As easy as it is rip the Chargers organization for failing Philip Rivers in recent years, another fact of the matter is Rivers has signed two lengthy contract extensions with the club and is enthused about where the organization is headed.

While it’s also true that bona-fide franchise quarterbacks are virtually tethered to their first NFL team because of the club can franchise-tag them multiple years, Rivers said this week he has no buyer’s remorse for re-upping with San Diego two summers ago via an extension that runs through 2019.

“I feel awesome about it,” he said, twice, on Tuesday.

“I don’t feel awesome about (the team’s win-loss record) being one-and-four, but I’m very thankful for the opportunity to be the quarterback here, and the Spanoses, and the chance I have to lead an organization and lead a group – a group I really have a great deal of belief in.”


Many Chargers game telecasts serve up sympathy-tinged odes to Rivers, who’s widely recognized as a good quarterback yet one who works for a franchise that is 0-for-50 in its Lombardi Trophy quest and has reached two AFC Championship Games in the 32-year Spanos era.

What can be overlooked — though not by Rivers — is that Rivers had it very good early in his career when he learned under Hall of Fame-bound QB Drew Brees and piloted immensely talented Bolts teams that he would lead to four division titles in the less-than-stellar AFC West.

Thursday’s CBS telecast to a national audience no doubt will serve up more pro-Philip, poor-Philip chatter, understandably so.

Rivers will be the far more advanced quarterback at Jack Murphy Field, yet also the underdog.


San Diego’s opponent, the Denver Broncos, will be recognized as the better organization, whatever the game’s outcome.

The Broncos are off to a 4-1 start behind a de facto rookie QB, Trevor Siemien, a seventh-round draftee.

Just nine months ago, when the Bolts were unwinding from a 4-12 season in which Rivers played every meaningful snap, the Broncos won their third Super Bowl trophy even with QB Peyton Manning pushing his 40th birthday and, for all his mental brilliance, performing at a D+ level physically.

Rivers understands that the NFL world has cast him often as valiant performer, making the best of difficult circumstances.


“I guess I should take that as a compliment in a sense,” he said this week, “but at the same time, nobody’s feeling sorry for me.

“I mean, really. Believe me. I have an opportunity to be a quarterback in the NFL, live here, play here. My faith, family and this football is more than I could have ever imagined as an 8-year-old little boy.

“Yeah, we’re in a tough stretch,” he said of the Chargers, “but, there doesn’t need to be any sympathy for me.

“I look at it as, while I can honestly say, I think I’m playing pretty good, I feel like my job is to find a way to lead us to win games. And, I’ve what, (won) 5 of the last 21, with me as the quarterback. So, I take responsibility of that, too.”


Rivers presented two sides on the topic of quarterbacking a 4-12 team and a 1-4 team.

“You can look it both ways: Well, shoot, if you wouldn’t have made a bunch of those plays, then what would the score be? Yet, if I made one more, we may have won,” he said.

“I can look at it honestly. So, I can go: ‘Yeah, I’m playing all right, but I’m not playing good enough until we walk off winning.’ “

Citing losses to the Chiefs and Saints that came after the Chargers created leads of 21- and 13-point leads, he said the team’s record should be, at worst, 3-2.


“And that’s what really drives me crazy,” he said. “I can watch the Colts game (a 26-22 loss at Indianapolis, where the Chargers led in the final two minutes) and go, ‘Hey, we didn’t win. I missed a throw here, I missed a throw there. We didn’t win the game.’ And we didn’t win the other ones, either.

“But you dominated those two (other) games for the better part of 50 minutes. That’s what makes us sick,” he said.

“(If) we’re sitting here, three-and-two, right now, we’re going, ‘Hey, we win this game over Denver, we’re tied for the top almost.’ So, that’s what’s tough about it. But at the same time, you just carry on. Because you never know.”

He mentioned the turnaround of the 2015 Chiefs, who started out with five defeats in six games, only to reach the playoffs and win their first playoff game in 21 years.


“You’re like, ‘The Chiefs might not win again,” Rivers said of last October, “and then they run the table. And I’m not predicting we will. But we could.

“But we’ve got to win one first. It’s not gonna get any easier -- here, Atlanta, Denver.”

Rivers said he’s encouraged — though not satisfied -- by how the Chargers have continued to hotly contest games despite losing several players who he said were, if one ranked them for impact, near the top of the 53-man roster.

“We’re still, on offense, scoring 31 points a game and punted once last game,” said the quarterback, whose passer rating (108.4), yards per pass (8.5) and completion rate (68.0) are all above his career norms. “And, we’re leading these games (in the second half).


“I know, it doesn’t matter, unless you’re winning,” he said. “But it does; it does in that locker room to us and to an organization. It would be one thing if we couldn’t get a first down, and we’re going, ‘These guys can’t do anything.’

“It doesn’t count for anything,” he said. “I’m not selling that as, ‘I promise, we’re good.’ But that is what makes me optimistic and excited about having the opportunity to be the quarterback here moving forward.”

Support for McCoy

Rivers acknowledged that an NFL team losing 16 of 21 games can jeopardize the jobs of its head coach and assistant coaches or both.


Chargers coach Mike McCoy, whose arrival with coordinator Ken Whisenhunt and quarterbacks coach Frank Reich in 2013 coincided with Rivers getting his career back on track, received a contract last January through the 2017 season.

“I see no wavering or any guys checking out on Mike or any of the coaches,” Rivers said of his teammates. “I hope that that’s been clear in our play. You see guys bustin’ and fightin’ like crazy. Again, those all go in the category of, ‘We’re tired of hearing you’re all fighting; you’re not winning.’

“We know that. But, we’re still real people in there, too. Working real situations, real relationships. So, it does mean something when guys are fighting like crazy for each other. And we are doing that. We’re doing that at a pretty dang high level in a lot of these games.”

Deep dive/key Play


Rivers revisited the second-and-1 incompletion late in Sunday’s game at Oakland that loomed larger after the Chargers came up short on third-and-1 (in reality, third-and-2, because the ball, unbeknownst to Rivers and the team, was spotted incorrectly after the incompletion) and muffed the ensuing field-goal try.

Scene: the Chargers trailed, 34-31, with about three minutes left and had the ball at Oakland’s 18.

Rivers selected the matchup of speedster Trevor Benjamin versus cornerback Sean Smith in press coverage.

Clearly, the Bolts were going for a touchdown, as many NFL teams do in or near the “high red zone.”


Benjamin, the outside receiver to the formation’s left, ran a version of a stop-and-go.

In. Then out. Then upfield.

Smith didn’t bite.

The Chargers, like most NFL teams, sync up their pass routes.


So, in this instance, the inside receiver adjacent to Benjamin, Griff Whalen, also performed a double move: he broke toward the middle of the field, and reverse-pivoted toward the sideline after Benjamin cleared out.

Whalen was still shadowed by cornerback D.J. Hayden as he completed his first move.

Whereupon Rivers flung the ball out of bounds.

A fraction of a second later, Whalen came open for what would’ve been a gain to get the first down and set up the Chargers near the 10.


Rivers said Tuesday he couldn’t help but wonder, after reviewing the film, if he should’ve gone to Whalen.

But, going into the play, Rivers, mindful of the circumstances, had set an internal alarm clock that was, by that point, ticking very loudly.

“Throw the touchdown, or throw it away,” was his mindset, Rivers said.

He reasoned that the Bolts could ill afford a sack, especially a sack that would cause him to fumble.


The throwaway came 2.25 seconds after the shotgun snap.

As Rivers vetted Benjamin’s route, the Chargers matched six blockers — running back Melvin Gordon stayed home — against five Raiders rushers.

San Diego’s pass protection has been good most of the season and again for most of Sunday.

On this particular play, all five Bolts linemen performed well.


Other plays in the second half, a subject that Rivers didn’t speak to, may have shortened the QB’s alarm clock.

Stacy McGee, an emerging Raiders defensive tackle, commanded respect.

Twice in the second half, he won one-on-one duels and wacked Rivers.

McGee, on the first play of the half, used a power move to elude right tackle Chris Hairston and knock the ball from Rivers (Hairston alertly recovered the fumble).


The hit came 2.8 seconds after the snap.

A few series later, McGee used a chop-and-swim move against right guard D.J. Fluker to get home.

The ensuing sack of Rivers came 2.4 seconds after the snap.

Raiders edge men Khalil Mack and Bruce Irvin are also better than average.


Second down, of course, isn’t do-or-die.

Rivers said his confidence that the Bolts would succeed on third-and-short tempered his risk tolerance on second-and-1.

However, following the second-and-1 incompletion, the ball was re-spotted, incorrectly, nearly a yard behind the second-down spot.

Rivers said he was unaware of the miscue, which in effect created third-and-2.


When Gordon was stopped short on third down by less than a yard, coach Mike McCoy opted for a field-goal try. The ensuing muff sealed defeat.

It was another horse-pill to swallow.

The Chargers had led, 24-16, before kicking off with 10:10 left in the third quarter.

They led 24-19, when Gordon lost the ball with 3:54 left in the third quarter on a play that would’ve secured a first down near midfield.


Rivers (interception) and Antonio Gates (fumble) also had key miscues.

All of the aforementioned players, blockers included, had good plays, too.

Despite the bad ending, Rivers didn’t put the defeat in the same class as the losses to the Chiefs and Saints.

“I can’t say we should have won the Oakland game,” he said. “That’s why I say (the team’s record should be 3-2) at the worst...We weren’t guaranteed to win the Oakland game had we drilled the field goal. Who knows what’s gonna happen in that game?”


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Tom.Krasovic@SDUnionTribune.com; Twitter: SDUTKrasovic