Have you ever sat back and tried to analyze which professional sports athletes were great athletes in their sport, but were overlooked for one reason or another? If you consider yourself an avid sports fan, like I am, then the answer to this question is probably yes. Just pick any sport and you’ll discover a long list of these overlooked or under-the-radar athletes that deserve to have their careers examined under a different microscope. A fresh perspective, if you will. One such athlete is former San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers. Rivers put up solid numbers in 17 seasons from 2004 to 2020, and was one of the most consistent players in the NFL during that stretch, but often gets overlooked or completely forgotten about for a variety of reasons. Perhaps it’s because he had to play in the same era as Tom Brady, Drew, Brees, Payton Manning, and Ben Roethlisberger. Or maybe it’s because he was never elite. A player can be consistent, but not necessarily elite. Or maybe it’s because he played for the Chargers for the bulk of his career. Or is it because he never won a Super Bowl? We’ll examine all of these reasons in depth later. Today, the retired NFL QB has made headlines for a different reason as it was reported by Live Action News that Philip Rivers and his wife Tiffany are expecting to welcome their 10th child later this year. So, as we discuss the details of the Rivers family and their anticipated addition to the family, it is only fair to shine the light on Rivers’ career once again.
Philip Rivers played college football for North Carolina State University from 2000 to 2003. During that time, Rivers won the ACC Rookie of the Year in 2000, and he was ACC Offensive Player of the Year and ACC Player of the Year in 2003. Rivers earned First Team All-ACC Honors in 2003. He also won the ACC Athlete of the Year in 2004, an award that was given to the best ACC student-athlete of the 2003/04 academic year. He declared for the NFL Draft in 2004.
Philip Rivers was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the 1st round of the 2004 NFL draft as the 4th overall selection. Rivers did not become the full-time starting quarterback for the Chargers until the 2006 season. He was the backup to Doug Flutie and Drew Brees in his first two seasons with the team. Rivers made it to his first Pro Bowl in 2006. He was selected to a total of 8 Pro Bowls in his 17 year career. Rivers was passing yards leader in 2010, passing touchdowns co-leader in 2008, and was named NFL Comeback Player of the Year in 2013. Rivers stayed with the Chargers through the end of the 2019 season. They moved to Los Angeles after the 2016 season. Rivers played his final NFL season for the Colts in Indianapolis in 2020. He finished his career with 421 touchdown passes and 63,440 passing yards.
With such a solid career, why aren’t many people talking about it? Well, we mentioned several reasons earlier. We’ll start with the fact that he had the great misfortune of both playing for the Chargers practically his entire career and having to play in the shadows of other great players Such as Ben Roethlisberger, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Drew Brees, all of whom won Super Bowls whereas Rivers did not. Though solid, consistent, and healthy his entire career, Rivers was never considered elite in the eyes of many, which is a fair assessment when you stack him up against the other aforementioned quarterbacks. However, if you take those guys out of the equation, Philip Rivers would make a welcome addition to any team, and his career numbers would shine a lot brighter. His career numbers are comparable to Eli Manning, minus the two Super Bowl titles that Eli has, and his career numbers were far superior than guys like Tony Romo and Carson Palmer. So, he deserves more recognition than he’s been given. Other people who choose to overlook Rivers’ career or diminish it in some fashion have claimed that he doesn’t deserve high praise because he never won a Super Bowl. Well, that’s nonsense as well. Plenty of great athletes in all sports never won championships in their respective sports, but it doesn’t make them any less great. Philip Rivers was never given a championship caliber team to play on. Even the best players can’t magically produce championships when they don’t have the tools or weapons necessary to win titles. Simply put, Rivers had a phenomenal career, but with the obstacles he faced that prevented him from winning a Super Bowl, combined with the other quarterbacks in his era being so dominant, has caused him to be overlooked. Easily the most underrated NFL quarterback ever.
So, what is Rivers doing now that he’s retired? He’s doing what any loving husband would do, spending more time with his family post retirement. Rivers and his Wife Tiffany are parents to 9 children ranging from their youngest at age 4 to their oldest at age 21, but now they are expecting a 10th as originally reported by Live Action News, an online publication for the pro-life organization Live Action. Live Action reported that Philip and his wife Tiffany always anticipated having a large family. Rivers said he and his wife joked about how 9 was a good number since it was the third generation of the Rivers family having 9 children, but the 10th was “unexpected”. Live Action reported on the story on July 17. The couple said they are expecting a boy and that the baby isn’t due until the fall.
Philip Rivers considers himself pro-life and endorsed Rick Santorum in the 2012 republican presidential primaries.
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