating of 113 — with four games over 123 – is nearly 20 points above his career average.
Rivers has done it all despite losing his top three running backs to various injuries. First it was a sprained MCL for starter Ryan Mathews in Week 2, followed by a season-ending ankle injury for Danny Woodhead in Week 3, and then Donald Brown to a concussion earlier this month.
Rivers has done it after the Chargers have lost three centers to injury, starting with the devastating loss of Nick Hardwick to a neck injury in September, and he's done it after the Chargers changed offensive coordinators (though not offensive schemes) after Ken Whisenhunt left to become the head coach in Tennessee.
The constant, of course, is Rivers, who on Thursday night will try to win his seventh game in Denver since 2006. His 6-3 record at Sports Authority Field at Mile High includes a Thursday Night Football win last December, a game in which the Chargers kept possession for nearly 39 minutes and converted 50% of their third downs to keep the ball away from Manning.
It's a formula that worked for the Chargers earlier this year in a win against Seattle, and one that could drive the Broncos crazy again this week.
"We just know to make the most of every possession that we're on the field, and try to score touchdowns," Denver offensive coordinator Adam Gase said. "Settling for field goals is no good against these guys."
It has helped Rivers this season that tight end Antonio Gates is in the midst of his own career revival. At age 34, Gates already has seven touchdowns, surpassing his total from last year and matching his season totals from 2011 and 2012.
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Gates and receivers Keenan Allen, Eddie Royal and Malcom Floyd are each averaging more than 10 yards per catch. But that doesn't mean that the Chargers are back to their deep-ball-first style of offense. Rivers is now looking for the short, quick pass first, and if the chance is there for a long pass, to Gates down the seam for instance, he'll take it. It has helped Rivers raise his completion percentage and also reduced his number of turnovers.
Rivers might have been the least gracious comeback award winner — because unlike players who have returned from a knee injury or other ailment, Rivers doesn't believe he really went away. It just took a change in coaching and offensive philosophy for Rivers to return to the conversation of the NFL's top passers.
"I think from the outside, just speaking pure offensively and passing game and things, from the outside I think it may have seemed worse than it really was through that stretch when we didn't make the postseason," Rivers said. "You look really at those seven years, we scored a lot of points, had a lot of good offenses and even those three years where we didn't make the postseason, we still did a lot of good things."
So back to the math about the touchdowns. His 238 career touchdowns put him fifth among active quarterbacks, behind Manning (510), the New Orleans Saints' Drew Brees (374), the New England Patriots' Tom Brady (372) and the New York Giants' Eli Manning (243). He's on pace for 38 touchdowns this year, which would be a career high. Let's say he could match that total for six more seasons — so playing until he's Manning's current age of 38 — he'd still be short of 500.
Not that he's really too worried about that.
"As long as I can help a team, our team hopefully right here, win and as long as they want me, I plan on playing. So we'll see how long that is," Rivers said.
Follow Lindsay H. Jones on Twitter @bylindsayhjones.
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