Philip Rivers is a great player on a bad team, which is as true this year as it has most of the years he’s been with the Chargers, really.
But the longtime San Diego quarterback doesn’t want your sympathy, at a time when many are wondering what he did to deserve all this. And he doesn’t regret signing a long-term deal with the Chargers that binds him there through 2019, wherever that there might be.
“I feel awesome about it,” Rivers said, via Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I don’t feel awesome about being 1-4, but I’m very thankful for the opportunity to be the quarterback here, and the Spanoses, and the chance I have to lead an organization and lead a group – a group I really have a great deal of belief in.”
Rivers has been cast lately as some sad Don Quixote, doing his work dutifully but in vain, while other organizations can win games with far less talented quarterbacks. And while he appreciates the sentiment, he doesn’t go along with it.
“I guess I should take that as a compliment in a sense,” he said, “but at the same time, nobody’s feeling sorry for me. I mean, really. Believe me. I have an opportunity to be a quarterback in the NFL, live here, play here. My faith, family and this football is more than I could have ever imagined as an 8-year-old little boy.
“Yeah, we’re in a tough stretch, but, there doesn’t need to be any sympathy for me. I look at it as, while I can honestly say, I think I’m playing pretty good, I feel like my job is to find a way to lead us to win games. And, I’ve what, (won) 5 of the last 21, with me as the quarterback. So, I take responsibility of that, too.”
Being happy and rich and talented and beloved and living in one of the most beautiful cities in the world can take the edge off when times are hard, but Rivers remains frustrated at the fact his team has won five of its last 21 games, and admits he has a part in it too.