Philip Rivers Doesn’t Sound as Worried About Interceptions as Some of Us Are

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers threw 20 interceptions last season, which means he’s going to be asked about when that happens again. He had two more, and a third negated by a penalty, in Sunday's opener.

INDIANAPOLIS — The wily, old gunslinger didn’t seem to bat an eye when asked about throwing interceptions.

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers is in his 17th season, which means he moves on from one week to the next, whether that’s a win or a loss. While he admitted Sunday’s 27-20 road loss at Jacksonville still bothered him, he’s focused on this Sunday, when the Minnesota Vikings visit Lucas Oil Stadium.

But because Rivers threw 20 interceptions last season, and one of the oft-mentioned knocks on his fearless nature is taking what critics would consider risky throws, he’s going to get asked about them. He threw two against the Jaguars, and neither target was open. A third pick was negated by a penalty.

When Rivers appeared on screen for a Wednesday Zoom video call, the first question pertained to interceptions.

“It is part of life in the NFL,” he said. “You hope there are just not very many. While there has been more than I would have liked the past handful of years, overall in my career it’s not been an issue. I don’t expect it to be one this year, moving forward.”

In his 17th season, the 38-year-old Rivers has 200 career interceptions, which ranks 28th in NFL history. He’s also passed for 59,634 yards, which ranks sixth all-time, just 1,727 yards behind Hall of Famer Dan Marino. Rivers’ 398 TD passes are 22 behind Marino in fifth.

Throwing those numbers around suggests the good usually outweighs the bad. But after a loss in his Colts debut — when they were eight-point road favorites and his team made a fair share of mistakes around him — sizing up the good and bad today is still in question for the quarterback.

Colts third-year head coach Frank Reich was adamant Sunday’s first interception was on him because he called the wrong formation. There wasn't any way Rivers could know another defender would be there, Reich said. Fair enough, but Rivers conceded he’s the one throwing the ball. And wide receiver T.Y. Hilton was blanketed by two defenders.

The second was on Rivers, who thought wide receiver Parris Campbell would be able to get in front of the defender and reach the spot where it was thrown. That’s the definition of a bad pick. Campbell was covered.

“On that second interception, I think it is just moving on in your progression,” Colts offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni said on Tuesday. “He saw it, he sees that. He said move on in my progression and go on from there. So, I think that is one that he naturally corrected himself, the moment he threw it. He knew where he really wanted to go with that football.”

Sirianni chatted with Rivers after the game about being honest with each other, analyzing the good plays and bad, fixing the bad, keep doing the good.

“He had a heck of a lot of good plays in that game,” Sirianni said.

The stat sheet would suggest as much. Rivers passed for 363 yards.

But he wasn’t sacked, didn’t get pressured too often, and yet still managed to throw three — OK, two INTs — on what looked like risky throws.

It’s difficult to ignore the opinion that this is the definition of a gunslinger. He’s going down fighting, for sure. And when in doubt, he’ll take the shot, regardless of if it’s ill-advised.

Rivers reiterates the bottom line is scoring more points than the other team. The Colts didn’t do that. And in a game where the Colts didn’t punt once, finishing with just 20 points seems unfathomable.

He’s being paid $25 million to lead the Colts to more wins than losses. Nobody will say this, but he was brought in to lead the Colts to the playoffs. They’ve missed out on the postseason in four of the past five years. Anything less than the playoffs, with Rivers being just good and bad, not elite, and he's not getting another $25 million to continue his career with the Colts.

Now the Colts must regroup against the Vikings, who were humbled at home by Green Bay in Week 1. Rivers probably isn’t thrilled about seeing the guys in purple after what happened late last year.

“That game like so many others last year, was I believe it was a 12-10 game, them,” he said. “We were driving to take the lead before half and had a sack-fumble they ran back for a touchdown. It spun out of control from there.”

The Vikings won, 39-10. In addition to that lost fumble returned for a TD, Rivers threw three interceptions. When he broached that subject, the quarterback smiled for a moment in thinking about the right words to say.

“There were a couple of turnovers in that game that hurt,” he said. “Two came really late in desperation when we probably should have been handing it off, but we were – for some reason, we wanted to push it down the field a little more.”

That was an obvious dig at Chargers coaches.

Rivers can’t afford to have too many more picks against the Vikings this time. The Colts can’t afford to start 0-2.

If one contributes to the other on Sunday, those questions about Rivers, about his interceptions and being the right quarterback for this job, will be asked with greater concern and more frequency.

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(Phillip B. Wilson has covered the Indianapolis Colts for more than two decades and authored the 2013 book 100 Things Colts Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. He’s on Twitter @pwilson24, on Facebook at @allcoltswithphilb and @100thingscoltsfans, and his email is phillipbwilson24@yahoo.com.)