Almost five years ago, Phillip Rivers played his supposed last NFL game of his career. The quarterback was drafted from NC State as the fourth overall pick in 2004, due to his breaking many NCAA records and leading two great NC State teams. In Rivers’ NFL tenure, he played for the Chargers and Colts for seventeen years ending in 2021, and is considered to be one of the best passers of all time.

This past week, Rivers got the call back to the Colts to start for the rest of the season after the Colts lost three of their quarterbacks within the span of a few weeks. River, now a grandfather and 44, accepted the task. 

On December tenth, Rivers signed to the Colts’ practice squad, with the initial plan to see how much of a fit he still is in the league. A day after his initial tryout, he was promoted to the active roster, signifying he would start against the Seahawks in three days.

The Seahawks’ defence is currently one of the best in the league. Their pass defense, at the time of the game, was ranked at approximately seventh in the league, which would come to pose a challenge to Rivers.

On the 14th of December, only four days after his tryout, Rivers was named the starter for the game that day. People questioned his ability to play, claiming he’s too old to play in the modern game. They also criticized his weight and pro-passing playstyle. Junior Ronan O’Brien was questioned before the game on his thoughts on how River’s would play. O’Brien said, “I think he’s old. Even when he played, he wasn’t fast, so I think he’ll maybe throw for 100 yards if lucky.”

During the game, Rivers put up some remarkable stats for his age. He had 126 passing yards along with a touchdown and a late-game interception, which didn’t affect the game at all. Although he was a little slow to get the ball out of the pocket, he still went 18/27 on pass completions. 

When asked about how Rivers played, Junior Camr’ee James described his thoughts on the performance as, “I thought he played great. I didn’t know he still had that in him.”