Angry Pope
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Rivers' inexperience is the variable
San Diego's new quarterback will face an Oakland defense that plans to keep him rattled
By PHIL BARBER
ALAMEDA - LaDainian Tomlinson is still in the backfield. The receiving corps is intact, and the offensive line is mostly the same as a year ago. If the playbook has changed, it's hard to perceive.
There will be one vital difference, however, when the San Diego Chargers' offense lines up against Oakland tonight at McAfee Coliseum.
Gone is quarterback Drew Brees, who tormented the Raiders over the past two years. In his place is Philip Rivers, a gangly athlete of 24 making his first NFL start.
It's hard to tell who's more eager to get this thing rolling, the Raiders' primed defense or Rivers himself.
"If any, it's a good kind of nervous," Rivers said by phone last week. "It's that anticipation kind. If you don't have a few (butterflies), if you're not geared up and don't have that little bit of excitement ... then something's probably wrong with you."
There's nothing wrong with Rivers, if you listen to the Chargers and their coach, Marty Schottenhei-mer. Brees was a Pro Bowl-caliber quarterback over the past two seasons, passing for 6,735 yards and 51 touchdowns (with only 22 interceptions), ably managing the San Diego offense and winning in the clutch.
But Rivers had been waiting in the wings since April 2004, when the Chargers got him in the draft-day trade that sent Eli Manning to the Giants. When Brees tore the labrum and, to a lesser extent, the rotator cuff of his right shoulder in the last game of the 2005 season, it made the Chargers' decision easier. They let him walk as a free agent.
Brees signed with the Saints, setting the stage for both of tonight's quarterbacks. Aaron Brooks moved on from New Orleans to Oakland, and Rivers finally assumed control in San Diego.
"It was a tough two years, but they were very valuable to me," Rivers said. "I learned a lot from Drew, from just being in the system, from being out in practice every day. ... I'm certainly a better player than I was when I came in here two years ago."
Schottenheimer praises Rivers' brains, his emotional leadership (Brees was more calculating) and his accuracy with the ball.
But like any young quarterback, Rivers will be cruelly tested tonight.
"You can't be picket fence, as they say - don't just line up and give an easy read," Raiders nickel back Tyrone Poole said. "So what you want to do is make him read on the run, make him read backpedaling. And if you can do that, then any great athlete, his first opportunity out there, he's going to misread certain things."
"You want to knock him around, you want to show him stuff he probably hasn't seen before, as far as coverages," defensive end Lance Johnstone advised. "And just getting some pressure, letting him feel the speed of the game."
Rivers knows it's coming. He also knows he won't be alone. Tomlinson may be the league's preeminent running back, and tight end Antonio Gates is a matchup nightmare. Wide receivers Keenan McCardell and Eric Parker, though unspectacular, are solid in the system. And Chargers offensive coordinator Cam Cameron will likely protect his quarterback through play calling.
"They give him a lot of quick passes," Johnstone said. "You can tell they're making it so it's a little bit easier on him, maybe giving him two reads. So he's getting rid of the ball quick, to kind of negate you just sitting back there taking shots at him."
Really, the key is Tomlinson, who treats Oakland as his home away from home.
In his past four games at the Coliseum, LT has rushed for 153, 187, 164 and 140 yards. If he puts up similar numbers tonight, he'll take the pressure off Rivers.
"If you can get LaDainian under control, then that limits their play book," defensive tackle Warren Sapp said. "If they got in their mind that 'this is going to be a tough night for us to run the ball,' then they're going to look to their young quarterback and say, 'The game's on you, son. You've got to win.' And who knows where that'll take 'em?"
San Diego's new quarterback will face an Oakland defense that plans to keep him rattled
By PHIL BARBER
ALAMEDA - LaDainian Tomlinson is still in the backfield. The receiving corps is intact, and the offensive line is mostly the same as a year ago. If the playbook has changed, it's hard to perceive.
There will be one vital difference, however, when the San Diego Chargers' offense lines up against Oakland tonight at McAfee Coliseum.
Gone is quarterback Drew Brees, who tormented the Raiders over the past two years. In his place is Philip Rivers, a gangly athlete of 24 making his first NFL start.
It's hard to tell who's more eager to get this thing rolling, the Raiders' primed defense or Rivers himself.
"If any, it's a good kind of nervous," Rivers said by phone last week. "It's that anticipation kind. If you don't have a few (butterflies), if you're not geared up and don't have that little bit of excitement ... then something's probably wrong with you."
There's nothing wrong with Rivers, if you listen to the Chargers and their coach, Marty Schottenhei-mer. Brees was a Pro Bowl-caliber quarterback over the past two seasons, passing for 6,735 yards and 51 touchdowns (with only 22 interceptions), ably managing the San Diego offense and winning in the clutch.
But Rivers had been waiting in the wings since April 2004, when the Chargers got him in the draft-day trade that sent Eli Manning to the Giants. When Brees tore the labrum and, to a lesser extent, the rotator cuff of his right shoulder in the last game of the 2005 season, it made the Chargers' decision easier. They let him walk as a free agent.
Brees signed with the Saints, setting the stage for both of tonight's quarterbacks. Aaron Brooks moved on from New Orleans to Oakland, and Rivers finally assumed control in San Diego.
"It was a tough two years, but they were very valuable to me," Rivers said. "I learned a lot from Drew, from just being in the system, from being out in practice every day. ... I'm certainly a better player than I was when I came in here two years ago."
Schottenheimer praises Rivers' brains, his emotional leadership (Brees was more calculating) and his accuracy with the ball.
But like any young quarterback, Rivers will be cruelly tested tonight.
"You can't be picket fence, as they say - don't just line up and give an easy read," Raiders nickel back Tyrone Poole said. "So what you want to do is make him read on the run, make him read backpedaling. And if you can do that, then any great athlete, his first opportunity out there, he's going to misread certain things."
"You want to knock him around, you want to show him stuff he probably hasn't seen before, as far as coverages," defensive end Lance Johnstone advised. "And just getting some pressure, letting him feel the speed of the game."
Rivers knows it's coming. He also knows he won't be alone. Tomlinson may be the league's preeminent running back, and tight end Antonio Gates is a matchup nightmare. Wide receivers Keenan McCardell and Eric Parker, though unspectacular, are solid in the system. And Chargers offensive coordinator Cam Cameron will likely protect his quarterback through play calling.
"They give him a lot of quick passes," Johnstone said. "You can tell they're making it so it's a little bit easier on him, maybe giving him two reads. So he's getting rid of the ball quick, to kind of negate you just sitting back there taking shots at him."
Really, the key is Tomlinson, who treats Oakland as his home away from home.
In his past four games at the Coliseum, LT has rushed for 153, 187, 164 and 140 yards. If he puts up similar numbers tonight, he'll take the pressure off Rivers.
"If you can get LaDainian under control, then that limits their play book," defensive tackle Warren Sapp said. "If they got in their mind that 'this is going to be a tough night for us to run the ball,' then they're going to look to their young quarterback and say, 'The game's on you, son. You've got to win.' And who knows where that'll take 'em?"