Indy Fans Love Rivers

[Xenos]

Colts could easily be 5-2 with their next 2 against Cincy and Detroit.

It won’t matter if he doesn’t start playing better. They’ll win those games. But it’s the stiffer competition that will determine how Indy’s fate.

[OhioBolt]

Man I wish this thread was dead, I mean I get it both sides the love for Rivers and what he has meant to the Chargers, and I also get the fustration over River the last two years with the Chargers. I will say this as my last comment on this thread. Rivers journey is no different than LT's the last few years both had drop off in play. LT went to the NY Jets and had one productive season 913 yds rushing in his last season 218 yds rushing, Rivers last two years here not the best of seasons, we can blame the line which is a fact but you see Herbert playing with same bad line. Rivers may put up stats either equal or slightly below his stats last year. Facts Rivers is on his last leg and as LT when he retires he will go in as a Charger into the Hall of Fame.

This isn't like when Rodney Harrison or Weddle left, they both had more in there tank which was shown on the field with the Patroits and the Ravens, but both these guy left being Bitter Nancy's. Rivers and LT though talent declined left with class and they will always have my respect.

[powderblueboy]

This is absurd. The Colts are 3 - 2.
Rivers was not the problem in game 1: he just didn't bail out the rest of the team.
The focus on turnovers here is insane: there are other aspects to why teams lose.

Yesterday, he had a sub-par game. I didn't see it and don't know what pressure he was facing.
Would they have won without the pick 6?

Cleveland might just be a really tough team at home.

[powderblueboy]

Man I wish this thread was dead, I mean I get it both sides the love for Rivers and what he has meant to the Chargers, and I also get the fustration over River the last two years with the Chargers. I will say this as my last comment on this thread. Rivers journey is no different than LT's the last few years both had drop off in play. LT went to the NY Jets and had one productive season 913 yds rushing in his last season 218 yds rushing, Rivers last two years here not the best of seasons, we can blame the line which is a fact but you see Herbert playing with same bad line. Rivers may put up stats either equal or slightly below his stats last year. Facts Rivers is on his last leg and as LT when he retires he will go in as a Charger into the Hall of Fame.

This isn't like when Rodney Harrison or Weddle left, they both had more in there tank which was shown on the field with the Patroits and the Ravens, but both these guy left being Bitter Nancy's. Rivers and LT though talent declined left with class and they will always have my respect.

ban this member!!!!

[powderblueboy]

It won’t matter if he doesn’t start playing better. They’ll win those games. But it’s the stiffer competition that will determine how Indy’s fate.

Rivers won't be judged by how he thrashes the little sisters of the poor (or something like that).

[gzubeck]

There's a dropoff in Rivers play but by how much? He might be safe for next year if the colts continue to do alright and get into the playoffs. If the colts do 8-8 or less and Rivers looks average I'd say his career is over as a starter. If he wants to be a back-up maybe he could get $10 mil a year which is still very good.

[Xenos]

One of the beat writers for the Colts at the Atheltic (Zak Keefer):

https://theathletic.com/2131776/2020/10/12/is-poor-play-from-their-quarterback-destined-to-hold-the-colts-back-again/

Is poor play from their quarterback destined to hold the Colts back again?

The Indianapolis Colts are a pretty good team with a quarterback playing pretty badly and a head coach who isn’t blinking.

How this ends is anyone’s guess.

Five games into this season, this is what we know: It wasn’t supposed to look like this.

The starting quarterback wasn’t supposed to be holding the Colts back and costing them games, not after they shelled out $25 million for a free agent who is headed to the Hall of Fame one day and was supposed to lift a stagnant offense from the slumber it found itself stuck in at the end of last season.

The Colts, remember, never needed Philip Rivers to be an MVP candidate.

They just needed him to be better than Jacoby Brissett was a year ago.

Lately, he hasn’t been.

He certainly wasn’t Sunday, as the Colts fell 32-23 in Cleveland in an aggravating game into which they kept clawing back and giving themselves chances, only to end up losing by the exact number of points their starting quarterback cost them.

Add Rivers’ pick six in the third quarter, the extra point and his intentional grounding-turned-safety in the fourth and that’s nine points, the difference Sunday.

And just for good measure: His five interceptions through five games are one more than the four touchdown passes he has thrown. That’s not a ratio a team wants from its $25 million quarterback.

But the real shame isn’t just Rivers’ regression over the last two weeks. It’s what he’s costing his team — a team that, when looking closely, doesn’t have a lot of holes.

What’s holding the Colts back happens to be the most important position on the field. Their quarterback, the last two weeks, simply hasn’t been good enough.

The Colts are deeper than they’ve been in a decade. They’re stiffer on defense than they’ve been since Tony Dungy was in town, Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis were coming off the edges and Bob Sanders was roaming in the back end. They’re too good of a team to force two interceptions on the road, hold the opposing quarterback to just two completions after halftime, get a touchdown on special teams and still lose by nine points.

Yet here we are.

They are 3-2, with both losses punctuated by costly mistakes from the new quarterback. Coach Frank Reich downplayed Rivers’ role in Sunday’s loss, heaping the blame on his own shoulders for the safety and darn-near shrugging off Rivers’ pick six.

Reich resists blaming his players; it’s simply not his style. But after that game, and after those mistakes, it was time to ask: Are the Colts getting what they need from their starting quarterback?

“Yes, Philip is playing really good football,” Reich said. “That is the least of my worries. … Philip is playing good football. You are going to have mistakes when you get in situations like that. I know we would want the interception back, but the safety, like I said, is on me. You take that away and you get that one mistake (the safety), in my mind, that was the big factor.”

To be sure, Rivers has had his moments. The Colts are connecting on downfield throws more frequently than they did last season, including multiple shots to T.Y. Hilton and one each to Marcus Johnson and Ashton Dulin on Sunday. They dearly miss Marlon Mack, not to mention Parris Campbell and Michael Pittman Jr., and those losses on offense cannot be overstated.

But in no way can it be argued that Rivers’ performance Sunday, when he went 21-for-33 for 243 yards and two interceptions, was good enough. His mistakes were brutal, errant decisions one would expect from a rookie passer, not a 17-year veteran.

And in a lot of ways, that’s what is most aggravating. The Colts brought Rivers in to play smart, efficient and mistake-free, not to play hero ball. They simply didn’t need it.

Yet here we are, discussing two bone-crushing interceptions that cost the Colts dearly in a game they could’ve won.

“If we didn’t turn the ball over, we probably win the game,” Rivers acknowledged.

That’s the significance of the quarterback in today’s NFL, and that’s why the Colts spent what they did on Rivers in March. The impetus was clear: Brissett was good, but he wasn’t enough. The size of Rivers’ contract spoke to that. Indianapolis wasn’t messing around. It was time to win.

It was time to push the ball down the field.

“We’re used to, around here in this area of the country, of knowing how to throw the football,” Reich said in December after the Colts slogged to a 7-9 finish. “So we’re going to throw the football, OK? We will figure it out.”

Rivers was supposed to be a big part of the solution. Behind an elite offensive line, bolstered by a dangerous rushing attack, buoyed by a rising defense, the veteran would have everything he needed, which was so much of what he lacked during his final few years with the Chargers.

Everything was set up for him to succeed, and maybe he will, but at this juncture, the question is a fair one: Is the quarterback destined to hold the Colts back again?

Because it very well could.

The Colts defense has forced nine interceptions in its last four games, the most in the league. Even after Sunday’s loss, the unit will continue to rank at or near the top of the NFL in every significant metric. It can be blamed for a pathetic debut in Jacksonville in Week 1; it can’t be blamed for much since. The defense has been terrific.

While the defense came back to life for a bit Sunday — particularly in the first half, when it allowed Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield to go 19-for-28 for 228 yards and two touchdowns — it got its act together after the break.

Mayfield’s totals after halftime: 2-for-9 for 19 yards. Total.

The two linebackers who stepped up while Darius Leonard watched from the sideline, Bobby Okereke and Anthony Walker, each picked off Mayfield at a critical moment, breathing life into a comeback that never came to fruition because the offense couldn’t consistently move the ball and finish drives.

Throw in Isaiah Rodgers’ 101-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, a play that came right after the Browns pushed the lead to 27-10 following Ronnie Harrison Jr.’s pick six of Rivers, and the Colts offense was given ample opportunity to finish the job.

It never came close.

The offense was to blame. Rivers’ two mistakes were crushing.

“Look, we are 3-2,” center Ryan Kelly said, weighing what went wrong Sunday. “There is next week. It is a long season. We will be fine.”

Probably so. The Bengals (1-3-1) are in town next week, and if the Colts take care of business, they’ll be 4-2 at the bye.

But after the break, the meat of the schedule arrives, including dates with league MVP Lamar Jackson and the Ravens, then two-time MVP Aaron Rodgers and the Packers.

The special teams have been terrific. The defense has been incredible.

They won’t be able to carry the Colts all season long.

At some point, the offense is going to have to hold up its end of the bargain. It’s going to have to start scoring touchdowns in the red zone instead of settling for field goals, and the starting quarterback is going to have to stop making the type of decisions that get a team beat.

Can the Colts do that? Can Rivers do that?

We’re still waiting to see it.

[wu-dai clan]

LOL X-Man.

"How much of it is the play design and how much is poor Rivers execution? "
r/Colts yesterday

[Velo]

One of the beat writers for the Colts at the Atheltic (Zak Keefer):

https://theathletic.com/2131776/2020/10/12/is-poor-play-from-their-quarterback-destined-to-hold-the-colts-back-again/

And in a lot of ways, that’s what is most aggravating. The Colts brought Rivers in to play smart, efficient and mistake-free, not to play hero ball. They simply didn’t need it.

Mistake free? Did they not watch tape of Rivers' 2019 season before offering him a $25m contract?

[DontEverGiveUp]

The Colts were supposed to be a running team who added a veteran QB and some weapons.

As the season started, they lost their star running back, and WR 2 and 3.

Now, their offense is horrible. Bad running game (worst YPC in the league), declining TY, and Rivers struggling.

To make matters worse, their play-calling and personnel management has been atrocious. Moe Allie-Cox, TE 3, seemed to be the one guy Rivers was gelling with, and now the coaches have taken him out for Burton and Doyle who became healthy. It's interesting that in every game, the Colts have been able to score TDs in the first quarter while passing over the top downfield. This tells me that they have the ability to consistently push the ball downfield and get TDs, but Reich seems to be in love with a methodical ball control offense. It works if the defense is great, but when the defense is getting shredded like against the Browns or Jaguars, it's nearly impossible to keep up on the scoreboard.

All that said, the Colts are 3-2. There is time to salvage the season, and it starts with the offensive coaches/game planning IMO. A 10+ win season and playoff birth are what Rivers went to Indy for, not stats. And that goal is still realistically attainable if the right adjustments are made.

[FoutsFan]

The Colts were supposed to be a running team who added a veteran QB and some weapons.

As the season started, they lost their star running back, and WR 2 and 3.

Now, their offense is horrible. Bad running game (worst YPC in the league), declining TY, and Rivers struggling.

To make matters worse, their play-calling and personnel management has been atrocious. Moe Allie-Cox, TE 3, seemed to be the one guy Rivers was gelling with, and now the coaches have taken him out for Burton and Doyle who became healthy. It's interesting that in every game, the Colts have been able to score TDs in the first quarter while passing over the top downfield. This tells me that they have the ability to consistently push the ball downfield and get TDs, but Reich seems to be in love with a methodical ball control offense. It works if the defense is great, but when the defense is getting shredded like against the Browns or Jaguars, it's nearly impossible to keep up on the scoreboard.

All that said, the Colts are 3-2. There is time to salvage the season, and it starts with the offensive coaches/game planning IMO. A 10+ win season and playoff birth are what Rivers went to Indy for, not stats. And that goal is still realistically attainable if the right adjustments are made.

Its funny how that retarded beat writer had no idea that the Colts were a terrible running team. He just blamed Rivers and threw a lot of BS in between whining. The Colts D was pathetic against the Clowns as well.

[DontEverGiveUp]

Its funny how that retarded beat writer had no idea that the Colts were a terrible running team. He just blamed Rivers and threw a lot of BS in between whining. The Colts D was pathetic against the Clowns as well.

Yeah, I think most writers like him are only worried about saving face and trying to prove that their original preseason narrative was true. No mention of the league's worst rushing attack or the fact that the "incredible" defense got absolutely wrecked by Minshew and Mayfield.

These articles will resurface after every Colts loss. But it is a long season, and the Colts' numerous issues are all fixable in my opinion, because the root cause is poor strategy as opposed to talent or execution.