Chargers’ Philip Rivers will be feeling it
Philip Rivers has a sore thumb.
It’s not on his throwing hand, and it’s not on his left hand, either. It’s a blemish on his otherwise spectacular season as quarterback of the San Diego Chargers, a sore thumb that jumps off the stat sheet. And it came courtesy of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Two interceptions. A fumble in the end zone resulting in a safety. A season-low passer rating of 44.4. A forgettable performance he’s surely unable to forget.
“I think anybody in this league is a proud person,” Steelers defensive end Aaron Smith said. “If you don’t have your best game, you can’t wait to get out there and try to prove yourself against them. That’s why most of us are here. So I would expect the best from him.”
And the Chargers will need Rivers’ best Sunday in a divisional playoff game at cold and windy Heinz Field. Tight end Antonio Gates is banged up, and running back LaDainian Tomlinson is worse. Receiver Vincent Jackson is coming off a zero-catch game and the distraction of a drunk-driving arrest. And 5-foot-6, 181-pound running back Darren Sproles will be facing a top-ranked Pittsburgh defense that hasn’t yielded a 100-yard rusher all season.
“I think there is no question that it is the best defense we’ve played all year,” Rivers said. “Since Saturday, obviously, a lot of us having been preparing for them. . . . When you throw that defense up there and look at those categories and see a ‘1’ by almost every one of them, first in the league, obviously you already know what challenge you’re against.”
A lot of the pressure falls on Rivers, who finished the regular season with a league-high passer rating of 105.5 and broke Dan Fouts’ team record with 34 touchdown passes.
Rivers has answered the challenge before.
He guided the Chargers to the AFC championship game last season, in which San Diego, with Tomlinson and Gates hobbled, gave the then-undefeated New England Patriots a scare before the home team pulled away in the fourth quarter.
Later, the mind-numbing revelation: Rivers gritted through that bitter-cold game in Foxborough with, in essence, no anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.
“I remember watching him in that game,” said Byron Leftwich, Pittsburgh’s backup quarterback, who has a reputation for playing through pain. “As a quarterback, you watch other quarterbacks do certain things and you respect it. When I found out he was playing with a torn ACL, I respected that. And I think I’ll always have a certain respect for him because of what he went out there and did.”
But in this what-have-you-done-for-me-lately league, last season feels like a lifetime ago. So, for that matter, does the Chargers’ painfully slow start to the season.
They made history by becoming the first team to start 4-8 and make the playoffs, and now they’re riding a five-game hot streak.
“As we got on this streak, come-from-behind win in Kansas City, go to Tampa and win, obviously beat Denver in the division at home and coming off the Indy win just this last week, we certainly are playing a lot better and have a lot of confidence,” Rivers said.
“Obviously going to Pittsburgh where we know it’s going to be tough, but playoff football, you can’t really ask for anything else and we are excited about the challenge.”
But prove himself?
Rivers says that’s not his motivation, and at least one player from the other sideline believes him.
“I think if you’re in the playoffs, the proving-yourself part is done,” Leftwich said. “Because the playoffs . . . every one of those quarterbacks is a good quarterback. Just look at these teams. Everybody’s proven.”
Still, whether Pittsburgh defenders truly believe it, or it’s merely gamesmanship leading up to kickoff, some Steelers say Rivers has to be itching for redemption.
“I think it’s going to be in the back of his mind,” linebacker James Farrior said. “I think it’s definitely going to play a role in this game, how calm and cool he can be under pressure.
“He knows it’s coming. Everybody knows it’s coming. It’s just a matter of how he deals with it, and hopefully we’ll make him deal with it the same way he did the last time.”
And if Rivers deals with it well, as the Chargers expect him to, the quarterback can do something that the Steelers and their fans know well.
Win one for the thumb.
--
--
BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX
Looking for a hotter hand
Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, who led the NFL in passer rating, struggled in his first meeting with the Steelers this season. Here’s a look comparing his season averages with his numbers in the Chargers’ 11-10 loss in Pittsburgh.
REGULAR-SEASON AVERAGES
*--* Comp-Att. Comp. % Yds TD Int Rating 19.5-29.8 65.3 251 2.1 68 105.5 *--*
NOV. 16 VS. PITTSBURGH
*--* Comp-Att. Comp % Yds TD Int Rating 15-26 57.7 164 0 2 44.4 *--*
