Quarterback Philip Rivers has been with the San Diego Chargers for nine seasons and has been the starter for seven. There have been many questions regarding his recent lack of success; however when you look at the numbers they aren’t all bad. While his stats don’t appear to show a drastic decline in performance, they don’t reflect the Rivers Chargers fans are used to seeing.
Since Rivers became the starting quarterback for San Diego in 2006, he has never thrown for under 3,000 yards, his completion percentage has always hovered around 60%. His best years were 2008, 2009, and 2010 when he had quarterback ratings of 105.5, 104.4, and 101.8. However, his performance has been lacking in the past two seasons. 2012 was Rivers’ worst season since 2007 in terms of yardage and touchdowns.
The Chargers as a team haven’t been as dynamic as they were in Rivers prime years. They owned the AFC West, but the last two years have played poorly and the Denver Broncos have stepped up and won the division. It seems San Diego loses some prime players every year such as the loss of running backs LaDainian Tomlinson and Darren Sproles who were huge contributors to the Charger offense and helped Rivers look like an elite quarterback on the field. In recent years, the Chargers offensive line has been weak and Rivers play suffers as a result. In the past two seasons, he has been sacked 79 times resulting in a loss of 509 yards as well as 24 fumbles with 12 recovered by their opponent. Interceptions are also on the rise for Rivers as he has thrown 35 in the last two seasons and only 33 from ’08-’10.
Along with Rivers declining performance, the team has also suffered a decline in their record. After finishing in second place in 2010 with a 9-7 record the Chargers followed the next two seasons with a record of 8-8 and 7-9.
The division plays a role in Rivers play as well. He and the Chargers were used to winning the AFC West relatively easily, but it’ll be harder as of late as Peyton Manning is now the elite quarterback of the West with Denver.
The Chargers franchise has been having problems as it has been a yearly rumor that head coach Norv Turner was on the chopping block and fighting for his job. He inherited a good team from former head coach, Marty Schottenheimer, in 2007 with a somewhat easy division, but since his team has regressed and fallen into a losing pattern.
The team finally released Turner this offseason and the Chargers welcome Denver’s former offensive coordinator Mike McCoy in 2013; in what is his first head coaching position.
With a good team and great offense, Philip Rivers plays as good as the best in the game, but without a complete offense has trouble moving the ball, reaching the end zone, and turns the ball over too often. While his passing yards and ratings aren’t bad, they aren’t the numbers fans are used to seeing Rivers put up. The interceptions and fumbles are concerning because he’s hurting his team’s chances of winning by giving up so many turnovers. Rivers numbers will likely regress in 2013, as they have been, as a result of a team that is going through changes.