Why Does Philip Rivers Get A Pass When It Comes to Criticism? (3 Viewers)

[El Caliente]

Dude, Rivers is a gamer. Do you guys not remember when he played while on a torn ACL? The guy is uber competitive, and he does get flack, but football is a team sport, and the guy hasn’t had amazing talent and amazing coaching like Rodgers, Brees, and Brady. I think that given a better system and better talent he is Dan Marino.

 

[LAhotsauce]

Dude, Rivers is a gamer. Do you guys not remember when he played while on a torn ACL? The guy is uber competitive, and he does get flack, but football is a team sport, and the guy hasn’t had amazing talent and amazing coaching like Rodgers, Brees, and Brady. I think that given a better system and better talent he is Dan Marino.

He hasn't had amazing talent?

 

[El Caliente]

He hasn't had amazing talent?

Everyone points to LT and Gates, but he only had LT for 4 years, and in that time they went 46-18, and did as well as could be expected given their situation (the Colts, Patriots, and Broncos (when Manning switched) have owned the AFC, and there was little that anyone could do about that).

Add in the fact that he hasn’t had solid coaching since the time dinosaur walked the earth, the guy is doing as well as can be expected.

He will get into the HOF, but he won’t be first ballot.

 

[bobad]

Rivers is not pretty at the position, but he's a fierce, smart competitor that always puts up numbers. He's had a great career, and belongs in the Hall. Probably not 1st ballot, but that's OK.

 

[ChaChingBaby]

That was 2010. They actually finished 9-7, and special teams were only part of the story. Both those units backed their way into those rankings. The offense ran hot and cold, and frequently looked terrible in the first half. They trailed by 13 or more (while being shut out) before the half or shortly thereafter in the four of their losses. One of those games they managed to produce -1 yard and a lost fumble during the first four possessions of the game. That’s not top offense territory. I doubt the Saints managed a first half performance that bad in the year before or the year after. Even in the game Drew sat. Which brings me to the fumbles. There were a lot. Three fumbles lost in two losses. The Seahawks game they allowed two TDs on special teams. That’s a big blow. So were the five turnovers. They lost by 7.

The early deficits, coupled with the fact that the defense faced the third fewest pass attempts in the league, tells you that teams were burning clock with vanilla run plays. They were 23rd in Takeaways and 10th in points allowed.

And to be fair, 2010 was an enigmatic season. There’s something peculiar to be said about every team that season, except maybe the truly awful teams.

Patriots - 14-2 dominance then one and done
Falcons - How are you 13-3? Mediocre on both sides. One and done.
Seahawks - How are you in the playoffs?
Saints - See Falcons OT, Browns game, Cowboys game, playoff game
Steelers - Decent team. Backed into SB after playing two very mediocre teams
Packers - Played three mediocre teams on way to SB. Out-mediocred Steelers
Browns - beat Saints and Pats back-to-back. White guy takes rushing title

And so on. Pretty forgettable season to fans outside of Green Bay and maybe Cleveland. No excellent teams, but someone had to win it.

Pretty good assessment on 2010, I agree with most of this.

One thing about the Packers; they were ranked high on DVOA all year and were projected to finish 12-4 if not for all the injuries. All of their 6 losses were by 7 points or less. They never trailed by more than a touchdown in any game, which was impressive and is a record only held by them as a SB winner. I think this is the reason Vegas favored them in the SB over Pittsburgh, also because Pittsburgh did not look impressive at all in the playoffs (needed Flacco to totally screw around and blow a 14 point lead and then almost lost to the Jets in the AFCCG when they did nothing in the second half)

A couple teams I would add -

49ers - Going into 2010 they were massively hyped up as finally taking the division. They had a pretty good defense in 2010 and most of the pieces for their runs under Harbaugh can be seen here. Their offense was terrible, Alex Smith threw so many picks and they would either lose games close or get blown out.

Rams - Should've been 8-8 winning the awful NFC West. Same story as the 49ers, except they fluked their way into a few more wins.

Eagles - This team was frustrating like the others. One week they looked like world beaters, the next week they would lose to mediocre teams. Philly reached insane levels of hype after their beatdown of the Redskins and then the comeback vs the Giants. They're the one team that no doubt should've beat Green Bay in the playoffs if they don't miss all those chip shot field goals.

Bears - How did they even win their division? They looked like a mediocre team in the NFC title game vs Green Bay and yet still almost won it and probably could've if not for Martz offense and Cutler giving up. Had it not been for one of the worst calls in NFL history in the first week vs Detroit, they wouldn't have won their division.

2010 was a pretty forgettable year all around without any true legitimate powerhouse teams. The Jets would've made the SB if they put up points in the first half of the AFCCG. The Bears almost beat the Packers with how bad GB played down to them in the second half, etc.

 

[Jumpman910]

Chargers are ran weirdly. Add in that standoff they had with Bosa and them trying to pay top 5 draft picks different than the REST of the league. But other than that the media pushes narratives. Rivers is one of the good ole boys who goes to work, keeps his wife pregnant and wears bolo ties

 

[fred8615]

Seeing this thread reminded me of back when ESPN had forums, and there were Chargers fans there who even after Brees took the Saints to two conference championship games and won a Super Bowl, fervently believed that their team kept the better QB.

 

[St.Dan]

I don’t think he gets a pass. Rivers isn’t considered among the elite class of QBs, and I don’t think the media will push for him to Canton... because they don’t really seem to care about him. He’s a good QB that is more known for his pouting and whining than his talent. The fact that he’s never been able to get it done, even with the likes of LT, Gates, and some dominant defenses only hurts his case even further

Agreed. Rivers and Matt Ryan are the two obvious entries in the book of quarterbacks under the second-tier category. Throw in Stafford with that tier as well.

 

[VikesFan2017]

Saints fans probably see a different view of Phillip Rivers due to the Drew Brees connection.

I think national thought on Rivers is that he's a top 10 QB and is not the reason the Chargers haven't won Super Bowls. If anything, he's been a loan positive considering how messed up that franchise is.

Question can still be asked however whether they should have kept Brees or not.
That's a whole different debate but any GM would have a hard time keeping Brees when you already drafted your all-in QB.

 

[marccooper]

Why does Matt Ryan get a pass? He has played with Julio Jones, Tony Gonzalez, Roddy White, Michael Turner, Devonte Freeman, etc. He has been shut out in the playoffs, tanked in the 4th quarter numerous times, and generally underachieved. He backed into a Superbowl against declining franchises with injures and then led the greatest collapse of all time. I would take Rivers over Ryan any day. Yes, Rivers had some good running backs and tight ends, but Rivers never got to play with Julio Jones, and never really had a consistent elite receiver. The Chargers let many of Rivers top receiving targets walk while the Falcons are always mortgaging the future to get Ryan more receivers.

 

[bclemms]

Agreed. Rivers and Matt Ryan are the two obvious entries in the book of quarterbacks under the second-tier category. Throw in Stafford with that tier as well.

Stafford has had a pretty rough go at it as well. He's played with some horrendous offensive lines, through a bunch of coaching changes, never has a decent running game and the offense has almost always lacked talent with the exception of Calvin Johnson. They've had some decent defenses but for the most part they've been pretty bad with a couple defenses that were horrendous.

I see a slow steady progression from Stafford and think he's on the verge of putting it all together, if the Lions can put it together around him.

 

[El Caliente]

If you took Brees, Brady, Rodgers, and Wilson out of the equation I would have a hard time going with someone other than Rivers.

 

[japan]

Rivers is a good QB who has been on some weird teams. He’s a better QB than Romo. He has to be the most snake bitten QB I can remember. That team either has like 20 injuries to start the season or they have special teams gaff after special teams gaff.

 

[bobad]

Agreed. Rivers and Matt Ryan are the two obvious entries in the book of quarterbacks under the second-tier category. Throw in Stafford with that tier as well.

Agree. 2nd tier sounds bad, but it's not. There should be a better name, because a lot of great QB's were 2nd tier. Warren Moon, Eli, and many more very prolific and accomplished QB's didn't quite make the top tier. They should be honored, not labeled with a misunderstood rating. In reality, the top tier QB's are freaks, the 2nd tier QB's are excellent.

 

[VikesFan2017]

Why does Matt Ryan get a pass? He has played with Julio Jones, Tony Gonzalez, Roddy White, Michael Turner, Devonte Freeman, etc. He has been shut out in the playoffs, tanked in the 4th quarter numerous times, and generally underachieved. He backed into a Superbowl against declining franchises with injures and then led the greatest collapse of all time. I would take Rivers over Ryan any day. Yes, Rivers had some good running backs and tight ends, but Rivers never got to play with Julio Jones, and never really had a consistent elite receiver. The Chargers let many of Rivers top receiving targets walk while the Falcons are always mortgaging the future to get Ryan more receivers.

I think Matt Ryan was getting the benefit of the doubt on his "upside" but now as he should be hitting his peak, he's showing he's not everything they hoped. Some of his decisions in the Super Bowl really pointed that out and his inability to score many points in the playoffs last year takes it a step further.

From a career standpoint, Ryan has a ways to go in my view, before he's on the same level of Rivers.

That's just my thoughts though.