Whats wrong with Rivers?

by JeremyBeckett on Oct 12, 2011 9:02 PM PDT

What's wrong with Rivers?

I keep seeing articles about Philip Rivers not performing well. Rivers has 7 interceptions through 5 games and only 6 touchdown passes.

So, what is wrong with Rivers? Lets go to the cards. The Chargers are fourth in total yards, and Rivers is fifth in passing yards. So that tells me right there, he hasn't lost his ability in moving the ball.

In evaluating his interceptions, only three were his fault. My perception is this, if the ball hits the receivers hands, and its intercepted, thats not the quarterbacks fault.

So why is Rivers not as crisp as the fans have grown to expect? For one, his bail out man ( Antonio Gates) has been non- existent in all but one game this year.

Rivers go to guy is usually his third look. Lets face it, Jackson and Floyd are usually defended by a zone defense where a safety and a cornerback usually double team them.

Though this has done wonders for the running game, it has done Rivers no favors in the passing department. The Chargers passing game has been so succesful over the past 4 years because of two names :

Darren Sproles

Antonio Gates

The void that the Chargers are feeling in the pass game is greatly attributed to their absence. Rivers is forcing passes into double coverage, taking sacks, scrambling , or throwing the ball away because there is no third option.

So this bye week the Chargers really need to figure out a way to give Rivers that third option. That dump off man when there is nothing open down field.

So how can the Chargers correct it?

The obvious choice would be Antonio Gates. However, the smart play would be to give Korry Sperry some passing routes. Lots of passing routes. He is not a great blocker, but he catches everything thrown his way.

The guy is 6'5 260. Rivers needs a dump off guy. This could be the big target that takes a ton of heat off him. If Gates isn't healthy, its time to either develop a receiving threat at TE, or draft high at TE to fill the void.

Option 2 - The slot receiver.

The Chargers have a couple of them. Vincent Brown and Patrick Crayton. They have been so under utilized its shocking. Quick slant routes would be almost a gimmie with safeties and corners playing deep on Jackson and Floyd.

Furthermore it would be instrumental in getting the wideouts from being double teamed. When used correctly, a good slot receiver ie. ( Hines Ward/ Wes Welker) opens up the deep threats , and keeps the quarterback from taking a beating.

Option 3:

Jordan Todman. ACTIVATE the guy. Yeah I get it, he's a rookie, the Chargers already have Mathews and Tolbert, he doesn't know all the playbook. There's no plays designed for him. etc.

But mark my words. Jordan Todman will be the next Darren Sproles. If they can incorporate him into just 4-6 plays a game, the guy will more than pull his weight for the Bolts.

Todman had 1695 rushing yards last season in 13 games at Connecticut. But I think where Todman will excel is in the passing game. If he catches the ball in the open field , he is uncatchable.

Lastly, yeah, I know he's only 5'9" 190 and that concerns a lot of people, but he isn't injury or fumble prone,and he's great in pass protection.

Still not sold on Todman? Look at his pre-season, he killed it, Check out his highlights on Youtube. Or just look at his combine numbers. He beat the overall top picked running back ( Mark Ingram , Saints) in EVERY category. I think he would have been just the spark the Chargers needed in Denver, against Miami, or Kansas City.

In closing, to answer the question. What's wrong with Rivers? NOTHING! He's is just missing his third option. I really hope the Chargers figure that out in the bye week, or else the interceptions, sacks and throwaways will continue.

Bring back his third option, and the Chargers will be way more balanced, and basically unstoppable offensively!

This FanPost was written by a member of the Bolts From The Blue community and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Bolts From The Blue editors or SB Nation.

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Comments

I'll say this...

you’re prolific.

by Lenny Suckerpunch on Oct 13, 2011 8:48 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs

A few things

-Not every pass that touches a receiver’s hand is catchable. Granted, Crayton wasn’t looking for the pass; but it was WELL behind him. That’s a bad pass.

~~Kory Sperry is not 260 lbs -~~ he’s listed at 250 on the roster, so he’s probably more like 235-240 now that we’re in week 6 of the season.

-How do you figure Todman is good at pass protection? A few plays during the preseason when teams play vanilla defense? He caught 42 passes in in 3 years at Connecticut. Sure, I want to see what the guy can do; but he is NOT Darren Sproles. He’s a downhill power runner in a scatback’s body.

by BORTZ on Oct 13, 2011 9:15 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs

whoops on the strikethrough.

by BORTZ on Oct 13, 2011 9:16 AM PDT up reply actions

perhaps Todman will be Sproles, but he is not now and won’t be this year… Even if he is active, he won’t get in the game much unless there is an injury. And I don’t see that he brings anything to the table we don’t already have in the Mathews/Tolbert mix.

by Stephen (shaynes41) on Oct 13, 2011 10:21 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

no

Totally different running styles.

by BORTZ on Oct 13, 2011 11:25 AM PDT up reply actions

Sperry was rumoured to have increased his size during the offseason

Him being 260 would not surprise me in the least

Winning

by Foilhat on Oct 13, 2011 8:12 PM PDT up reply actions

Rivers

seems more amped up than normal this year. Acee’s article in the UT today about Norv running the ball more than normal said that one of the reasons that they have been running the ball so much on the opening drives is that they think Rivers is too amped up to be trusted throwing the ball (paraphrase). So they run it the first few plays until he settles down. I think a few of the sacks he has taken this year have been to his trying to scurry out of a pocket that was not collapsing and running into the arms of a defender.

I wonder if he is feeling the pressure of his “underachievement”. Especially compared to the other top flight QBs that came out in his era. I’m not sure, but I worry that our normally amped leader might be a little overamped this year for whatever reason.

by Stephen (shaynes41) on Oct 13, 2011 10:27 AM PDT reply actions

Who's they ?

You state they think Rivers is amped up to much. I am wondering who they are. Did one of the Charger players or coaches say So ? Rivers will play better when the Right Tackle plays better. Rivers will be sacked over 41 times if the present rate contnues. Rivers has the highest QB rating over the last three seasons of 103.9 in the NFL.

Donzietgr

by donzietgr on Oct 14, 2011 12:20 AM PDT up reply actions

see here, first 4 paragraphs. Not sure if it is Acee’s conjecture about what the coaches are thinking, or if he has been told by the coaches that they consider Rivers’s “energy” when calling the first few plays of the game. Either way, Acee usually has a pretty good read on these things, and Rivers’s abundance of energy at the start of games is pretty well known.

And I am still firmly on board the Rivers bandwaggon, so don’t get me wrong. I just think he seems to be a little more energetic at times that he used to be. And it’s causing him to make some bad throws early, and to flee the pocket into pressure when the pocket was still secure (which happened once in the first half of the Broncos game and Clary’s man got the “sack”)

by Stephen (shaynes41) on Oct 14, 2011 8:47 AM PDT up reply actions

Trust, Stephen brings up a good point

Why does Norv have an issue with trusting his players. Might as well throw caution to the wind Norv, if desired results are not achieved, this could be your last year.

If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, then you will be fired with enthusiasm. Vince Lombardi

by Bolt Brother on Oct 17, 2011 9:30 AM PDT up reply actions

Blame it on whatever you want

but he is just not playing up to his usual level right now. Besides leading the league in picks and having a lower passer rating (not a great indicator) than Matt Cassell, Alex Smith and Curtis Painter, he just doesn’t look as accurate with his throws so far this season.
I feel like he will get things turned around this season and the rest of team has looked as good or better than expected to me. So I am feeling pretty good about the Chargers chances this season.
To me Todman is a total non factor, anything the Chargers get from him (which I don’t think will be much) is gravy.

by JeromeB on Oct 13, 2011 12:45 PM PDT reply actions

Gates is our slot WR

So that kinda takes out number 1 and 2, as far as number 3 goes. It could happen, just based on how dinged up Mathews and Tolbert are. But I doubt that makes that much of a difference. To me I would like to see a 4th back activated. I would like to see more running and more play action. Mathews is a beast and the best way to get single coverage on jackson and floyd is to run the ball like you have a pair.

Winning

by Foilhat on Oct 13, 2011 8:16 PM PDT reply actions

I do agree on the point about the slant routes

Two games I have watched this year, the slant & go routes have been there. Now that Crayton is healthy and Brown is starting to get some reps, we need to use them.

North Texas REALLY needs a Rubio's franchise.

by SDNativeinTX on Oct 16, 2011 1:42 PM PDT up reply actions

Good read. Gates is the Key.

Sproles worked well against certain defenses and disappeared against others. I think the receiving job of Mathews/Tolbert/Hester more than compensates for the offensive production Sproles put up.

Bringing in a slot receiver doesn’t work as a consistent 3rd option in place of Gates. The defense just brings in an extra corner.

Gates on the other hand posed a real problem. Even though he was considered a mediocre blocker, he could not be covered by linebackers leaving most teams to try to cover him with a safety which allowed Gates to move inside on a run play and block effectively the much smaller safety. Defenses also covered with linebackers in short zone and a safety over the top, which left either Floyd or Jackson one on one. Big plays were then available to the offense. Without an offensive personal change, Gates provided several FIRST OPTIONS to Rivers. No matter what the defense did, Gates provided a mismatch. When they doubled him, the mismatch advantage moved to the Wide outs.

Again, I repeat, Gates is the first option. You cannot replace him with Korey Sperry.

"Live to love and love to live"!

by Desyrel on Oct 14, 2011 12:32 AM PDT reply actions

If Gates can't go, they have to find a way to try.

The graveyards, they say, are full of irreplaceable men.

An autumn Sunday,
Perched in front of the big screen,
Beer in white knuckles.

by Neoplatonist Bolthead on Oct 14, 2011 8:22 AM PDT up reply actions

Of course they do.

Foilhat’s answer seems to be what the Coaching Staff of the Chargers is trying to do.

Run the ball.

My answer was a reply to the post’s point that Antonio Gates is the 3rd option. The problem is much deeper than that because after the departure of LT, Gates has been the FOCUS of the offense by virtue of the number of plays run with him and not just the throws, catches and yards he makes. The immediate mismatch he presents dominoes into better match ups for the 2nd and 3rd options.

Mathews getting 5 yards a carry does the same thing. Safeties and Linebackers start cheating up. VJ and M80 start heating up to the single coverage. A shift to a double slot formation with RM24 on one side and McMicheal on the other leaves big line backers trying to cover them.

Rivers and the offense will have to someday plan for life after Gates. But the problem is deeper than replacing the 3rd option. Gates is like the BASF commercial. He may not make all the plays . . . he just makes them easier!

"Live to love and love to live"!

by Desyrel on Oct 14, 2011 9:24 AM PDT up reply actions

Avoiding the Slow Start

I think Rivers (and the rest of the team but especially him) are tired of the slow starts to the seasons so he’s kind of been forcing some balls in situations where he wouldn’t usually. Yeah, he’s lacking his go-to guy in Gates but Antonio was injured last season as well but Rivers made it work (example: game against Texans).

Maybe if the team had more WR depth (wish Ajirotutu were still here) and didn’t he have depend so heavily on Gates and VJax, Rivers would be more comfortable. Though Mathews has stepped up pretty well- hopefully he stays healthy and stops fumbling.

Hopefully his play will pick up after the BYE cause the schedule is unforgiving the rest of the way.

by riversonfire on Oct 16, 2011 3:20 PM PDT reply actions

My two cents.

Very late, but I think the best thing we can do to get defenses thinking twice about giving help over the top is by putting Ryan Mathews in more creative positions to make plays. We’ve seen this season that the guy is a beast with the ball in his hands, but he usually gets his touches through rushes and dump offs. Put the guy out wide, make him run an option route or two per game, go pro set with him and Tolbert. Make linebackers and safeties worry a hell of a lot more from a big play coming out of his hands and it’s sure to open up vertical passing lanes. The guy is too good. Way too good, and I honestly think doing this will greatly cover for Gates’ loss.

booty.

by OPIAQ on Oct 16, 2011 9:17 PM PDT reply actions

My two cents on your two cents

My feeling is that relying too heavily on Mathews is a recipe for disaster. He has excelled this year because no one (outside the Charger organization) has expected too much from him. So he’s flying in under the radar. If the team builds too much of the game plan around him, you’ll start to see second-year-itis: drops, fumbles, tripping over shoelaces, injuries.

by Andy (allfield) on Oct 18, 2011 10:33 AM PDT up reply actions

The Rivers had their son (Peter, if you're keeping track)

And everyone’s reportedly happy and healthy. So there goes any worry about that. Onward to typical greatness, Philip.

by Lenny Suckerpunch on Oct 17, 2011 10:05 AM PDT reply actions

It seems like the long passes have been curtailed

He’s thrown a few long picks.

And it seems like this season defenses have "given" him opportunities underneath. And these underneath opportunities have been tipped at the line or off target. Take out those long picks and the tipped balls (at the line or off of Receivers’ hands) and his interceptions are few. I think he’ll get it under control.

by Trendsearcher on Oct 17, 2011 1:02 PM PDT reply actions

What's wrong with17? Rob Chudzinski is in Carolina...

It’s no surprise to me Cam Newton is thirving throwing to Steve Smith and the TE’s with Chud as their OC. Most people give Norv the credit for grooming Rivers when in fact it was Chud, who worked closely with Brees, Gates and Rivers as our TE coach back in 05-06, and he was our TE/assistant HC last year when Rivers had his best year as a pro. This is why you see Rivers yelling at Norv coming of the field from time to time this year. IMO

by Daryl Peek on Oct 22, 2011 10:09 PM PDT reply actions