13

Dec 2025

Sports

On December 8, 2025, Philip Rivers, the father of 10 who had recently celebrated the birth of his first grandchild, celebrated his 44th birthday. He is a former 17-year NFL quarterback who had retired in 2021 after playing 16 seasons with the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers and his final season with the Indianapolis Colts (he even had a ceremonial retirement with the Chargers earlier in 2025). Amazingly, Mr. Rivers started every game from 2006-2020 (after being a backup in his first two seasons), including the 2007 AFC Championship game, where he played with a torn ACL. He was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL for much of that period, and he was a semifinalist for induction into the NFL Hall of Fame as of the day of his 44th birthday.

Life takes unexpected twists and turns. Mr. River worked out for the Indianapolis Colts — who had just lost their starting quarterback to injury — on December 9. He was signed to the Colts practice squad on December 10. On December 13, Mr. Rivers, five years removed from taking an NFL snap and less than a week into his comeback, was named the Colts’ starter at quarterback for their December 14, 2025 game against the Seattle Seahawks. His comeback will set the clock back five years for his Hall of Fame induction to 2031.

Earlier this year, I wrote: “In the early 2000s, I got into NFL and college football largely because I was interested in trying Madden and the early iteration of EA’s NCAA football games.” I followed the NFL and college football fairly closely to some extent or another from 2002 through about 2011 or 2012. I will take Mr. Rivers’ unexpected comeback as an opportunity to tell a story from back in the day.

As a kid, I had been following the NBA since 1997 and PGA Tour golf since 1999 (I also started watching some tennis somewhere in that area). I was not initially interested in football. We got cable shortly after 9/11 because analog TV became unreliable for a period (or more unreliable than it had always been) (note that I am from Brooklyn, New York). With that, I began watching ESPN, in particular Sports Center and the then-new Pardon the Interruption (note this was back before ESPN went way off the deep end). ESPN liked covering football and I began learning about the big NFL and NCAA football stories from watching the news and commentary. I distinctly recall following from afar Tom Brady’s first season as starter of the New England Patriots, replacing Drew Bledsoe, and their highly unexpected Super Bowl run. But it was not just seeing news about football that caught my interest. I have noted in other articles that I regularly read video game magazines back in the day. I had read good things about this “Madden” series and was interested in giving it a go.

In 2002, I started watching more football and playing the video games. My first NFL games were rentals from a Blockbuster in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn (way to date myself there): Madden NFL 2002 and NFL 2K2 for Microsoft Xbox. The NFL 2K series would die, but I got my own copy of Madden 2003 and EA Sports’ NCAA Football 2003 to go along with it (I think I kept up with both series through 2008, always on Xbox).

I enjoyed taking on the role of “general manager” in both Madden and NCAA Football (I suppose “athletic director” would be more accurate for the NCAA games). Back then, the NCAA Football games were not allowed to use real player names, so the player names were in the position, number format, but based on real players. I distinctly remember noticing that one of the highest rated players, and one of the most prolific performers in “Dynasty Mode,” was a certain QB17 from North Carolina State. When I first started playing NCAA Football 2002, I did not know that quarterback’s name, but I would soon learn the name was Philip Rivers, who started for the NC State Wolfpack for four years from 2000-03.

Along with the TV and the games, I also read some football magazines. I distinctly recall going into the 2003 season that the magazines I was reading did not see Mr. Rivers as a likely first-round pick (the consensus favorite to go number one was Ole Miss quarterback Eli Manning). But Mr. Rivers, who had already been one of the better quarterbacks in the country as a junior, had his best season as a senior, throwing for 4,491 yards to go along with 34 touchdowns to 7 interceptions, leading NC State to a solid 7-5 regular season record before delivering one of his finest college performances in a 56-24 Tangerine Bowl win over Kansas (37-45, 475 yards, 5 touchdowns and no interceptions).

To the best of my recollection, Mr. Rivers was still not universally seen as a certain first round pick in the immediate aftermath of his senior season, although I would have to do more research to confirm whether my recollection is correct. Again from my recollection, I recall that there had been some concern about Mr. Rivers’ throwing motion (low release, albeit he is tall) and whether he had high-level arm-strength (I recall that there were similar concerns a few years later about the college throwing motion of Aaron Rogers, who is now the second-oldest active starting quarterback and NFL player at 42). But I do remember the moment when Mr. Rivers’ draft stock went way up: The Senior Bowl. The Senior Bowl is a postseason exhibition game which features some of the best NFL Draft prospects, giving them an opportunity to show-case their abilities for NFL teams. I watched the 2004 Senior Bowl and came away very impressed with Mr. Rivers, who was named the game MVP after going 12-19 passing with 213 yards and two touchdowns (he was inducted into the “Senior Bowl Hall of Fame” in 2022). Mr. Rivers made some striking highlight throws at the Senior Bowl and made me a believer.

Mr. Rivers ended up being selected fourth overall in the 2004 NFL Draft by the New York Giants. He would never play a game for the Giants, being traded on draft day to the San Diego Chargers for the number one overall pick, fellow quarterback Eli Manning of Ole Miss. I submit for your viewing enjoyment Mel Kiper on the Rivers pick when it was made, before the trade was formally announced (Mr. Kiper noted the points about Mr. Rivers’ throwing motion and the clip includes a Senior Bowl highlight).

Mr. Rivers only played four games in his first two seasons, sitting behind Drew Brees, who had a breakout season in 2004 after struggling for the better part of his first three seasons (Mr. Brees had good timing given the Chargers had just drafted his presumptive replacement). I started high school in 2004. There were a good number of serious NFL fans in my class. However, none of them followed college football and were thus not familiar with Mr. Rivers’ resume. In the 2006 offseason, the Chargers watched Mr. Brees leave for the New Orleans Saints, which opened the door for Mr. Rivers to take over the starting job in his third season.

I thought that it was the right call based on my being a believer in Mr. Rivers from having watched some of his games in college and, of course, his excellent Senior Bowl showing. Some of my classmates were less convinced given that Mr. Brees had been a stellar quarterback in 2004 and 2005 (especially 2004), but were open to seeing what Mr. Rivers could do (note Mr. Brees had a shoulder injury at the time which may have also factored into the Chargers’ decision). Interestingly, one of my teachers who did in fact follow college football (big Texas Longhorns fan) thought the Chargers had made a mistake.

One may think that given the fact Mr. Rivers is one of the best quarterbacks of his era (see also stats on Wikipedia), a likely future Hall of Famer, and so accomplished that a team is handing him a starting job at 44, five years after his most recent snap, that it should go without saying that the Chargers made the right call back in the day. But I suppose one could debate the move. Mr. Brees went on to lead the New Orleans Saints to a Super Bowl win in 2009, and he led the NFL in passing yards on 7 occasions (second all time to Tom Brady). In the end, it is fair to say that both the Chargers and the Saints did well for themselves with Messrs. Rivers and Brees.

(Mr. Brees, like Mr. Rivers, also retired after the 2020 season (he was 42 when the season ended), but unlike Mr. Rivers has not subsequently returned to football.)

Having noted that I largely stopped watching football in the area of 2011-2012, I was only closely following things for part of Mr. Rivers’ career, although I am still somewhat up-to-date from afar. But Mr. Rivers’ comeback made me feel a little nostalgic, so I decided to share with readers my Philip Rivers video game and Senior Bowl memories.