QB Philip Rivers - Los Angeles Chargers

6-5, 228

Born: 12-8-1981

College: North Carolina State

Drafted: Round 1, pick 2004

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Photo: Denny Medley, US Presswire

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News you need to know

From the upgrade/downgrade report (Mon Oct 14): Rivers will be helped by the return of Hunter Henry and he won't face the Steelers every week, but the offensive line is falling apart and the Bears and Packers loom after the Titans this week, so he is going to be a dicey streamer.

Week 7: at Tennessee Titans

All QB vs TEN

FBG says: Tough matchup. The Chargers are quickly becoming a pass-first team considering the rough shape of their offensive line that has been unable to sustainably support a viable rushing offense. The poor play from this offensive line has adversely impacted the passing game as well though, as Phillip Rivers has been under constant pressure in recent weeks. While the pressure is not totally to blame, Rivers has certainly struggled with accuracy throughout the season--notably over the past two weeks as he has thrown four interceptions. Turnovers have been an issue for Rivers this season, as he has thrown at least one interception or fumbled in all six games, amassing 10 total turnovers alone. On the bright side, Rivers is still slinging it as he has amassed over 290 passing yards in five of six games. Keenan Allen has been the primary beneficiary, but he has now failed to exceed 50 yards in three straight games. The return of Hunter Henry will certainly eat into Allen's targets, as Henry was a huge part of the offense last week as he amassed eight catches on nine targets for 100 yards and two touchdowns. Henry appeared to be close to 100% and should slot right back in as a big target for Rivers. Mike Williams has racked up air yards in and seen season-highs of 13 and 10 targets in the past two weeks, but he will remain a boom-or-bust option given the mouths to feed in this offense. Melvin Gordon and Austin Ekeler saw equal targets out of the backfield last week, which is most concerning for Ekeler who figured to maintain a big role as the primary pass-catching back. It will take more than one game to dethrone Ekeler, but fantasy owners must now be in high alert as his workload and snap share have begun to shrink. The Titans defense had another good game last week as they held Joe Flacco to just 177 passing yards and no touchdowns with one interception--granted, it was a low-volume passing day overall for the Broncos. This is a very well-rounded defense that can apply decent pressure on the quarterback while covering most angles of the field in the secondary. Safety Kevin Byard is having another great season while Logan Ryan has been phenomenal in coverage from the slot. Cornerback Adoree Jackson has also quietly been having a great season as opposing quarterbacks have been avoiding him in coverage. All Chargers wide receivers will be in tight matchups this week. Hunter Henry had a big week last week, but he may be hard-pressed to repeat it in this one. While the Titans have given up some touchdowns to tight ends along with a big game to Austin Hooper, safety Kevin Byard has been very strong in coverage against tight ends. He is allowing just 20 percent of balls to be caught by tight ends when thrown his way in direct coverage. The Titans front seven should also have the advantage over this struggling defensive line. Overall, the Chargers passing offense looks to be in a tough spot on the road in Nashville.

Recent Stats and Projections

WEEK	OPP		oSNAP	CMP	ATT	YD	TD	INT	RSH	YD	TD	FumL	Pts
3	vs HOU		75	31	46	318	2	0	2	9	0	1	23.8
4	at MIA		61	24	30	310	2	0	1	0	0	0	22.5
5	vs DEN		70	32	48	211	0	2	1	-3	0	0	8.25
6	vs PIT		62	26	44	320	2	2	1	0	0	1	21
7	at TEN	PROJ-Dodds	*	23	36	*	*	*	1	*	*	*	*
7	at TEN	PROJ-Tremblay	*	22	35	*	*	*	2	*	*	*	*
7	at TEN	PROJ-Bloom	*	24	34	*	*	*	0	*	*	*	*

Weekly Performance vs QB 1, QB 12, QB 24

Percentile ranks

Philip Rivers's percentile rank in each category, among QB with more than 50 fantasy points.

Recent Game Summaries

2019 Week 6 vs PIT (26 / 44 / 320 / 2 / 2 pass, 1 / 0 / 0 rush)

Rivers completed his first pass down the seam to Hunter Henry, but stalled out quickly on his first drive with the help of a Travis Benjamin drop. The second drive resulted in a dropped swing pass that went backwards and was ignored by Melvin Gordon, ending in an easy defensive score for Pittsburgh. Rivers was then victimized on an interception off of a deflection at the line. He had some modest success moving the ball to end the first half but a grounding call slowed down the drive and then Chase McLaughlin doinked a field goal off of the upright at the end of the first half. Rivers was under pressure all day and didn't put together touchdown drives until the Chargers were down 24 points. Hunter Henry and Mike Williams were the engines of the passing game, with Henry finishing both garbage time touchdown drives. Rivers even got Jason Moore and Geremy Davis involved in the passing game late and had a long shot chance to tie the game starting from his own end zone with about a minute left but was promptly picked to end a game that was never really competitive.

2019 Week 5 vs DEN (32 / 48 / 211 / 0 / 2 pass, 1 / -3 / 0 rush)

It doesn't show up in the sack totals for the Broncos, but Rivers was under heavy pressure all game long. He did well on many occasions to just get rid of the ball, but it was easily one of the most frustrating games of his entire career. The Chargers had scored first half points in some capacity in a team-record 55 consecutive games coming into this one, but began the second half with a goose egg. The only touchdown the team managed came on special teams, and Rivers failed to lead the team into the end zone despite a largely soft Denver defense in the fourth quarter. He spent much of the afternoon rushing his passes and trying to throw balls away as the Denver pass rush had him under intense duress. An early attempt to Mike Williams while Rivers was under pressure, resulted in a fingertip deflection right into the waiting arms of a Bronco defender for the turnover. Late in the first half, Rivers appeared on the verge of moving the team into scoring position. But even that drive was aided by Denver holding penalties to extend drives. Once the Chargers got into the red zone, Rivers nearly scored when he threw a pass in the flat to Austin Ekeler. Ekeler lunged at the goal line, but a terrific tackle by the defender kept him out of the end zone. Ekeler fumbled on the next play to end the first half. In the second half, it was reported that C Mike Pouncey was questionable to return due to injury. It was bad enough for Rivers with Pouncey in the game, but that injury made things that much tougher. The second half featured a lot of the same things as the first. Short checkdown passes to Austin Ekeler, with a few decent gains down the seam to Mike Williams sprinkled in. When the Chargers finally got close to the end zone, Rivers was again looking for Williams over the middle. He didn't notice a defender had slipped underneath and stepped in front of the bullet pass to pick it off. But just as the game seemed to be out of reach, the Broncos gave it back to the Chargers with a chance to get back in it. He managed to draw a long pass interference penalty down the right sideline to get into field goal range, but the drive ended with a field goal. Trailing by a touchdown and with possession of the ball, Rivers attempted to get the team back in range to tie it up. With a few minutes left to play, he looked for Williams over the middle. The ball was thrown behind him and the defender had his hands on it, but just dropped it outright. The play would have all but ended the game. But despite that gift, Rivers couldn't capitalize. The timing was just off all afternoon. He called a perfect screen set up for Melvin Gordon on third and 10 with Denver using an all-out blitz. There was nothing but daylight ahead of Gordon, and all Rivers had to do was flip it over the top and he had tons of room to roam. But Gordon bumped into his own man while coming out of the backfield, which disrupted the timing and the ball sailed over his head for a huge incompletion. Rivers did get some garbage time yardage on the team's last drive while trailing by ten, with Denver playing an extremely soft defense and largely allowing the Chargers all the yardage they wanted. It was mostly dumpoff passes to Ekeler, with a couple of passes over the middle to Williams. Rivers went 6-7 for 61 yards on the drive, which really underscores just how terrible his overall numbers were going into that drive (26-41, 150 yards).

2019 Week 4 vs MIA (24 / 30 / 310 / 2 / 0 pass, 1 / 0 / 0 rush)

There are times when a stat line doesn't tell the whole story about a player's game, either for better or for worse. In this game, Rivers' stat line is exactly indicative of just how well he played. It started with his offensive line giving him a ton of time on nearly every single dropback, but Rivers himself made a lot happen. He completed 80% of his passes and averaged over 10 yards per attempt, while finding the end zone twice and never coming close to throwing an interception. It was, essentially, a perfect game. He was missing a bunch of weapons from the offensive skill spots, but didn't really miss a beat. Instead of focusing it on a handful of targets, he really spread the wealth around by completing passes to nine different players. He made a perfect pass in traffic early on to TE Lance Kendricks down the seam for 24 yards, demonstrating his precision. One aspect of his game that isn't seen much is his ability to buy time in the pocket. But he did exactly that on a rollout to his left, with defenders coming up in the pocket to defend him. But just at the last second, he flipped it back across his body to Troymaine Pope who took off for the end one untouched. Rivers' second touchdown of the half came late in the second quarter. He found Ekeler in the flat in stride, and Ekeler did the rest by shooting up the left sideline and into the end zone virtually untouched. In the second half, it was more of the same for Rivers. He spread the ball around, dropping it into tight spaces when needed and continuing to get loads of time to let plays develop and allow routes to be fully run. Rivers nearly added a third touchdown pass on a floater over the defense to TE Sean Culkin. But Culkin hurt his Achilles while leaping for the ball, and stumbled down before he could get the rest of the way into the end zone. About the only blemish on Rivers' afternoon was a fumbled snap that ended up getting recovered by the Chargers anyway.

2019 Week 3 vs HOU (31 / 46 / 318 / 2 / 0 pass, 2 / 9 / 0 rush)

Philip Rivers had a strong fantasy football game on Sunday in a loss to the Houston Texans. Rivers peppered Keenan Allen with targets as Houston had no answer for Allen. Allen caught both touchdowns Rivers threw, both on short red zone opportunities. Rivers was sacked five times during the game a combination of a good pass rush and his tendency to hold onto the ball too long. He took a bad sack early in the game where he lost a fumble that blew a field goal opportunity. Rivers could have had a bigger day as he threw perhaps his best pass to Travis Benjamin in the end zone on the final drive, but Benjamin dropped what would have been a 42-yard touchdown. Rivers has high upside next week against the Miami Dolphins.

2019 Week 2 vs DET (21 / 36 / 293 / 0 / 1 pass, 1 / 12 / 0 rush)

Philip Rivers was inconsistent on the road against the Lions in week two. Rivers targeted Keenan Allen heavily throughout the game but missed overthrew him twice on plays that could have gone for big gains. He targeted Mike Williams in the end zone twice, but Williams could not catch either target before the Chargers gave the ball to Austin Ekeler to convert a touchdown. Rivers also threw a bad interception into double coverage to Allen in the end zone on the final Chargers drive of the game. Rivers was not helped by his teammates, as he had a touchdown pass called back by penalty, and had multiple drops by teammates. With Williams nursing an injury, Hunter Henry out, and Melvin Gordon continuing to hold out, Rivers is missing critical weapons in the offense and will need to elevate his play. He will look to bounce against a tough Texans defense in week three.

2019 Week 1 vs IND (25 / 34 / 333 / 3 / 1 pass, 1 / 6 / 0 rush)

Rivers put up big stats, although it should be noted that much of the production came from his receivers doing damage after the catch. It's perhaps slightly unfair because he did put them in position to gain that yardage, but more often than not Rivers' passes tended to be a bit off the mark. He overthrew Justin Jackson early on a fade attempt in the end zone for what could have been an easy touchdown. He later found Austin Ekeler for a short 3-yard touchdown that didn't involve any sort of difficulty (Rivers has now thrown a touchdown in 29 of his last 30 games). He later connected with Keenan Allen for a score, but the ball was essentially thrown up for grabs. A fantastic individual effort by Allen is the only reason the ball ended up being a touchdown. And on Rivers' third touchdown pass, he dumped off a screen pass to Ekeler who just absolutely ran through defenders en route to the end zone. He later overthrew a wide open Travis Benjamin on a deep sideline route that could have gone for a big gain. And in between the scores, Rivers showed a propensity to hold the ball a bit too long. And he was slightly careless at times, twice having it knocked out of his hands by defenders. He was nearly intercepted on a badly advertised screen pass to Justin Jackson off a bootleg, and then actually DID throw an interception in the end zone when he failed to account for a defender dragging across in front of Keenan Allen for a 1-handed pick. It wasn't all doom and gloom in his performance; he made a couple of perfect passes right on the money to Allen in traffic. And it's tough to be too critical, because Rivers does sometimes just get the ball to his playmakers and let them make plays. It has sort of been his M.O. for much of his career. But it would just feel better for his owners if the passes he was making in this game were consistently crisp and in stride rather than too far behind or in front of the intended targets.

Latest News

Chargers | Philip Rivers posts three turnovers (Mon Oct 14, 12:44 AM) - Los Angeles Chargers QB Philip Rivers completed 26 of his 44 passes for 320 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions in the team's Week 6 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Rivers also had a backward pass returned for a touchdown.

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Schedule

7	@ Tennessee Titans
8	@ Chicago Bears
9	vs Green Bay Packers
10	@ Oakland Raiders
11	vs Kansas City Chiefs
12	--- BYE WEEK ---
13	@ Denver Broncos
14	@ Jacksonville Jaguars
15	vs Minnesota Vikings
16	vs Oakland Raiders
17	@ Kansas City Chiefs