State of the San Diego Chargers (Part 1)
Taking a look at the San Diego Chargers, they missed the playoffs in the 2010 season but quarterback Philip Rivers had one of the best seasons of his career. Well, statistically at least. What is it that makes him such a good quarterback?
Rivers is unorthodox in the way that he does it but he is so unique about what he does. Taking a look at the numbers, he had the most passing yards in the entire league with 4,710, had a career high 66.0 completion percentage and was selected to his third
Pro Bowl. What impresses the most about Rivers is that over the last two years, he has had more than 75 explosive plays, meaning plays that were for 20 yards or more in each of his last two seasons. Yes, that is a lot.
You also want to take a look at the way that Rivers does it. Take a look at any one of his plays. When he gets back into the pocket, he carries the ball like a prototypical quarterback. He usually has good protection on one side and he can see from the open
space on the opposite side that something is up. Like all good quarterbacks, he has eyes in the back of his head and knows that something is coming his way. So he steps out of the pocket, but not to run. The way that he carries the ball shows that he knows
that he has to get rid of the ball as quickly as he can but in a way that won’t end in an interception. That’s exactly how he does those explosive plays, a combination of patience, awareness and physical ability.
Chargers head coach Norv Turner has done a great job in improving the stance of Rivers. He used to hold the ball way too low but has improved significantly. He also moves around a bit too much in the pocket, which is why his draft stock was questioned in
the 2004 NFL Draft, in which he was picked fourth overall. His arm strength was also questioned in the draft but apparently, all the questioning led to Rivers playing even better. I would certainly place my money on him and he is one of the true elite quarterbacks
in the league.
Rivers is already very accurate and you wonder if it is possible that he can have a better year. He was also a very common name for about two-thirds of the season when people wondered who would be the league’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the 2010 season.
That is, until quarterback Tom Brady and the rest of the New England Patriots blew the doors off of the New York Jets on Monday Night Football and took all of the MVP talks away from Rivers and focused more on Brady.
However, Rivers is still an elite quarterback, judging from what he did this year. Rivers is one of the guys that you want to play with, who has the edge, and is focused on winning and winning only.
The remaining article about the state of the San Diego Chargers will be discussed in the next parts. Take a look!
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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