Imagine the crazy scenario… An NFL team, which started its season with a bang, begins to accumulate defeats and loses its quarterback. To get out of the slump, she must call on a 44-year-old quarterback, father of 10 children and grandfather of a grandson, who has been retired for five years, to try to slow her fall.
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No, this isn’t the brilliant synopsis for the next big hit series on Netflix. You are instead in the parallel, but very real, world of the Indianapolis Colts in 2025!
This team, which seems more desperate than Homer Simpson waiting for his Friday night beer after his shift at the power station, really calls on Philip Rivers for reinforcement.
Yes, this same Phiilp Rivers who played his last NFL game with the Colts in January 2021.
Yes, the same Philip Rivers who has been head coach at St. Michael’s Catholic School in Alabama since leaving the NFL behind.
Yes, the same Philip Rivers who signed a one-day contract last July with the Chargers, with whom he had a lot of success, as a formality to symbolically retire to this team.
From misfortune to misfortune
It should be noted that for the moment, Rivers has signed an agreement that only brings him to the reserve team, but he is still very close to joining the regular lineup and seeing action.
On Sunday, starter Daniel Jones tore his Achilles tendon and his season is over.
So imagine, if you want to add to the implausible intrigue of the series, that his backup Anthony Richardson fractured his eye socket during a warm-up before a game and has been on the injured list ever since.
Colts third-string quarterback Riley Leonard, a rookie rookie who was passed over in the draft, made his rushed debut Sunday and suffered a knee injury. His presence at the end of the week is uncertain.
Brett Rypien, an obscure career reserve who lugs his bags from team to team, is therefore the only healthy quarterback on the team.
It’s hard to believe, but Grandpa Rivers is only one step away from jumping onto the field, which would become the dream conclusion to the thrilling final episode of the series.
Rare phenomenon
In NFL history, only four quarterbacks have made a start at age 44 or older: Steve DeBerg, Vinny Testaverde, Warren Moon and, of course, Tom Brady.
To give an idea of the situation, Grandpa Rivers was drafted on April 24, 2004. This season, 10 players in the NFL who stepped on the field were not born when Rivers joined the Chargers in that famous 2004 draft.
Presumptive Colts quarterback Riley Leonard was born in 2002, when Rivers was in his third year of NCAA college at North Carolina State University.
Everyone will now dream of seeing Rivers in the heat of action. The story would be downright mind-blowing.
Still, at the risk of breaking up the party, the strategy remains difficult to understand, both on the Colts and Rivers side. If he only returns to the regular roster, even without seeing the field, he will see his Hall of Fame eligibility window move back five years, to 2031.
As for the Colts, who have lost four of their last five games after being the best team, they are banking on a quarterback whose past glory is undeniable, but who already had his feet in cement.
If he gets hit by a young goat who could be his son, this team will be accused of criminal negligence. Even though the story is great cute.
Thursday evening duel
Speaking of good teams in decline, the Buccaneers (7-6), in action Thursday night, are one of them. After a great start, they have lost four of their last five games.
Baker Mayfield’s bid for MVP seems like an old relic from the distant past.
The Bucs still have the ideal opportunity to recover against the Falcons who are much more in disarray than them.
MY PREDICTION FOR THURSDAY:
Falcons 16 Buccaneers 20
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