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Rivers lets loose, throws 2 TDs in critical victory
By Kevin Acee
STAFF WRITER
October 9, 2006
Philip Rivers and Antonio Gates went airborne in the end zone as a stadium came unhinged. The quarterback and tight end bumped chests, a celebration of a score and a page turning.
Rivers then continued alone into the powder blue sea of the end zone. Slowing as he ran parallel to the end line, he looked up toward the stands and subtly pumped his fists.
It was at that moment he was struck by this thought:
“I'm back at North Carolina State again.”
Late last night, in the quiet of a locker room almost emptied after a 23-13 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, Rivers acknowledged the immensity of the moment.
“I'm having fun,” he recalled thinking. “I felt in control. It's like, 'I'm the quarterback of this team.' It was kind of all coming together. I'm getting hit, we're making plays, just playing football. It was all coming together.”
Rivers threw the ball and threw it some more and then threw it some more, 37 times all told as the Chargers improved to 3-1 and dropped the defending Super Bowl champions to 1-3.
As a wise man once said – just this past week, in fact – it is not about style but about winning football games.
But, oh, maybe style matters a little bit.
It does when a quarterback has assumed direction of a team and makes it known he not only can handle such a game but actually thrive in it.
“It was a little more than a win tonight,” Rivers said. “Because we grew a lot as a team. ... We made a big step tonight toward where we want to go.”
The Chargers came back from an early 10-0 deficit that turned into a 13-7 halftime shortfall to shut out the Steelers over the final two quarters and rebound from last week's stunning loss in Baltimore.
“After the disaster last week where we weren't able to execute,” Gates said, “it was important we won today.”
A week after Rivers was restrained to the point of throwing one pass in the third quarter, he used that period last night to officially arrive as the Chargers quarterback.
Oh, his teammates already believed in him. His coach said he did but could not previously bring himself to show it.
But in front of a national television audience and a sold-out Qualcomm Stadium last night, Rivers completed 24 of those 37 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns.
“I've been preaching from Day 1 he's ready to take over,” said receiver Keenan McCardell. “ ... Maybe we needed a game like this to give everyone else confidence in him.”
Everyone else?
“I'll leave it at that,” McCardell said.
This time, playing from behind against the defending Super Bowl champions, who were geared to stop the run, the Chargers moved the ball with a barrage of screen passes. But Rivers also took some shots deep.
He was off-target on just three or four passes all night. A few times, two of his most dependable receivers let him down. He stayed in the pocket against pressure. He completed six passes to convert third downs, including five from third-and-7 or longer. Seven receivers caught passes.
“The whole league got a chance to see San Diego's offense in rare form – throwing the ball,” Gates said. “It gave questions to defenses. They know we can definitely throw the ball. You can't just stop the run.”
This thing got so rollicking that Rivers threw a pass on second-and-12 with 3½ minutes left in the fourth quarter.
And for irony?
Earlier in that drive, Rivers scrambled 15 yards for a first down on third-and-9.
Head coach Marty Schottenheimer referred to that play – from the Chargers' 43 with 4:36 to play – as a turning point.
“He put it on himself because he didn't like what he saw,” Schottenheimer said. “And he ran the ball, which everyone knows I like to do.”
And everyone laughed, officially bringing to an end a tense week in Chargerland. There had been much grumbling from outside and consternation inside about a game plan in Baltimore that stifled a potent offense.
Schottenheimer said afterward that the plan was to throw more last night and that they threw even more than anticipated.
The Chargers put the game away with two late Nate Kaeding field goals – a 33-yarder that made it 20-13 with 8:59 remaining and a 22-yarder with 1:05 to play that provided the final margin.
But it was in the third quarter that they gunned it as they had not yet under Rivers.
Rivers was 6-for-10 for 81 yards and the touchdown pass to Gates. The Chargers went from down by six to up by four.
And a team that has so often since the beginning of last season stumbled late, just kept their foot on the Steelers' throats.
The touchdown drive in the third quarter began at the Chargers' 9 after Drayton Florence made a diving interception of a Ben Roethlisberger bomb in the third quarter. Nate Kaeding's final field goal finished a drive set up when safety Marlon McCree stepped in front of another Roethlisberger pass. At the Chargers' 42.
Three of the Chargers' five sacks of Roethlisberger came in the second half. The Steelers totaled just 49 yards in the final two quarters.
Having answered whether they were a bona fide contender, something the performance left just one question.
Will they continue passing more in the coming weeks?
Said Schottenheimer: “We are going to keep that privileged information.”
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20061009/news_1s9chargers.html
By Kevin Acee
STAFF WRITER
October 9, 2006
Philip Rivers and Antonio Gates went airborne in the end zone as a stadium came unhinged. The quarterback and tight end bumped chests, a celebration of a score and a page turning.
Rivers then continued alone into the powder blue sea of the end zone. Slowing as he ran parallel to the end line, he looked up toward the stands and subtly pumped his fists.
It was at that moment he was struck by this thought:
“I'm back at North Carolina State again.”
Late last night, in the quiet of a locker room almost emptied after a 23-13 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, Rivers acknowledged the immensity of the moment.
“I'm having fun,” he recalled thinking. “I felt in control. It's like, 'I'm the quarterback of this team.' It was kind of all coming together. I'm getting hit, we're making plays, just playing football. It was all coming together.”
Rivers threw the ball and threw it some more and then threw it some more, 37 times all told as the Chargers improved to 3-1 and dropped the defending Super Bowl champions to 1-3.
As a wise man once said – just this past week, in fact – it is not about style but about winning football games.
But, oh, maybe style matters a little bit.
It does when a quarterback has assumed direction of a team and makes it known he not only can handle such a game but actually thrive in it.
“It was a little more than a win tonight,” Rivers said. “Because we grew a lot as a team. ... We made a big step tonight toward where we want to go.”
The Chargers came back from an early 10-0 deficit that turned into a 13-7 halftime shortfall to shut out the Steelers over the final two quarters and rebound from last week's stunning loss in Baltimore.
“After the disaster last week where we weren't able to execute,” Gates said, “it was important we won today.”
A week after Rivers was restrained to the point of throwing one pass in the third quarter, he used that period last night to officially arrive as the Chargers quarterback.
Oh, his teammates already believed in him. His coach said he did but could not previously bring himself to show it.
But in front of a national television audience and a sold-out Qualcomm Stadium last night, Rivers completed 24 of those 37 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns.
“I've been preaching from Day 1 he's ready to take over,” said receiver Keenan McCardell. “ ... Maybe we needed a game like this to give everyone else confidence in him.”
Everyone else?
“I'll leave it at that,” McCardell said.
This time, playing from behind against the defending Super Bowl champions, who were geared to stop the run, the Chargers moved the ball with a barrage of screen passes. But Rivers also took some shots deep.
He was off-target on just three or four passes all night. A few times, two of his most dependable receivers let him down. He stayed in the pocket against pressure. He completed six passes to convert third downs, including five from third-and-7 or longer. Seven receivers caught passes.
“The whole league got a chance to see San Diego's offense in rare form – throwing the ball,” Gates said. “It gave questions to defenses. They know we can definitely throw the ball. You can't just stop the run.”
This thing got so rollicking that Rivers threw a pass on second-and-12 with 3½ minutes left in the fourth quarter.
And for irony?
Earlier in that drive, Rivers scrambled 15 yards for a first down on third-and-9.
Head coach Marty Schottenheimer referred to that play – from the Chargers' 43 with 4:36 to play – as a turning point.
“He put it on himself because he didn't like what he saw,” Schottenheimer said. “And he ran the ball, which everyone knows I like to do.”
And everyone laughed, officially bringing to an end a tense week in Chargerland. There had been much grumbling from outside and consternation inside about a game plan in Baltimore that stifled a potent offense.
Schottenheimer said afterward that the plan was to throw more last night and that they threw even more than anticipated.
The Chargers put the game away with two late Nate Kaeding field goals – a 33-yarder that made it 20-13 with 8:59 remaining and a 22-yarder with 1:05 to play that provided the final margin.
But it was in the third quarter that they gunned it as they had not yet under Rivers.
Rivers was 6-for-10 for 81 yards and the touchdown pass to Gates. The Chargers went from down by six to up by four.
And a team that has so often since the beginning of last season stumbled late, just kept their foot on the Steelers' throats.
The touchdown drive in the third quarter began at the Chargers' 9 after Drayton Florence made a diving interception of a Ben Roethlisberger bomb in the third quarter. Nate Kaeding's final field goal finished a drive set up when safety Marlon McCree stepped in front of another Roethlisberger pass. At the Chargers' 42.
Three of the Chargers' five sacks of Roethlisberger came in the second half. The Steelers totaled just 49 yards in the final two quarters.
Having answered whether they were a bona fide contender, something the performance left just one question.
Will they continue passing more in the coming weeks?
Said Schottenheimer: “We are going to keep that privileged information.”
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20061009/news_1s9chargers.html