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Project Philip Rivers' current numbers over the full season, and you get this line: 384-for-548 (70.1 percent), 4,620 yards, 36 TDs, 4 INTs, 114.5 QB rating. How good is that? Well, in 2010, Tom Brady was a unanimous MVP after posting 3,900 yards passing, 36 TDs, 4 INTs and a 111.0 QB rating.
Brooks: Predicting award winners
At the quarter mark of the 2014 NFL season, Bucky Brooks takes stock of the individual award races. READ
So ... Rivers has been pretty damn good, enough to make his two-year swoon of 2011 and '12 feel like it happened 20 years ago. And the rebound has come because, at 32, the quarterback has never been more in control of what's around him.
"I see a guy who has complete mastery over the system," Bolts offensive coordinator Frank Reich said. "And what I see that's a cut above everyone else is what he does in protection and his understanding of what a defense is trying to do to him, his ability to identify and understand what teams are doing, where pressure's coming from, and the right protection call is at a level beyond what I can describe. It's not at graduate level. It's at PhD level."
The best example of that is pretty mind-blowing. Reich describes rare moments he sees, in practices and games, where Rivers will actually make adjustments during his drops, carrying out a play-action fake while shouting to the back, "Need ya," as a way of telling him to stay in and block, an on-the-fly change that would almost qualify as in between pre-snap and post-snap adjustments.
So what does this mastery do? For one, it allows the Chargers to optimize the combination of receivers and blockers deployed. If Rivers knows just how many guys he needs to stay in consistently, that gives the offense the advantage of releasing the highest number of players into routes on every play, which puts the greatest amount of stress on the defense. And from a personal standpoint, his knowledge of all things around him allows Rivers to let plays develop longer, giving teammates more time to get open.
That's allowed Mike McCoy, Reich and the Chargers to build on what they did with Rivers last year, which was to emphasize taking easy completions to cut down on the risks that he's prone to take as a great deep-ball thrower. Pocket presence and ball security were the focus last year. He's been eyeing better footwork and finish this year.
And with his 33rd birthday two months away, all of that work is why Rivers keeps getting better. He's every bit the coach's son and gym rat he ever was.
"When I envisioned coaching, this is what I envisioned it being like -- working with a guy like this," Reich said. "We work hard, but we have a blast -- a lot of laughs, a lot of blood, a lot of sweat. We work together, and there's a mutual respect. There's a great chemistry on this team, and it's because of veterans like Philip. He's such a great leader, not just a great player, but a great leader."
And the best might be yet to come.
Follow Albert Breer on Twitter @AlbertBreer.
Project Philip Rivers' current numbers over the full season, and you get this line: 384-for-548 (70.1 percent), 4,620 yards, 36 TDs, 4 INTs, 114.5 QB rating. How good is that? Well, in 2010, Tom Brady was a unanimous MVP after posting 3,900 yards passing, 36 TDs, 4 INTs and a 111.0 QB rating.
Brooks: Predicting award winners
At the quarter mark of the 2014 NFL season, Bucky Brooks takes stock of the individual award races. READ
So ... Rivers has been pretty damn good, enough to make his two-year swoon of 2011 and '12 feel like it happened 20 years ago. And the rebound has come because, at 32, the quarterback has never been more in control of what's around him.
"I see a guy who has complete mastery over the system," Bolts offensive coordinator Frank Reich said. "And what I see that's a cut above everyone else is what he does in protection and his understanding of what a defense is trying to do to him, his ability to identify and understand what teams are doing, where pressure's coming from, and the right protection call is at a level beyond what I can describe. It's not at graduate level. It's at PhD level."
The best example of that is pretty mind-blowing. Reich describes rare moments he sees, in practices and games, where Rivers will actually make adjustments during his drops, carrying out a play-action fake while shouting to the back, "Need ya," as a way of telling him to stay in and block, an on-the-fly change that would almost qualify as in between pre-snap and post-snap adjustments.
So what does this mastery do? For one, it allows the Chargers to optimize the combination of receivers and blockers deployed. If Rivers knows just how many guys he needs to stay in consistently, that gives the offense the advantage of releasing the highest number of players into routes on every play, which puts the greatest amount of stress on the defense. And from a personal standpoint, his knowledge of all things around him allows Rivers to let plays develop longer, giving teammates more time to get open.
That's allowed Mike McCoy, Reich and the Chargers to build on what they did with Rivers last year, which was to emphasize taking easy completions to cut down on the risks that he's prone to take as a great deep-ball thrower. Pocket presence and ball security were the focus last year. He's been eyeing better footwork and finish this year.
And with his 33rd birthday two months away, all of that work is why Rivers keeps getting better. He's every bit the coach's son and gym rat he ever was.
"When I envisioned coaching, this is what I envisioned it being like -- working with a guy like this," Reich said. "We work hard, but we have a blast -- a lot of laughs, a lot of blood, a lot of sweat. We work together, and there's a mutual respect. There's a great chemistry on this team, and it's because of veterans like Philip. He's such a great leader, not just a great player, but a great leader."
And the best might be yet to come.
Follow Albert Breer on Twitter @AlbertBreer.
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