It’s looking more and more like former NFL and NC State quarterback Philip Rivers will be the next coach of the Wolfpack.
Brian Murphy of WRAL has posted video of Rivers’s comments from last night, after the high-school team he coaches exited the playoffs in Alabama.
Rivers confirmed that he recently interviewed for the job, which became open two weeks ago when Dan Doeren was fired in his 14th season at NC State. Rivers immediately became a candidate. By last weekend, Rivers reportedly emerged as the focus.
Since then, the Wolfpack also interviewed former NFL and NC State quarterback Russell Wilson.
“We’ll see what the future holds,” Rivers said, adding that he plans to “take it one day at a time.”
If he goes, it will end his tenure at St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope, Alabama. He became the head coach in 2021.
“We didn’t have a stadium a few years ago,” Rivers said, turning emotional. “If it were to be the last time out here, shoot, a lot was accomplished.”
If it was the last time for Rivers at St. Michael, it means there will be a first time for him never year at NC State.
Chargers Clips
Rams safety Quentin Lake got plenty of attention for comments he made about intercepting a pass thrown by Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert, but on reflection, Lake didn’t like the attention he generated.
Lake told the Los Angeles Times that he reached out to Herbert to apologize.
On a podcast hosted by Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, Lake laughed about how confident the Rams were heading into the game with the Chargers, seeing how much Herbert has been struggling this season.
“He was throwing deli meat out there,” Lake said on the podcast. “He’s seeing ghosts. I don’t know what’s going on, but we knew we were gonna get a couple. At least one.”
Lake and St. Brown were high school teammates, and Lake said that in the moment, he just felt like he was joking around with an old friend. When he saw how far his comments spread, however, Lake felt bad that he came across as disrespecting an opponent. Lake said he texted Herbert but hasn’t heard back from him.
“I don’t know if he read it,” Lake said. “He probably says, ‘I don’t care about it anymore. I’m not trying to see this. It doesn’t matter. You said what you said.’ But at the same time I . . . felt like it was right for me to at least say,’ Hey, man, I didn’t mean it in any disrespectful way.’”
Lake said he considers Herbert “a great quarterback” despite his struggles this season.
The Texans ruled out safety Reed Blankenship (hand/concussion) and running back David Montgomery (groin) for Sunday’s game against the Chargers.
Coach DeMeco Ryans said earlier in the week that Montgomery would miss his third consecutive game. He is week-to-week but has not practiced since his injury in Week 5.
Woody Marks has taken over as the team’s workhorse back.
Blankenship will miss his second consecutive game. He underwent hand surgery after the Week 6 victory over the Jaguars and still hasn’t cleared concussion protocol.
M.J. Stewart will again start opposite Calen Bullock.
Linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair (groin), defensive back Jalen Pitre (shoulder) and offensive tackles Braden Smith (ankle) and Blake Fisher (thumb) have no injury designation.
The Ravens haven’t had much to celebrate Thursday night, but Derrick Henry gave the home fans something to cheer.
Henry had 51 first-half rushing yards, which was enough to move him into seventh on the all-time rushing list. He passed Jerome Bettis (13,662) and LaDainian Tomlinson (13,684) in moving from ninth to seventh.
Curtis Martin is next on the list, with his 14,101 career rushing yards ranking sixth all time.
Henry entered the night with 632 yards for the season and 13,650 in his career.
Over the past four seasons, Henry has averaged 1,578 yards. He has averaged 85 yards per game in his career.
Henry will need to play another three to four years to break Emmitt Smith’s record of 18,355 yards.
Smith was 35 years old in his final season of 2004. Henry turns 33 in January.
Smith said earlier this year that he believes Henry has a chance to break his record.
Chargers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel will get a different perspective on his struggling offense on Sunday against the Texans.
McDaniel said today that he will move upstairs to the booth to call plays after previously working from the sideline.
“One of the things that I want to try is call plays from the box to see adjustments for myself and communicate with the position coaches appropriately what things we can focus on between series,” McDaniel said. “I won’t be in the same spot.”
Although the Chargers’ offense has been among the worst in the NFL this season and head coach Jim Harbaugh has faced questions about whether he should fire his offensive coordinator, McDaniel insisted that he’s not concerned about the criticism.
“My problem solving doesn’t come from insecurity,” McDaniel said. “I’m not trying to prove or justify anything.”
The Chargers rank dead last in the NFL in scoring, having scored only 99 points this season, and they have an NFL-high 17 turnovers. McDaniel said he thinks it’s worth trying something different while delegating some of what he had been doing on the sideline to the assistant coaches.
“Seems like a good action to take based on how things have gone this year, and realistically something that I’ve only brought up because I’ve observed, I’m very confident in the rest of the offensive coaching staff and how they’re able to set the tone and communicate information on the sidelines. So I feel a little more comfortable to try that,” McDaniel said.
If that doesn’t work, Harbaugh’s next step might be to move McDaniel from the booth to the unemployment line.
It’s been a rough 2026 for the Chargers, who are now 0-7 after last Sunday’s loss to the Rams.
But one member of the team’s next opponent sees strong play from quarterback Justin Herbert.
Texans defensive end Will Anderson complimented the signal-caller for his play when talking to reporters on Wednesday.
“He’s still a really great quarterback in this league,” Anderson said, via transcript from the team. “You talk about a big guy that has a big arm that can run around, that can throw the ball deep, makes a lot of plays with his legs. He’s still a very respectable player in this league and we have a ton of respect for them. As far as scheme, we’re going to probably see a lot of bounce. [Chargers OC Mike] McDaniel, he’s went against this defense a lot of times, coached against his defense at San Fran.
“We know what to expect a little bit, but Herbert, he’s playing out of his mind. They have a really great solid offensive line as well and some really good running backs that can get downhill, that can hit the perimeter, it’s going to be a good challenge for us.”
Whether one agrees with Anderson’s assessment is in the eye of the beholder. But Herbert has completed 61.8 percent of his passes for 1,398 yards with five touchdowns and a league-leading 10 interceptions in 2026.
As the football-following world tries to figure out the problem(s) with Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert, Rams safety Quentin Lake provided a scathing critique of Herbert’s most recent performance, in a 24-9 loss to the Rams.
“He was throwing deli meat out there,” Lake said. “He’s seeing ghosts. I don’t know what’s going on, but we knew we were gonna get a couple. At least one.”
They got two.
On Wednesday, both Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh and Herbert himself were asked about Lake’s remarks.
“As far as anybody’s opinion I don’t see that,” Harbaugh told reporters. “Everybody’s entitled to their opinion. Not what I see.”
So what did Harbaugh see in the latest loss?
“I thought he played — did his job exceptionally well,” Harbaugh said. “You know, two throws he would have liked to have back.”
Herbert said he wasn’t aware of Lake’s comments.
“I haven’t looked into it, haven’t heard anything about it, so I can’t really make a comment about it,” Herbert told reporters. “We’re really just focused on what’s going on in the building, playing football and doing what we can and doing our best to, you know, go put our best effort out on Sunday. And that’s all that really matters. Anything outside of that is out of our control.”
Still, it’s jarring to hear an NFL defender make comments about a supposed franchise quarterback that make him seem like a Jets first-round draft pick who has yet to have the game slow down. Herbert is in the seventh year of his career. He’s making $52.5 million per year.
Something has happened this year. It’s still not clear what it is, or whether it will change. Before it can change, the Chargers need to realize there’s a problem.
And that’s the most confounding part of all of it. They’ve lost seven and won none; at times, they sound like they’ve won seven and lost none.
Texans coach DeMeco Ryans called David Montgomery “week-to-week” as the running back seeks to return from a groin injury. Montgomery won’t return this week, though.
Montgomery was injured in an Oct. 11 game against the Titans and has missed the past two games. He will miss Sunday’s game against the Chargers, too, Ryans said, before adding that Montgomery has made “progress.”
The Texans traded for Montgomery in the offseason, and he has 52 carries for 138 yards and two touchdowns while adding seven catches for 67 yards and a touchdown.
In the past three games, Woody Marks has 49 carries for 184 yards and seven catches for 63 yards.
The Chargers opened the 21-day practice window for tight end David Njoku and linebacker Denzel Perryman, coach Jim Harbaugh announced Wednesday.
Harbaugh said on Monday that Njoku was ready to return from injured reserve.
Njoku, 30, went on injured reserve after injuring his fibula in Week 2 and missed the past five games. He caught six of eight targets for 67 yards and no touchdowns before his injury.
The Chargers have leaned on Oronde Gadsden and Charlie Kolar in Njoku’s absence.
In his 10th season, Njoku has totaled 390 catches for 4,129 yards and 34 touchdowns.
Perryman went on injured reserve before the season with an elbow ligament tear, and he has missed seven games.
Perryman, 33, played only 10 games in 2025 due to a high-ankle sprain and a suspension.
It’s been a rough season for Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert and the Rams took advantage of it last Sunday.
Herbert threw a pair of interceptions as the Chargers dropped to 0-7 on the season in the Rams’ 24-9 win. Rams safety Quentin Lake had one of those picks and he came up with a colorful way of explaining what he and the defense saw when preparing to face the Chargers while on the St. Brown podcast hosted by Amon-Ra and Equanimeous St. Brown.
“He was throwing deli meat out there,” Lake said “He’s seeing ghosts. I don’t know what’s going on, but we knew we were gonna get a couple. At least one.”
Herbert has now thrown 10 interceptions this season and the Chargers have scored the fewest points in the league heading into Week 9. They’re currently on a streak of 27 straight possessions without a touchdown, so some members of the Texans will likely be on the lookout for handouts of their own this Sunday.
