In one of the most shocking storylines to grace the NFL in recent memory, 44-year-old Philip Rivers has signed with the Indianapolis Colts to solidify their QB room following Daniel Jones’ season-ending achilles injury. Rivers retired after the 2020 season; he hasn’t played an NFL game in nearly five years.
Is Philip Rivers still in shape? Can he still read a defense? Can he throw the ball more than 20 yards? These are all questions nobody thought they’d have to answer, but it looks like we’re all going to find out sooner rather than later.
No reports have come out yet on whether Rivers will be active this weekend, or in any of the next few weeks to finish the regular season, but gut instinct tells me that the Colts wouldn’t have signed him if they had no intention of playing him at some point.
Coming down the barrel for Indy is a gauntlet of very good football teams; the Seattle Seahawks, the San Francisco 49ers, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and finally, the Houston Texans.
Mina Kimes Offers Warning to Rivers If He Plays Against Houston
The Houston Texans defense has been the best in the NFL this season. Take any metric you want, Houston is probably somewhere in the top three.
The Texans pass rush in particular has been punishing to every quarterback it’s gone up against; all of whom are definitely not 44-year-olds who haven’t played football in five years.
NFL analyst Mina Kimes gave her thoughts on what she believes would be a bloodbath if Rivers plays against Houston in week 18.
“You cannot send 44-year-old Philip Rivers out there against that defense!” Kimes exclaimed. “Honestly, if they do that, they need to make a ‘you must be over the age of 18 to watch this game,’ because the violence is going to be so unsettling.”
This take is shared by many in the football world. Houston has made elite NFL QB’s look silly this season, especially on their current five game winning streak. Here are some of the stats quarterbacks have put up against the Texans recently: Patrick Mahomes – 14-for-33, 160 yards, no touchdowns, three interceptions; Josh Allen – 24-for-34, 253 yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions; Trevor Lawrence – 13-for-23, 158 yards, one touchdown, one interception.
That’s one touchdown and six interceptions in those games, all by three of the best quarterbacks in the league. They’ve sacked opposing quarterbacks 19 times in the last five games, including eight against one of the most elusive players in the league in Josh Allen.
If Josh Allen got sacked eight times against the Texans pass rush, what the hell is Philip Rivers going to be able to do?
Texans Look To Solidify Playoff Spot in Next Two Weeks
After an 0-3 start, it looked like Houston’s playoff chances were slim early in the season. Not many would have predicted that they’d go on to win eight of their next 10 games and hold a spot in the Wild Card standings heading into week 15.
Now, with an 86 percent chance of making the playoffs at 8-5, the Texans have the Arizona Cardinals and the Las Vegas Raiders on the docket in the next two weeks. Wins over both of these bottom-feeding teams would take a lot of pressure off of the final two weeks, when they play two strong opponents in the Los Angeles Chargers and the Colts.
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