by: Sam Gillenwater 22 hours ago samdg_33
For the first time in 1,800 days, Phillip Rivers took the field in the NFL, with the 44-year-old returning this afternoon to be the starter for the Indianapolis Colts. He hopes this circumstance can now serve as a kind of inspiration of sorts to others to take a chance.
Rivers spoke on the impact of his return to the National Football League following the 18-16 loss for Indianapolis to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. He said that he wants it to be an encouragement to anyone, like one of his three sons or his grandson one day, or his high school players that he has been coaching since his prior retirement, to go for it when the chance arises.
“I think maybe, you know, it will, I don’t know, inspire or teach, you know, (someone) not to run or be scared of what may or may not happen, you know. Hopefully, you know, certainly, I think of my sons and those ball players, you know, that I’m in charge of at the school, that they’ll see, like, crap, Coach wasn’t scared, you know what I mean,” said Rivers. “It’s like, shoot, sometimes you – there is doubt and it’s real. And, again, the guaranteed safe bet is to go home or to not go for it. And the other one is, shoot, let’s see what happens, you know. And so, yeah, I hope, in that sense, that it can be a positive to some young boys, you know, or young people.”
In his return to professional football, Rivers was 18-27 (66.7%) for 120 yards, a touchdown, and an interception, while also taking one sack. As wild as this story was in the last week with the respective injuries for Daniel Jones, Anthony Richardson, and Riley Leonard, it nearly worked out in the end, as the Colts were a go-ahead field goal with less than twenty seconds left away from winning on the road against the Seahawks, who have now won four straight as one of the top teams in the NFC now at 11-3.
“You know, grateful. I mean, grateful. Running out for warmups and all that and out there for the anthem, and as the game just got going, I was just thankful, grateful that I was out there. And, it was a blast. It was a blast, but, obviously, the emotions now are disappointment, right,” Rivers said of the emotions of being back. “You know, this isn’t about me. You know, we had a team that was scrapping like crazy to try to stay alive and get in the postseason. So, obviously, we’re all disappointed. Came up just short…We didn’t find a way to get it done is the bottom line.”