Philip Rivers: Chargers “Expectations Are High”
By Mike Dyce
The San Diego Chargers were once a lock to make the playoffs, but as quarterback Philip Rivers passer rating has slipped they’ve missed the playoffs. They’re currently on a 3 year playoff drought.
The Chargers made changes to get the team back on track. They fired head coach Norv Turner and A.J. Smith. They hired Mike McCoy as head coach and Tom Telesco as general manager. So the pressure is now on the personnel.
“Our expectations are high, they always are high,” Rivers said in an interview on NFL Network’s Total Access. “I think all 32 teams have the goal of winning a championship, that goes without saying. We have to get back to winning the AFC West, a thing we have let get away from us the last three years. We won about four in a row there. You have to give yourself a chance to get in the postseason.”
Rivers production has slipped. His passer rating has dipped. It was 105.5 in 2008 and dropped slowly before drastically dipping to below 90 in 2011 and ’12. He has also thrown 48 interceptions over their 3 year playoff drought as their record went from 9-7 to 8-8 to 7-9.
“I think we can keep people off-balance and ultimately we have to go score points, score one more point than the other team. We haven’t done that enough. We have been doing it at a .500 rate the last three seasons and we know that is not going to cut it,” Rivers said.
“We have had a heck of an offseason, a heck of a spring and I know that expectations are high,” Rivers said. “…When you start to talk about double-digit seasons you realize it not going to last forever. So enjoy the heck out of it, obviously fight like crazy to win every week like we always do, and I look forward to having a good year.”