Earlier this month, Philip Rivers, now "retired," hinted at a return to the NFL, saying he was "staying ready." It may have been just a coincidence, but Rivers did say that not long his most recent former team, the Indianapolis Colts, had just announced that potential new starter Carson Wentz would be having surgery and missing five-to-12 weeks.
Then again, Rivers may have just had the itch, a hard thing to avoid watching from the couch, an even harder thing to avoid when you're still constantly around a football field like Rivers. The former gunslinger took over the head coaching position at St. Michael Catholic in Fairhope, Alabama this year, and on Thursday night he picked up his first victory.
"It was a good win," Rivers told al.com following the 49-0 romp. "We did some things that were a little sloppy that I’m probably glad they happened now. We can clean them up and the boys can see, 'Hey, that’s not going to cut it in region play.' But all in all, we had a lot of different guys touch the ball. All the wideouts touched the ball. We ran it well. It’s a good start, but we have a long way to go."
Coachspeak game already very strong, but this is still Rivers we are talking about. He could try and downplay it all he wants, but his energy was as infectious as ever after the game. Check out this video clip of Rivers breaking the world record for smiling in a 45-second span:
If this doesn't make you happy, you are truly a miserable person. The man loves football more than his 33 children combined (just kidding), and high school football really is the most-fun form of the sport there is, in case you couldn't figure that out by the way Rivers talks about it.
The takeaways here: 1. If given the chance, he's most certainly coming back. They may have to drag him off the field. 2. Rivers would be an absolutely electric color guy. The energy, the hand motions, the football brain. He'd be Tony Romo on crack, which is a frightening thought. 3. We'll likely never see/hear Rivers call an NFL game because he's going to be coaching the rest of his life. Again, he's never leaving the field, be it with a helmet on or a headset on.
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